The Return of Ultra Woman

Chapter 3

It only takes a few days to get into the rhythm of living with the powers. I have to say that I like the advantages that these abilities, particularly the super speed, bring to getting ready for work in the morning. Over the course of this past week, I’ve gotten into the habit of doing almost everything in the morning at super speed, except, of course, for showering.

Work has turned out to be surprisingly unaffected by my new abilities. I’ve managed to avoid starting any more fires at the office, but then again, I haven’t seen the blonde girl since that one day. I wonder if she somehow sensed that she was the inadvertent target of that thermal outburst. So far, I haven’t had the opportunity to take advantage of my, um, upgrades. Based on years of working with my husband, I believe that the x-ray vision and hearing will be the most useful during an assignment, but that’s still to be tested.

Today we’re working on an investigation into some allegations of bribery in city government. We’re just getting ready to break for lunch when I see Clark get that familiar far-away look on his face. I know that there’s no point in asking what’s going on until his mind returns. Part of me is still annoyed that I don’t hear those emergency calls, but just the same, I haven’t made any real effort to train my hearing to pick them up. In an almost abrupt movement, Clark leans in close and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Gotta go,” he whispers and rushes for the stairwell.

At just that second, Perry comes walking up. “Where’s he off to in such a hurry?”

I’m long used to these questions by now. “Just one of his skittish sources,” I reply with a casual tone. “Clark has always had this habit of making connections that don’t feel comfortable around women. He has this great network of contacts that don’t like to talk with me there.”

Perry sighs. “I guess it’s a good thing you’re past your ‘Don’t trust anyone’ phase. There was a time when this would have driven you crazy with doubt thinking that your partner might be hiding something from you.”

“Well, you know his running off all the time almost broke us up in the early days. Getting to understand and trust him and what he was doing was part of the breakthrough that allowed us to be together.”

Just then, there was a shout of “Look at this!” from across the room. The bullpen television, which is kept on at all times in case of breaking news, was showing a picture of what looked to be the 53rd Street Bridge.

The image is an aerial shot of the bridge that appears to be coming from a news helicopter. Between the smallness of the screen and the image motion, it’s hard to make out a lot of detail. There's a column of smoke coming from the south end of the bridge. The smoke is an inky black color that I’ve seen before in fires where oil or gasoline is involved. As we watch, the helicopter moves in for a closer view. Now we can see dark red flames at the base of the smoke.

The fire seems to be so broad that the entire bridge roadway is blocked. This is particularly dangerous on this bridge since it always operates as one-way traffic flow. On many bridges, if one direction is blocked, the other lane can be used for evacuation or emergency vehicles. On this bridge, with the road blocked the way it is now by this fire, the only way off the bridge is to backtrack. With the accident at the very southern end of the bridge, and the bridge itself completely clogged with traffic, this is a particularly dangerous situation.

“Turn up the volume,” Perry shouts.

Someone must have found the remote for the television, because suddenly we can hear the audio feed. “…a tanker truck loaded with what looks like either fuel oil or gasoline was involved. We don’t know the details of what triggered this accident, but it’s clear that the resulting fire spread quickly and closed down the southbound traffic flow of the bridge. Superman arrived a moment ago and is presently working to get everyone clear of the fire.”

I see Perry look around quickly. “Samuelson, get down there now!”

“On it, Chief!” and he runs for the elevator.

I’m about to demand that I should have this story, but before I can say anything Perry turns to me and says, “Lois, I know what you’re going to say. Before you do, I’ll remind you that we had this talk a few years back, and Superman stories get spread around to the whole staff. It seems clear that this story falls into that category.”

I’m actually caught with my mouth open, but manage to stop myself before I say anything. It only takes a second to register that this is the correct decision. “Okay, Perry. I hate missing this, but you're right.”

As I turn back to the screen, a second voice comes in on the television audio feed. This sounds like an in-studio anchor. “Jim, do you have any idea why Superman hasn’t put out the fire?”

“When he first arrived a moment ago, it appeared to us that he was making an effort to do just that. However, it didn’t seem to work, and he quickly switched to getting people clear of the fire. I’m guessing that he felt it would be more effective to get all the people out of the area first. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him make another effort to put the fire out after all the people are clear.”

As the reporter continues, Perry turns back to me and asks, “Isn’t the 53rd Street Bridge the one you were investigating as part of the corruption scandal that you and Clark did last year?”

“Yes. We were following a money trail of contractors that did substandard work on a variety of city projects. There was some major maintenance done on that bridge last year and it appeared that there may have been some shortcuts taken in both materials and workmanship. However, as hard as we tried, Clark and I couldn’t find any proof of problems with the work on that project.”

Perry considered this for a second. “Do you think that bridge is safe?”

“I don’t know. You know as well as I do that in many cases, the lack of proof doesn’t mean that the problem doesn’t exist.”

I turn my attention back to the images and reports from the accident. “…appears that on this day, the traffic going across the bridge was composed mostly of trucks carrying gravel to the new Millennium City development complex.”

Up until that moment, I hadn’t given any thought to the load on the bridge. The fire is at the south end of the bridge and as the camera pans north from the accident scene, it looks like there was some sort of convoy of gravel trucks. This reminds me of our research on the bridge. The maintenance work that we investigated had been related to concerns about the overall structural integrity of this bridge. There were questions about its ability to carry heavy loads. It was the projections of the load requirements for the Millennium City project, which had triggered the maintenance work in the first place.

As we watch, Clark shifts his attention to the fire itself. He’s using the freeze breath to put out the fire starting from one side of the roadway. As he blows on the fire, I can see splattering of the burning liquid onto surrounding vehicles. If there had been people trapped in those cars and trucks when Clark arrived, I can see why he worked first to get the people clear. In only a few seconds, the fire is just about out.

Suddenly, the section of the bridge adjacent to where the fire was burning gives a sharp jerk and drops about six feet. Now the voice of the reporter covering the accident takes on an air of panic. “It appears that either the accident or the fire must have damaged the bridge. I can see bending metal and the bridge is twisting in a way that doesn’t look right. I think this section of the bridge is about to collapse!”

Clark disappears from the image of the fire clean-up. Only a second later the camera finds him holding up the bridge. The image zooms out and I can now see that people are practically leaping from their vehicles and running to get off the bridge. Unfortunately, the fire had not been completely out. As soon as Clark stopped blowing on it, the fire surged back and was now completely blocking the road. Since the fire was between them and the nearest end of the bridge, the people are fleeing back toward the north end where there was no impediment to getting off the bridge.

While Clark is holding the bridge, I can tell that he’s using his x-ray vision to watch the people flee. There are a few that are still in their cars but almost all of the people seem to have decided that it was past time to get out of their vehicles and off the bridge. Without warning, the camera jerks to the north end of the bridge. This section is now crowded with people fleeing the collapsing section. Progress is slow because this part of the bridge is full of vehicles. As I look at the image of this section of the bridge, I realize that there seems to be a concentration of those gravel trucks all near each other. As the image steadies on this part of the bridge, the deck drops in a way that resembles what happened at the south end of the bridge near the fire.

The voice of the reporter now becomes frantic. “…looks like there may be a similar problem at the north end of the bridge. I don’t know if it’s the gravel trucks, the extra weight of the people or if the fire has compromised the overall structural integrity of the bridge. Whatever the cause, that section of the bridge looks like it’s about to give way! There must be a couple of hundred people on that part of the bridge!”

I can’t believe I’m watching this. Clark is still supporting the bridge near the fire. Most of the people are now clear, and he’s trying to hold it just long enough to provide an escape for the stragglers. Some of the people have only just left their vehicles. Among these are some elderly and a few women with small children that aren’t moving very quickly.

In the minutes since the emergency began, a second camera crew has arrived and the picture is now a split-screen. One image is a wide shot of the bridge and the other is a close up of Clark. I can see him glancing back and forth between the two collapsing sections of the bridge.

The north end of the bridge gives another lurch. However, this time instead of stopping after a few feet, the bridge deck only slows down. It seems inevitable that unless Clark moves right now, many of the people that are still trying to get off the north end of the bridge will die.

With a look of anguish on his face, Clark seems to disappear. The next instant, the north end of the bridge stops falling and rises back to the original level. People are running now and it looks like the kind of situation where someone is going to be trampled.

Now the split image is showing both damaged areas of the bridge. Clark is holding the north section, but most of his attention seems directed toward the south end. Only a few seconds pass when, with a huge tearing sound, the section of the bridge near the fire collapses. The television camera zooms in just enough to see the cars and trucks falling to their destruction.

Mixed in among the debris are the unmistakable shapes of at least one pair of bodies.

TBC

Bob