Love it!
Louis Lane knew that Clara Kent was going to be trouble the instant he laid eyes on her. She was hunched in one of the chairs in Perry’s office, black hair in a tight French braid that screamed country bumpkin, wearing an unflattering suit that Louis strongly suspected had at one point belonged to her mother. The whole unbelievable outfit was topped off by a really too sweet oval locket with a flower engraved on the front, probably a hand me down from Meemaw. But all that wasn’t why Clara Kent was trouble. Oh no.
The trouble came in with those great big brown doe eyes, peering at Louis from behind unfavorably thick glasses. (If Clara’s suit used to be her mother’s, those glasses had probably once been her father’s, Louis would bet on it.) Those eyes said that Clara was a naïve country princess who would be broken by the city in a mere matter of weeks, and worse, there was an expression there when Clara looked at Louis that could only be described as worshipful.
Someone is in for a surprise once she's wearing different clothes.
And besides, he had Lucy to consider. Lucy was too fragile for the real world, and Louis had spent his entire life being her guard dog. Mad Dog Lane. Everyone thought that nickname had something to do with Louis’ tenacity when it came to journalism, but the truth was the nickname dated all the way back to high school. Some jerk had broken Lucy’s heart.
Louis had responded by breaking the guy’s face.
Whoa, what's that? Definitely something unexpected.
“Be patient with your father, Clara,” Mom’s voice sounded tinny through the phone. “You know he still thinks of you as his little girl.”
“His little girl who’s strong enough to stop a city bus,” Clara muttered.
Guess what happened the moment she arrived in Metropolis?
They all turned and looked at Louis. “If you like that sort of thing,” he said, feeling that they expected him to speak. To be truthful, he was a little surprised that Jimmy had prose like that in him.
Perry stuck out his hand. “Clara Kent, welcome to the Daily Planet!”
The farm girl shook Perry’s hand, her smile cranked up to superhuman levels.
Wait.
What?
“You wrote that?” Louis burst, looking at the, the… schoolmarm standing in front of him.
Guess who's got another think or two coming?
“Honey,” a deep alto voice made Clara turn. “I have *got* to take you shopping.”
Which will lead Clara straight to an invitation to the White Orchid Ball. I wonder who, exactly, is going to get the Luthor interview... Somehow, I can't see Luthor wine and dine Louis.
Every time something like this happened – an earthquake, a storm, an explosion – she always wondered… Could she have done something to stop it? With the powers she possessed, could she have saved lives? Didn’t she have a duty to help where she could?
<Dissect you like a frog.>
Ah, the usual.
<With great power comes great responsibility.>
Or not so usual. Wrong comic. (At least the two most prominent colors are the same, though.)
), but a request: please use shorter (20 characters tops or so) section breakers (the === in your fic), otherwise the browser adds horizontal scrollbars.
Michael
So far, so good. I like that you've only changed Lois and Clark to Louis and Clara, but kept all the other characters the same. I agree that will make this a much easier story to write.
and that Cat is so willing to take Clara under her wing.
Would Louis become a lounge singer and Clara a female bartender?
for those hard-working and underpaid Archivists and GEs, who probably have a special place in hell for me and my long 
RL…