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Chapter 10

Perry looked out at the newsroom, his face set in sombre lines. His two star reporters- previously his star reporting team- were seated at their respective desks, each resolutely ignoring the existence of the other. Lois and Clark fought constantly; but nothing like this. Their previous fights had been… like two puppies, with growls that were half serious and half playful, and ending ultimately in reconciliation.
This one was different. This one had juice.

He sighed, turning away and settling at his desk. His first instinct had been to force them to talk it out; to protect the team he’d so carefully prodded into shape. Then another thought had intruded.

Clark Kent.

He glanced up again, catching sight of the solidly-built reporter. Kent was an odd one. In fact, Perry believed that under that polite and courteous exterior lay a completely different… person… than anyone in the newsroom suspected. Person was the right term, he decided. The man from Krypton by way of Kansas was definitely not human. Whether or not he was correct in his belief was something that Perry had never bothered to try and confirm. If, at some point, it became necessary for him to admit to Clark that he knew that he was Superman, well, he’d do so as quietly and discreetly as possible. After all, as long as it didn’t impact on their work, Perry didn’t much care what his reporters did in their personal lives.

Something was going on with Clark, though. It was as clear as sweat on an Elvis impersonator that he was in trouble. He’d been looking strained for weeks, long before the crane had collapsed over downtown Metropolis. And Perry had noticed several days where Clark had been moving gingerly as if he was afraid of knocking some kind of injury. If he had to hazard a guess, his would be that someone had figured out Clark’s secret. Although he’d taken it with a grain of salt at the time, Perry was now sure that Trask’s discovery of Kryptonite had been genuine. If it was all true- if Clark was Superman and Kryptonite really existed and acted as Trask had surmised- then Clark needed to get to the bottom of what was happening, and fast.

As Clark clearly wasn’t going to let Lois in on the secret, the best thing Perry could do for him right now was to give him the space he needed to investigate whatever it was that was going on. With, he amended mentally, the proviso that the Planet got the stories it needed.

It was a gamble, he knew. In his quiet way, Clark was just as stubborn as Lois. Together, eventually Clark’s feelings for Lois would override that stubbornness and he’d find a way to get her to talk to him. Separated… Perry wasn’t so sure. He could lose his star reporting team permanently over this, but that was still better than losing Superman.

***

Lois entered the newsroom, resolutely skirting her now-former partner’s desk. The events leading up to yesterday’s dissolution of their partnership were still fresh enough in her mind that she didn’t want to deal with Clark today. The mountains of paperwork still covered her own desk. With an inward sigh, she slid her satchel into its accustomed place under her desk and got to work.

Straightening up a little while later, she stretched some of the kinks out of her back; catching a flash of red and blue out of her peripheral vision, she turned her attention to the monitors. An extremely grim-looking Superman was at work at the site of the subway accident, dragging large chunks of what had once been subway cars out of the tunnel.

Quickly she grabbed her satchel and raced for the elevator. If Superman was back in Metropolis, she had to talk to him. She had to find out why he kept disappearing when they needed him most.

***

Lois winced as the cab jerked to a stop half a block short of the still cordoned off area. She stuffed some money in his outstretched palm, scowling and rubbing her neck as she clambered out of the battered vehicle. Metro cabbies. She’d just received another reminder of why you couldn’t trust any of them. Just then she caught sight of Superman’s scarlet cape fluttering in the light breeze; forgetting her neck, she pushed her way through the crowd that gathered whenever Superman was in action until she reached the barrier.

She watched as he brought load after load out of the tunnel; twisted pieces of track, misshapen lumps of metal that Lois imagined had once been part of the cars, even sections of the outside of the carriages. From time to time he paused, waiting as teams of emergency services personnel went inside, their mission clearly one of recovery rather than rescue.

Lois took advantage of one of these pauses in activity to try and get the superhero’s attention.
“Superman!” she called, waving her arm.
He strolled to the edge of the roped off area.
“Lois.”
For a moment she was taken aback by the curtness of his greeting. Had Clark spoken to him about their fight? She pushed the thought aside and continued.
“Can I talk to you for a moment?”
Superman looked over his shoulder, checking to see if his assistance was required imminently, then motioned for Lois to precede him to a part of the fence line that wasn’t occupied.
“Superman, what’s going on? Why did you miss the subway accident?” she asked as soon as they were in less danger of being overheard.
His jaw clenched; obviously, she’d hit a sore spot, but she needed to know the truth. The people of Metropolis needed to know the truth.
“I can’t tell you.” He turned to walk away, but she reached out and grabbed his arm.
“Superman, people died in those accidents- the crane collapse and now the subway crash. I’m getting a lot of questions. I’ve held off writing about it till now, but I don’t know how much longer I can put it off.” She paused, releasing his arm. “People want an explanation.”

He looked at her, his expression unreadable. “What do you think I should do?”
“Put out a statement to the press.” It was obvious to her, at least. A statement from the superhero would help settle some of the doubts and the rumours that had been flying around.
He opened his mouth to say something, and for a moment Lois could have sworn she’d seen a look of helplessness on the Kryptonian’s face. Then one of the rescue workers called out for his assistance, and he launched himself back into his work.

Lois walked away from the site, not lingering as she usually would to watch Superman in action. Something was wrong. Why had he been so conspicuously missing from the twin disasters that had befallen the city? Where had he been disappearing to?
And why couldn’t he talk to her about it?

***
With the worst of the subway wreck extricated from the tunnels, Clark was able to relax slightly and think about Lois’s advice.
A press release. It wasn’t a bad idea, but release what? He didn’t want to admit the existence and effect of Kryptonite. It was bad enough that Luthor had access to the toxic rock without letting every criminal in on the secret of how to defeat him. Did he really want that? Did he want to be still looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life after Luthor was defeated for fear that some well-funded crook had gotten a hold of a chunk of sickly green crystal?
No, there would be no press release. Not while he still had a chance of bringing Luthor down and putting this whole mess behind him.
He turned his attention back to the clean-up.

***
“Today’s editions of the Daily Planet, sir.” Nigel St John placed the stack of newsprint on the desk in front of his employer.
“Ah. Let’s see.” Lex leant forward and picked up the first newspaper from the stack. “108 killed in subway crash, by Lois Lane. Mechanical failure blamed for subway crash, by Lois Lane.” He picked up the next edition of the Planet. “Lois Lane. Lois Lane.” He looked over at Nigel. “It appears that the lovely Lois is no longer working with Kent.”
“Your plan is succeeding, sir.”
“Divide and conquer, Nigel. Divide and conquer. With the breach between them growing, I have successfully isolated Superman from almost all of his closest supporters. After all, to truly defeat a battlefield opponent you must destroy their support systems, their allies, and any avenue of retreat.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Nigel, I think it’s time to set in train the next… little incident. Have you located a reliable source?”
“Yes, sir. A Mr Black. His demonstration was… most impressive.”
“Excellent. Set it up for… hmm. The day after tomorrow.”