In
All Shook Up Luthor shows Lois his Ark.
Luthor leads Lois down a long, sterile hallway. Its white walls and fluorescent lighting make it seem cold and scary. On the walls are schematic drawings of a complete underground city.
LUTHOR:
You are standing precisely five hundred meters below Metropolis street level. Surrounded by sixteen inch reinforced concrete walls. originally designed to survive a nuclear attacks.....think of it as an 'Ark.' We have room for two hundred people. Supplies to last three years.
How about a tale where Lois while investigating Luthor’s Ark get trapped in it. Locked down with Luthor and most of his inner circle outside. Clark does not crash in Metropolis but elsewhere and by the time he recovers his memory the remaining chunk of Nightfall has hit. Lois and those in the Ark are safe but trapped and Luthor and his inner circle are destroyed.
Clark resumes Superman duties and works elsewhere as much of Metropolis, including the Daily Planet, are destroyed.
The New Kryptonians arrive, Clark leaves with them. The Ark unlocks and Lois and those with her emerge into a world without a Superman.
How did Lois grow into the role of leader in the Ark?
And how does she cope with the new and different world?
BTW we know there were only about 10,000 people on New Krypton, that is simply to small to have a viable economy. So the folks on New Krypton are living off the stored supplies supplemented by small farms and minor industry. Clark being a world traveler and having grown up in a small town knows he must turn things around for them or they will by necessarily become a threat to a Earth.
Undoubtedly he is setting up trade relations with many of the smaller places he has visited. And New Krypton needs manpower, Earth has many refugees needing a place to start over, so there is a hidden flow of people from Earth to New Krypton.
