All Weathered Out
By LaraMoon < laramoon@mac.com>  
Rated: PG
Submitted: November 2006

~.~.~.~.~

Author's Note:

Here I go again, being incredibly original... this is a rewrite
of "The Man of Steel Bars" where the heat wave is *not* caused
by Lex Luthor. (My very own little challenge for myself: a
Lex-free universe!)

This story is considerably longer than anything I've ever posted
before. And... it's got an A Plot. But I hope this won't
frighten you away. :)

The beginning of the story will sound mighty familiar, but I
promise it does differ from the episode at some point! For one
thing, like I said, the villain is different and... well I
brought in a few other people from the DC Universe as well, just
cause I felt like it. Hehehe! :) I also promise a little
chocolate ice cream scene, a good tearjerker and a sweet reunion
scene, so I hope this will encourage you to read on even though
this is a rewrite of an episode.

At the end of this file, you will find a small bio of the
characters I've used that aren't from L&C. You'll also find a
list of all the silly little inside jokes I've slipped in the
story while no one was looking. Some are really obvious (like
the space rats... LOL!) but some are so obscure they deserved an
explanation, so it's all right there at the end of the file. If,
by any chance, you're as warped as I am and you happened to pick
up on most - if not all - of them, I definitely want to know who
you are!

Last thing: I borrowed a few lines of dialog from both the
script and the actual episode (TMoSB)... I mean no disrespect or
- God forbid - copyright infringement. The characters (from L&C
and the ones from DCU, for that matter) belong to their
respectful creators/owners. Other than these small bits of
dialog, which I obviously didn't write myself, I wrote
everything else. And yes, the main idea is taken directly from
the show - but a lot of this came straight out of my own head,
not anyone else's. I swear! 

~.~.~.~.~

Is everybody going crazy
Is anybody gonna save me
Can anybody tell me what's going on
Tell me what's going on
If you open your eyes
You'll see that something is wrong

"Crazy" by Simple Plan

~.~.~.~.~


~ All Weathered Out ~

Lois Lane sat at her desk at the Daily Planet, shaking her head.
For the last several days, the temperature in Metropolis had
registered in the high 90's and the heat wave was starting to
take its toll on her and everyone else. It wasn't the
temperature that was bothering Lois right now, though, rather
the fact that it wasn't supposed to get this hot in December.

"This is ridiculous!" she said, to no one in particular. Then,
turning to her partner, she added, "Clark, do you realize that
people are actually planning trips up *north* for Christmas this
year?"

Clark Kent looked up at his partner, puzzled. "What's wrong with
going on vacation up north?" he asked.

"Are you serious?! People usually try to get away from the cold.
They fly south in winter, like the ducks! I was on the phone
with a travel agent just before. Would you believe they're
seeing a 500% increase in ski trips to Vermont and Colorado
compared to last year? Plus, cruises to the Caribbean are at an
all time low. It's as if we're living in... Bizarro world or
something!"

"Bizarro world?" he chuckled. "You just come up with that?"

"Whatever! Bizarro, Reverso, call it anything you like. It's
just very... strange-o!" She laughed. "You know... I'm really
starting to miss the brisk winter air and having snow on the
ground."

Clark raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Remind me to ask your
thoughts on winter when it's actually here," he teased. "I'm
pretty sure by then you'll be telling me how much you really
hate it!"

"Wanna bet?" she giggled. "But I sure could use a nice winter
breeze just about now, though."

Lois turned her attention back to her computer screen and
started typing up her notes about the vacationing trend she'd
mentioned.

Resisting the urge to oblige and send a short burst of cool
super-breath her way, Clark looked at the clock and got up from
his chair. "We should get going if we're going to make the press
conference," he told Lois.

"Right behind you," she said, typing furiously. A short few
seconds later, she saved her work, got up and ran towards the
elevator. "That press conference better be air conditioned!" she
grumbled, getting on.

~.~.~.~.~

Meanwhile, somewhere on the outskirts of Metropolis...

A man sat alone, amidst an assortment of computer parts and
electronic components, in the basement of an old abandoned
building. He wore an evil smile on his face.

He ran his fingers delicately on a metallic wand, which lay on
an end table next to where he was seated. The small glassy globe
set at the end of the rod shone briefly at his touch.

"Clyde," he whispered, "you are a genius! I wish you were alive
to see this, brother; see how your research - your life's work -
is going to rid us of that overgrown Boy Scout in blue tights.
Soon, I will rule over Metropolis."

~.~.~.~.~

"This press conference is going to be a nightmare," Lois thought
to herself once they got there. 

It looked like every reporter in the city was crammed into the
small conference room at City Hall and, worst of all, there was
absolutely no air conditioning!

"I hope this is over real quick, we can barely breathe in here!"
she told Clark.

He shrugged. "I can cover this solo if you like. I'm not sure
how much news we can get from this anyway. I doubt they know
what's causing the heat wave, even the meteorologists at the
weather network seem to be stumped."

"Nah, I'm good. Besides, if *they* all start suffocating - " She
made a hand gesture to indicate she meant the other reporters. "
- it'll give *us* something to write about!" Lois winked at
Clark and together they made their way towards the front of the
room.

The Mayor made his entrance, along with several city officials,
meteorologists and other scientists. His statement merely
consisted of explaining what efforts were being deployed in
order to avoid brownouts and power failures. He also urged the
population to limit their energy consumption as much as
possible. No doubt every air conditioning unit in the city was
working full power around the clock and this created
extraordinary demands for electricity. With that, they started
taking questions from the crowd of journalists.

Unable to silence the question that was burning her lips, Lois
blurted out, "Is anyone going to tell us where the heat is
coming from?"

"We've been studying all meteorological phenomena in the area:
the jet stream, the ozone layer, even sun spots, but all
patterns have remained consistently normal," one scientist
replied.

"We have a theory..." another scientist confessed,
uncomfortably.

The two scientists argued somewhat, claiming the theory hadn't
been proven, that it was still just a hypothesis for the moment
and that they were still entertaining several other
possibilities.

"Please! We have a right to know what's causing this extreme
condition!" Lois told them, above the crowd.

"Not 'what'... it's 'who'," was the answer they got.

Astonishment ran through the crowd of reporters. "Who?" several
of them exclaimed simultaneously. This was going to be big
news!

"On behalf of the citizens of Metropolis," Lois yelled out, "I
demand to know who that person is!" She had completely morphed
into 'Mad Dog' by now.

All eyes turned to the podium, everyone impatiently awaiting an
answer.

One of the scientists took a deep breath and looked around the
room. "Superman," he said finally.

Jaws dropped and eyes grew wide. Could this man really have said
what they'd heard him say?

Clark felt his blood run cold. They thought he was responsible
for the heat? But... how? Surely they were mistaken! He would
never dream of endangering the population of Metropolis. For
crying out loud, he spent all his spare time trying to save them
from all sorts of perils! This made no sense at all.

Lois couldn't believe her ears. Of all the things they'd ever
accused Superman of since he'd arrived in Metropolis, this was
certainly the most ridiculous one of all, she thought.

"Come on, Clark, we're leaving. The heat's made all their brains
go soft! How dare they accuse Superman like that! How dare!"
Lois said, irate, tugging sharply at Clark's sleeve.

Under normal circumstances, Clark would have recognized this as
Lois going into 'battle-mode' and his cue to do the same.
However, these weren't normal circumstances and Clark was so
lost in thought he barely heard Lois' comment. He saw her turn
to exit the room and simply followed out of habit.

~.~.~.~.~

By the time they made it back to the Planet, Lois was getting
worried that something was seriously wrong with Clark. He hadn't
said a single word to her since they'd left City Hall and,
moreover, he had a strange haunted look on his face.

"Clark? Are you OK?" she asked him as they entered the lobby.
"You haven't said one word since we left there. What's wrong?"

He didn't answer, just kept walking towards the elevator. Lois
grabbed him by the arm. "Earth to Clark!" she said insistently.
"What is the matter with you?"

"Huh?" he replied, slightly dazed. "Sorry. You were saying?"

"Clark, you haven't said a word since we left the press
conference, that's not normal, even for you. What's up, partner?
Is something wrong?"

"Wrong? Oh... well, I've got a bit of a migraine coming on," he
lied. "With all this heat and, you know... poorly ventilated
rooms."

"I'll file the story on the press conference. You go on home and
get better, OK?" She patted his arm affectionately.

"Yeah, I think I'll do that. Thanks, Lois." He smiled warmly and
left.

"Poor guy," Lois thought to herself. "No wonder the heat's
affecting him, he's been walking around with his suit jacket on
all day!" She shrugged and got on the elevator.

As she got in the newsroom, Perry walked up to her. "Did you
lose your partner on the way?" he asked.

"Well, he said he had a migraine. I... uh... sent him home,
actually," she told him.

"That damned heat's knocking out everyone right now... If this
keeps up, there won't be anyone left in this newsroom!"

"Well, it's not like he's been abusing his sick-day reserve or
anything! And you should have seen him, Perry, he looked really
awful..."

"Yeah, I know it's not like him to be sick at all. Anyway... the
press conference... What's the word? They have any idea what's
going on at all?"

"Not really," she told him, "in fact, I think the heat's making
them all a bit delusional. They're blaming Superman!"

"Superman?" Perry asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Like that makes any sense at all!"

"They do say his powers are solar induced," Jimmy chimed in.
"Maybe he's like a battery? And recharging him makes the
temperature rise 'cause he's attracting so much sunlight? Sounds
quite plausible, if you ask me."

"Jimmy! Whose side are you on?" Lois countered, obviously
offended by Jimmy's comment. No one was allowed to badmouth her
hero! Especially not her friends! "I refuse to believe that
Superman is at fault!" she added, throwing her hands in the air
in total frustration.

"Lois, calm down," Perry told her. "Now, if you're not going to
be objective about this, I'll have to assign someone else to
write the story. Otherwise, I want you to sit down and type. I'm
thinking, front page title: 'super feat equals super heat?' and
I want it on my desk half an hour ago!"

"Yeah, yeah, OK," she said dejectedly and started working on the
article.

~.~.~.~.~

Later, in the villain's lair...

Setting the afternoon edition of the Daily Planet on the drawing
table in front of him, the man rubbed his hands together
triumphantly.

"I can't believe how perfectly this plan is working out!" he
exclaimed. "It's such a pity you'll never witness it, my dear
Clyde!"

He walked over to the main computer and punched in a series of
keys on the keyboard. Seconds later, the screen flickered and
the image of a woman appeared.

"All set for phase three," he said.

The woman gave him a thumb's up and together they laughed
wickedly.

~.~.~.~.~

That afternoon there was an explosion in a warehouse.
Eyewitnesses said they'd seen some sort of lightning bolt hit
the electric generator, which had blown up, trapping workers
inside the building. Superman had flown in and gotten everyone
out of harm's way, then he had secured the warehouse and left.

As a result, the temperature had risen several degrees more,
thereby confirming the current theory that the heat wave was a
direct result of super activity.

Shortly thereafter, all local TV stations started broadcasting
special news reports that were basically offering proof to the
population of Metropolis that Superman was indeed the culprit.

Clark sat in his living room, his head in his hands. He could
not believe what he was hearing. How could this be possible?
He'd been using his super powers for years outside of Metropolis
and that had never been the cause for any such temperature rise.
What was going on?

Just then, he saw the City Attorney come on screen. She was
coming out of the courthouse and was quickly surrounded by a
large crowd of journalists.

"...to cease and desist in the usage of his super powers," she
was saying. "I have subpoenaed him to appear in court tomorrow
morning..."

Clark sighed in despair. "Cease and desist? How do I do that? I
can keep my feet on the ground and stop using my heat vision,
but how do they expect me to turn off my invulnerability aura?"

A few minutes later, his phone rang. He reluctantly picked up.
He was in no mood to speak to anyone right now...

"Clark? It's Lois. Did you hear? They want to get Superman in
court and have him stop... well, you know, being 'super'.
They've all gone completely nuts! Hey, how's your migraine? Are
you feeling any better? Oh... you weren't sleeping, I hope? Did
I wake you?"

He couldn't help but smile. Lois' babbling always had that
effect on Clark. Most people found it annoying, but for reasons
beyond logic, he loved that about her.

"No, you didn't wake me. And yeah, I saw that on TV just now,"
he told her.

"They're crazy, right? You don't think it's his fault either, do
you?" she asked, hoping she wasn't the only one whose sanity
wasn't affected by the heat. Clark was Superman's friend, after
all. He was bound to be on the hero's side!

"I... uh... you know what? I *don't* know. I don't have any
idea. It doesn't sound logical to me, but I mean... what do we
really know about Superman? How can we be sure it isn't his
fault? Are there tests they can do, you think?"

"Well, I was thinking... So far, all the evidence they've been
showing only pertains to dates. You know? On that day, Superman
did this and the temperature was a certain degree... and they've
got graphs that show the temperature rising after each time he's
done something super, right? Well... what if we looked at
locations instead? See for instance, if I were to check what the
temperature was when he went over to China for two days and
helped after the earthquake, I wonder if we'd see temperature
rises as important as what we're seeing here."

"I'm not sure... Granted we're pretty much certain that his
powers are solar induced, he needs the sun to sustain them in a
way. That means he attracts sunlight and I guess his body
accumulates it, like a battery, but is that even enough to make
the temperature rise at all? Wouldn't the temperature have shot
well over 100 this summer if that was the case?"

"Oh. I hadn't thought about it that way," Lois said, defeated.
"You think?"

"Like I said, I don't know... I don't even think Superman
himself knows for sure," Clark told her. He really wished he did
have some idea how his very own body used sunlight. If he had,
then it would be a lot easier to figure all of this out. But
Clark knew as much about how his body worked as he knew about
life on Krypton, which is to say he was basically clueless and
that really annoyed him right now.

"I still think it may be worth looking into. You feeling up to
it, Clark? Because there's a lot of data to go through and I
could sure use your help."

"I'd be happy to help, but to be perfectly honest, I'm not
certain I'm doing well enough to go back to the Planet," he
answered. That wasn't a lie. He obviously didn't have a migraine
like he'd told her before, but his spirits were quite low. He
knew that if he went into the newsroom he'd only end up more
depressed. All they'd be talking about was the heat and how it
was probably Superman's fault. Clark didn't think he could
endure that and not end up snapping at everyone. They didn't
deserve that from him.

"That's OK, Clark. Stay right where you are. I'll even bring ice
cream!" Lois said cheerfully.

Maybe a little company was a good idea after all, Clark thought.
Besides, Lois was one of the only people around who wasn't
trying to pin the blame on Superman. In fact, knowing that she
was in his corner - even though she thought Superman was an
entire other person - always warmed his heart. There wasn't
anyone else who would literally get in the ring and fight to
save the Man of Steel. Clark - and Superman - could really use
someone like Lois just now.

"Yeah, sure," he said, "ice cream sounds really good,
actually."

"I'll be right over!" Lois told him and she hung up.

~.~.~.~.~

At the same time, somewhere on the edge of town...

"You've done a wonderful job at that warehouse," said the man to
his female contact on the main computer screen.
"Congratulations!"

"Why, thank you, Wizard," the woman answered.

She made her hand into a fist and, upon opening it, a small ball
of lightning seemed to hover inside it.

"The plan is still on track," he added, unimpressed by her
display of power. "Superman is so predictable! And thanks to the
media, the population's opinion of the Man of Steel has never
been so low."

"Yes. They're going to drive Superman right out of the city in a
matter of days," she said, twisting a lock of her azure hair
between her fingers.

"Soon, the whole world will bow to me!" the man said, a
victorious smile on his face.

"WHAT?" she roared, "Bow to *you*?"

Blue lightning flashed on the screen, then it went dead. A few
seconds later, the woman stood in the room with him.

He hated that she was able to do that! It was a good thing his
power could easily overcome hers.

"We're a *team*, you megalomaniac imbecile! Or have you
forgotten about the rest of us?" she said, pointing a finger in
his face. "If they're going remember anyone's name it won't be
yours, it will be the team's! You got that?"

"May I remind you, my dear Livewire, that I control *all*
weather. I could easily make it rain in this very room. And you
and I both know what water could do to you, don't we?" He smiled
at her viciously. "Therefore, I would advise you to keep your
tongue and your temper in check."

"As long as you claim allegiance to the Superman Revenge Squad,
you will behave as a member of the team," she warned him. "We
work together or you're out!"

"Well, as we've established before all this began, short of us
having to match strength with the Man of Steel - and you know
full well he'd beat us hands down - this is the only way we have
left of getting rid of Superman for good. And since I'm the only
one capable of driving the weather, I do believe you need me a
lot more than I need you."

"Nevertheless, either you stop acting like you're some supreme
ruler, or I will personally ask Metallo to teach you the meaning
of teamwork."

And with that, she turned into a lightning bolt and disappeared
into an electric outlet.

~.~.~.~.~

Lois showed up at Clark's apartment barely ten minutes after
hanging up the phone. She was carrying a shopping bag, which
seemed to contain at least a dozen small cartons of ice cream.

"That was quick!" he remarked, once he'd opened the door.

"Well... I was already halfway here when I called," she
admitted, blushing slightly. "I figured if you were doing
better, you'd agree to give me a hand and... well, if you still
weren't feeling well, I've brought you something for the
migraine."

Clark smiled and moved aside to let Lois in. He should have
known she'd come over whether he wanted it or not... Lois never
was able to take no for an answer.

Closing the door behind her, he took the shopping bag she was
carrying. For a few seconds, Lois stood at the door, just
watching him walk away into the kitchen. Clark was wearing a
pair of shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt, which let Lois catch a
good glimpse of the well-developed body he hid under his suits
all the time. "There's something to be said about being raised
on a farm," she thought with an appreciative smile. For a second
she found herself daydreaming of what it would be like to be
embraced by someone with such nice muscular arms... Most of the
men she'd dated had nothing on him in that department. In fact,
Lois didn't think she knew anyone who looked so strong and
athletic, other than Superman of course.

"Just how many cartons of ice cream did you buy?" he asked, as
he started loading them into the freezer.

Clark's question caused Lois to suddenly come back to her
senses. "Oh... uh... I didn't know which was your favorite, so I
grabbed one of every kind," she explained, making her way
towards the kitchen table. "With this heat, I figure we'll go
through them in no time anyway. Right?"

"Well, it's a good thing I like chocolate," He laughed softly.
"Cause these all look like they're a different flavor of
chocolate!"

"As a matter of fact, they are," she told him with a grin. "Why
would I have bought pistachio or vanilla when they have so many
different flavors of chocolate? Besides, I don't like pistachio
and vanilla!"

"I can see that!" he said, shaking his head. Leave it to Lois do
something selfishly kind!

Clark left out two of the containers and grabbed a couple of
spoons from the utensil drawer.

"Here," he said, handing her one of the ice cream cartons, "this
one is Swiss Chocolate Chip."

"Mmmm!" she said, taking the ice cream from him, with a
delighted smile on her face. "Which one did you pick?"

"Uh... I didn't look..." He read the label. "It says Double
Mocha Fudge."

"Oh," she replied, sounding suddenly dispirited, "well... that
sounds nice, too."

Just what was it with Lois and chocolate? And why did she need
to sound like she'd lost a competition? As if this was a "win
the best ice cream" contest and she'd just taken home the booby
prize! Clark rolled his eyes and sighed. As long as he lived, he
would probably never understand this woman!

"Here, take the Double Mocha. It obviously means a lot more to
you which flavor it is."

She gave him a huge smile, like a kid would upon receiving the
world's most incredible gift. "Thanks, Clark!" she said and
happily exchanged their cartons of ice cream before walking over
to his living room and letting herself sink into the big comfy
couch.

He had barely had time to sit down himself that Lois was already
halfway through her ice cream. He shook his head in disbelief.
"Looks like this is *her* super power," Clark thought to
himself, "eating ice cream faster than you can say
'chocolate'."

Lois stopped gobbling down the frozen treat long enough to take
a few breaths. "Oh, my God!" she said, letting out a sigh to
indicate her contentment, "this is sooooooooo good!" She closed
her eyes, smiled and went "mmmmmm!" a few times.

Clark looked at her in awe. How did she do that, he wondered.
How was it she could make that whole ice cream eating experience
look like something... well... erotic?

"How about we... uh... get started on that data?" he asked,
forcing himself to stop staring at once.

"Oh, right... right... the heat wave," she said, as if forced
back to reality from a wonderful chocolate dream.

She dropped her spoon in the ice cream carton and set it on the
coffee table, then grabbed a notepad and some files out of her
briefcase and laid them out in front of them.

"These are all of Superman's rescues that we're aware of," she
told Clark, pointing at one file, "and this one contains
meteorological data for the last six weeks. I suppose I could
have asked for six months of it, but it would have taken too
long to get the information, so I just took as much as I could
get my hands on right away."

Clark picked up the file containing the meteorological data. He
obviously didn't need to look up any of Superman's activity from
the other file... He remembered perfectly well where he'd been
and what he'd done over the past few weeks. Even the rescues
that never made it in the news.

They worked late into the night, cross-referencing dates and
places with temperature and super rescues, trying to find a
pattern. But there was nothing conclusive. The temperature rose
and fell and, just when they thought they'd found a correlation
between places and events, they'd notice something else that
went in the complete opposite direction. They were clearly not
going anywhere with this; there wasn't enough hard evidence to
prove any theory at all.

"I think we should call it a night," Clark suggested, slightly
after 1 AM. "We're just going around in circles."

"And we're about out of ice cream, too" Lois remarked, pouting,
as she pointed at the empty cartons on the coffee table.

Clark rolled his eyes. "You've got a serious chocolate ice cream
obsession, don't you?"

"Yep!" She giggled, then she stood up to gather her files and
prepared to leave.

"Maybe the next step would be to have S.T.A.R. Labs do some
tests on Superman," Clark offered. "I'll go over there tomorrow
morning and see if there's any way they can help out with this.
Is it OK if I leave you to cover the hearing at the
courthouse?"

"Yeah, good idea. You meet with them and get them to set up
tests of some kind. We need something concrete if we're going to
be able to prove anything. As for the hearing, well, I wouldn't
dream of missing it anyway. I mean, if Superman needs character
witnesses or something, well, I really better be there!"

Clark raised an eyebrow in scepticism. As if they'd let Lois
Lane - Superman's number one groupie - testify in court, he
thought. She was completely incapable of being objective where
he was concerned... Of course they were not going to let her
speak on his behalf! Still, the thought of Lois wanting to be
there for him did wonders for his self-esteem.

"I'll walk you home," he offered her, as they got to his front
door.

"Oh, you don't have to do that, Clark. I'll just take a cab.
I'll be fine."

"It's no trouble," he explained, "I need some fresh air anyway
and I think walking outside for a while would do me some good."

"Migraine still bugging you?" Lois asked, concerned. "You should
have told me, I wouldn't have kept you up so late if I'd
known."

"No, don't worry, I'm doing a lot better than before. And I
rather enjoyed the company, to be honest." he told her, as they
exited his apartment.

"And the ice cream, I hope?" she enquired.

"And the ice cream," he echoed with a smile.

~.~.~.~.~

Clark had spent most of the night flying over Metropolis, after
walking Lois home. The meteorological data had not helped find a
trend, one way or another. If it had, then at least he would
have known what to do about it. Instead, he'd spent hours trying
to imagine every possible scenario and what each of them meant
for his - and Superman's - future, most of which had no happy
ending. As a result, when he appeared in court as Superman in
the morning, Clark looked tired and defeated.

Judge Diggs was presiding over the hearing. She'd been quite
sympathetic at first, telling Superman that she was a fan, that
she appreciated what he did for the people of Metropolis. But
she was just hiding an iron fist in a velvet glove.

When asked if he would submit to the court and cease using all
his super powers, Superman unfortunately had to tell her that it
was impossible for him to do that.

Surprise and indignation ran through the crowd. Impossible? What
did that mean? That he wasn't going to comply? What was he, a
friend or a foe?


The judge pounded her gavel several times before the courtroom
finally went quiet again.

"Do you mean you can't, or you won't?" she asked Superman,
frowning.

"I mean that I can't. Not completely," he explained
apologetically.

The crowd started voicing objections again and Judge Diggs once
more pounded her gavel to silence them.

"Would you care to elaborate?" she asked impatiently.

"Well, even if I can promise not to fly or use my heat vision,
for instance, I cannot turn off my aura of invulnerability. It's
always there whether I wish it or not." Clark knew he should
also have mentioned the super-hearing ability, which he couldn't
turn off, either... But he guessed that the aura probably
required a lot more solar energy than a heightened sense ever
would.

He continued his explanation, "As much as I would like to argue
that it's not actually doing anything unless I'm being punched,
or shot if you will, the fact of the matter is that it's always
working, it's always 'on'. It's preventing germs from invading
my body as we speak. It is always being used and always
fighting... something. Now, I can promise not to use any of my
other powers, but I'd have lied if I'd told you I could stop
using absolutely every one of them."

The crowd grew louder and louder as Superman spoke. 

"What does this mean?"

"Is he saying it's his fault?" 

"He's pleading guilty?" 

"If he can't turn that off, what is he going to do?"

Again, Judge Diggs pounded her gavel. She had to pound it for
several seconds, even verbally ask the crowd to quiet down
before they complied this time.

"I see," she said. "Well, then it looks like we're stuck between
the proverbial rock and a hard place for now. If you will not
submit to this injunction, I would need to hold you in contempt
of court. However, I do appreciate your honesty. You might have
chosen not to mention these facts, but you have. In the interest
of fairness - since you cannot physically do what's being asked
of you - and given that you are clearly not trying to deceive
anyone by hiding this, I believe we owe you the courtesy of
working out some sort of arrangement that would suit all
parties."

The judge paused, then asked the City Attorney to approach the
bench. For a few minutes, they discussed an alternate solution
to the situation. Satisfied, the attorney went back to her chair
and the judge proceeded to explain what they'd agreed upon.

"Superman," she started, "we're going to limit this to your not
making use of the powers that you can manage to control. And...
you'll also need to stay completely out of the sunlight, until
further notice. Obviously, you need to leave the courthouse, so
I will give you an hour to find a place to hide from the sun.
But no more. Do you agree to these terms?"

"Yes, your honor," he said solemnly.

With that, court was adjourned.

~.~.~.~.~

Meanwhile, back in the Wizard's lab...

"You *will* get him to do this!" the man yelled at Livewire's
startled image. He slammed his fist on the table next to him.
Several of the electronic components, which had been sitting on
top of it, flew up into the air and crashed to the floor.

"Well, I'm sorry," she said, surprised by his violent reaction,
"but he's refusing to take orders from you. And I don't think I
can make him."

"Listen to me, and I suggest you listen really good," he
commanded. "I don't care if you have to kneel down before him
and beg, I don't care *what* you have to do. Hell, I don't give
a damn if you have to do this yourself. This is going to happen
and that's the end of it. There's going to be a train accident
tonight and I couldn't care less how it comes to be, it will
just be."

"I'll see what I can do, but..."

"No 'buts'," he cut in, his face red with anger, "you're going
to make this happen! Or believe me, my dear, it will most
definitely *rain* on your parade."

Livewire let out a frustrated sigh and cut the communication.
She hated this man! She was starting to hate him even more than
she hated Superman. As soon as the superhero was gone, she'd get
rid of the Weather Wizard, she vowed. All she had to do was
crush his stupid wand... And then she could rule over
Metropolis. Yes! She would control the city herself!

~.~.~.~.~

Clark managed to return home unnoticed after the court hearing.
He called Jimmy at the Planet and had him leave a message for
Lois to call him at home. He wasn't going to the office, he
explained, as his head was still throbbing with pain and it was
all he could do to think right now.

Lying to Jimmy wasn't something Clark especially liked to do,
but he had no other choice. He had agreed to stay indoors until
further notice and the fact that no one knew *he* was Superman
didn't mean that Clark Kent could go running around town in his
street clothes and pretend that he wasn't violating an
injunction. If Superman had to be confined someplace, then Clark
would have to convince people that he needed to stay home for
now. He hoped this wouldn't get so complicated that he'd let
anything slip. Talking about himself in the third person was
starting to be second nature by now - and so was pretending that
he had conversations with... well, himself - but Clark wasn't
very good at lying to everyone he knew. He hated doing it so
much, no wonder he hadn't mastered the skill... This time,
though, he really needed to pull it off, or he'd likely get
himself in a heap of trouble!

He thought about his options for a while. Staying in his
apartment with the blinds shut probably wasn't sufficient, if he
were being honest. Sunlight did still come through no matter
what and since he'd promised to stay completely out of it, that
wasn't really acceptable, was it? So Clark picked up the phone
and called S.T.A.R. Labs. He had Superman speak with Dr. Klein
and ask whether there was any way they could set up some place
for him to stay where he would be absolutely certain there was
no natural light.

"Yes, yes, of course. We'd be more than happy to accommodate
you," the scientist told him. "Several of our labs are below
ground level. They can even be sealed off, if you need to be
completely isolated."

"I don't think that will be necessary," Superman replied, "I
appreciate your help, Dr. Klein. I couldn't think of anywhere
else that might permit me to respect the terms of this
injunction. I hope I can count on you to keep this a secret?"

"Oh, yes, definitely. No one other than myself needs to know and
I give you my word, Superman, I will not betray your
confidence."

"Thank you," Superman said, grateful for the doctor's
discretion. "I need to stay where I am for now; I have to be
indoors at least until the sun sets. When do you think it would
be safe for me to meet you without risking being seen by anyone
there?"

"Well... uh... I should think midnight would be appropriate for
that," the scientist suggested. "The security guards would be
doing their rounds then, so I can get you in through the back
door. There won't be anyone at the front desk to see it happen
on the surveillance screens. They never go back and rewind the
tapes to see what's gone on while they were away unless an alarm
sounds, so it won't be that hard to get you in unnoticed. Then I
can rig the camera in my private lab so that they won't see
what's actually going on down there. You'll need to hide while
they do rounds, but I expect you should be able to hear them
coming way ahead of time. Besides, they usually just look
through the window on the door; they don't come in the lab.
Nobody but the guards and myself have clearance to enter that
lab, so you'll be perfectly safe and no one will know you're
there."

"Perfect. I'll meet you at the back entrance at midnight, then.
Thank you again, Dr. Klein."

Now, all Clark needed to do was think of a good enough excuse
for himself to disappear from Metropolis for a while...

~.~.~.~.~

Lois went back to the Planet with a heavy heart. She had hoped
to be able to speak to Superman for a minute or two after the
hearing. She just wanted to reassure him that there was at least
one person out there who didn't think he was guilty and tell him
that she and Clark were working on finding the *real* cause of
the heat wave. He usually stopped a few seconds to chat when she
was there, so she had hoped that he would this time as well. But
he had completely ignored her. Ok, so he also ignored every
other reporter and left without answering a single question from
anyone. Maybe he hadn't seen her there? He had left so quickly!

And now... Lois had no clue where Superman was or how to contact
him - not that she normally did, but this time no amount of
screaming out his name would make him show up, would it? He'd
agreed to stay locked up somewhere and she didn't have the
faintest idea where he could be. Poor man, he was probably all
alone, worried and hurt and... well, just the thought of him
being miserable made Lois miserable too.

She wondered if Clark had had any luck with the scientists at
S.T.A.R. Labs. Not that it really mattered that much anymore...
Even if they could perform tests on Superman, the injunction
prevented him from using any of his powers - how would they be
able to find out if there was a direct connection between the
temperature and his super powers if he was restricted from using
them? Besides, they wouldn't know how to contact him any more
than she did, would they? Then again... maybe Clark would know?
He seemed to have a privileged relationship with the Man of
Steel, after all. She'd just have to make Clark tell her what he
knew next time she spoke to him.

Jimmy caught up with Lois as she entered the newsroom.

"Hey, Lois, I have a..." he started, but she quickly interrupted
him.

"Not now, Jimmy, I have to get this article in right away."

"But..." he protested.

"Not now!" she snapped, walking towards her desk as fast as her
legs could take her.

"But, I have a mes..." Jimmy tried again in vain.

"I said *not now*," Lois hissed, giving him an angry look. She
dropped her briefcase on her desk and sat down at the computer
to type her account of the court hearing.

Jimmy sighed, frustrated. He made a beeline for his desk, where
he grabbed a pen and scribbled a note in huge letters on a piece
of paper. Once he was done writing, he walked over to Lois and
slammed the note on her desk. He took off as quickly as he'd
come.

"Hey!" Lois shouted at him. She looked at the sheet of paper. It
said "Call C.K. at home."

"Jimmy!" she hollered, "why didn't you tell me right away?"

Jimmy turned to face her and gave her an 'are you kidding me'
kind of glare. "Women!" he thought to himself before he
disappeared into the copy room.

Lois picked up the phone and stuck the handset between her
shoulder and her ear. She dialed Clark's number, then went on
about typing her article.

"Hey, it's me," she announced, barely giving Clark enough time
to say 'Hello' after he'd picked up. "I take it you're not
feeling any better?" Lois asked, although it sounded more like
an accusation than it did a question.

"Seriously, no. It's like my head is going to explode," he told
her. He wasn't making it up, either. He'd been trying to make
sense of things, weighing his options, hoping to find some way
of saving himself and Superman... and failing miserably!

"You need to see a doctor, Clark," she said very
matter-of-factly. "Did you get a chance to talk to anyone at
S.T.A.R. Labs?"

"Actually, yes, I spoke with..." he started.

"There aren't going to be any tests," Lois cut in. "Right?"

"I don't see how they could possibly..."

"Yeah, I didn't think so," she interrupted again. "Anything
else?"

"Uh... well... no." Clark answered.

"Clark?" Lois asked, suddenly switching from her 'all business'
attitude to a gentler sounding tone. "You heard about the
hearing, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I heard," he said, regretfully.

"You wouldn't happen to know..." she hesitated for a second
before spitting it out, "Do you have any idea where he's hiding
out? Superman, I mean."

"Lois, he doesn't want anyone to know... Not for the moment
anyway. I mean, for one thing it could be dangerous. And not
just for him. Besides, the last thing he wants is nosy reporters
hanging around, wanting to ask questions. Even worse, people
stopping by to catch a glimpse of the fallen hero."

"You know where he is, though, don't you?" Lois enquired.

"I do," he sighed. He didn't feel like arguing with her about
this. Not now. It was best to tell her the truth anyway. Of
course, he wasn't about to tell her *where* Superman was, but
Clark still always favored the truth over lies, even little
white ones, if he could manage it.

"I don't suppose I could convince you to tell me, could I?" she
asked, sounding downright sugary sweet by then.

" 'fraid not."

"It's just... I'm worried about him," Lois confessed.

"About Superman? Why?" Clark was surprised by her statement.
Lois worried about Superman? That was a strange role reversal...
it was usually he who worried about her. People weren't usually
concerned with the well-being of an invulnerable alien, anyway.
This felt slightly odd. Pleasant, but odd.

"Oh, I don't know..." she admitted. "It's just, I don't suppose
he has a lot of people he can sit down with and talk to about
things. He must feel lonely and isolated right now. Especially
isolated. He's been ordered to go into hiding, for crying out
loud! I just thought... well... I just thought maybe he needed
someone to tell him they cared and that things will get better.
That sort of thing. You know? A friend."

Clark wished he could tell Lois how much he really did need a
friend, right now. But that just wasn't possible. He had to keep
up the charade, let her think that *he* was there for Superman
no matter how ridiculous-sounding that was, considering it meant
he was there for himself...

"I'm sure he'd appreciate it, Lois."

"But you won't tell me," she added, sourly.

"I'm sorry..."

"Right... Well, I have to finish this story. Go see a doctor
about your migraine, Clark. OK? I don't know how long I can
cover for you with half the newsroom already out of
commission."

Lois hung up without waiting for Clark to say anything more.

Clark sighed, somewhat frustrated, and dropped the handset back
into the cradle. On the bright side, he thought, he'd managed to
buy himself a little more time to come up with an excuse for
having to go out of town while Superman stayed sequestered at
S.T.A.R. Labs.

~.~.~.~.~

By mid-afternoon, Clark was going stir crazy. He'd been pacing
for hours, trying not to get himself all worked up over the news
reports about Superman that had been running continuously since
the hearing. Some of what these so-called journalists were
reporting was so far off from the truth he was ashamed to think
he shared their profession.

The phone rang, but Clark was so lost in thought it took several
rings before he even noticed anything.

"Yeah?" he answered, with an exasperated sigh.

"Clark? Honey, what's going on over there? Are you OK?" came
Martha Kent's frantic voice.

"You should have called us, son," Jonathan Kent added,
reprovingly.

"Oh... Hi Mom, Dad. I'm sorry... I'm really not thinking
straight right now," Clark told his parents.

"What's all this nonsense about the temperature and you having
to stay out of the sun?" his mother asked.

"Well, the temperature has definitely been rising over here,
that's not a collective hallucination or anything," he
explained. "It's like a furnace out there! As for the rest, I
have to admit I'm just as clueless as you guys. I don't really
see how but, for the time being, it appears likely that I am
responsible for this heat wave."

"Hogwash!" his Dad interjected. "You've used your powers for
years in Smallville and there's never been any changes in
temperature. And there's been no such thing in any other part of
the world you've been to either, has there?"

"No... but ever since I've been in Metropolis, ever since I put
on that Suit, I've been using my powers a lot more than I ever
had before and not just for everyday stuff. We're talking major
rescue operations on a daily basis here."

"Still. We don't see how this makes any sense at all!"

"Yeah, I know. I'm not sure I understand it very well either,"
Clark admitted. "But what can I do? We all agree this needs to
be looked into, there needs to be some real investigation into
the cause of it and obviously while I'm out there using my
powers it's hindering the results. Besides, I couldn't possibly
stand there and tell a judge that there is no way I would submit
to the judicial system. Do you have any idea what that would
look like?"

"Of course you couldn't do that, sweetie, of course," Martha
conceded. "But what does it mean for you, though?"

"What are you going to do?" her husband added.

"I've arranged to stay at S.T.A.R. Labs for a while. I'll be
able to monitor things from there a lot more easily and I'll
definitely be out of the sunlight completely."

"Won't that harm you, son?" Jonathan asked, concerned. "Not
being able to see the sun at all?"

"I honestly don't know," Clark told them, defeated. "But it
might serve as proof that I don't actually need *that much*
sun..."

"Why don't you come back to Smallville instead?"

"Because, Mom... what if they are right? If I am a solar
conductor, then what does it matter where I am? I would still
end up being a menace to people and the last thing I want to do
is put you guys in danger!"

"But if you're going to stay holed up in a lab for days...
Clark, that doesn't make much sense either, you know. You wanted
to live in the city, sure, not be imprisoned there!"

"I know, Dad, I know. I'll... I'll think of something. Don't
worry too much about me."

"Clark, of course we worry. That's what parents do," Martha
explained. "We love you, honey. Just you remember that and we're
always here for you."

" 'Love you guys too. I promise I'll let you know what's going
on every chance I get."

Clark hung up after exchanging goodbyes with his parents.

He knew he needed to get in touch with Perry sometime soon...
He'd been putting it off as he wasn't able to think of a good
enough excuse for him to be out of commission for an
undetermined period of time. Surely he couldn't play the
migraine card much longer or the editor might start thinking
Clark had a brain tumor. That would definitely not be a good
idea!

He took a deep breath, trying to gather the strength needed for
the task, then he picked up the phone again and dialed Perry
White's number at the Daily Planet. Clark gave the editor some
half-baked excuse about a vague family emergency, which he hoped
Perry wouldn't be suspicious of or ask too many questions
about.

"Family emergency, huh?" the chief replied. "I'm ...ah... sorry
to hear that, Clark."

"I managed to get a ticket on the red eye tonight, I'll be back
as soon as I possibly can. I just don't know for sure how long
this is going to take..."

"Well, can you ballpark it at all?"

"A few days for sure. Maybe a week. I sincerely hope it doesn't
take any longer than that. I'll keep you informed, you can count
on that," Clark promised before he said goodbye and hung up the
phone.

"I don't envy the guy," Perry thought as he hung up the phone
himself. "I'm amazed he's even able to keep it together these
days..." He shook his head, hoping things would sort themselves
out somehow. Perry would hate to lose half of his best news
reporting team, not to mention everything else they currently
stood to lose if this heat wave didn't end sometime soon.

~.~.~.~.~

At the same time, near the train station...

Livewire had been unable to convince Metallo to give her a hand
with this train accident they needed to cause. The cyborg just
wouldn't listen anymore. To be honest, she could hardly blame
him for resenting the way he'd been treated by that blasted
Weather Wizard!

She'd known all along that this was going to happen... The
Wizard had serious delusions of grandeur. She'd told her
companions that letting some weather-controlling maniac into
their ranks was a bad idea, but did they listen? For crying out
loud, the man didn't even have a bone to pick with Superman, let
alone a need to exact revenge on him. He was from Central City,
damn it! Let him go fight The Flash!

How was getting rid of Superman a proper revenge anyway? They
needed to make him suffer for all that they'd endured at his
hands. Forcing him to leave Metropolis... come on, what was
painful about that? That was the stupidest plan she'd ever
heard! What did an alien from another planet really care what
city he was staying in?

Livewire couldn't believe she'd actually agreed to participate
in this! Of course, unless she could get a hold of the wand and
destroy it, she was the most vulnerable one of them all to fight
off the Weather Wizard. Anyone who could make it rain on command
had a serious advantage over a being made of pure electric
energy. So for the time being she'd gone along with the plan...
Once this was done, however, she'd make sure the Wizard was put
out of commission and she'd go back to working on her own. Being
on a team made up mostly of *men* really aggravated her!

So there she was, near the train station, trying to keep out of
view while she looked for anything that she might use to cause a
train to derail.

Suddenly, she had a better idea. Why force the train to derail
when all she really needed to do was cut its brakes? A train
without brakes would run full speed ahead until it crashed right
in the barricade at the end of the line, wouldn't it?

She let out an evil laugh before turning into a bolt of
lightning again and disappearing into a nearby electric power
line.

~.~.~.~.~

It didn't take long before Lois heard about Clark's 'family
emergency'. And it didn't take long for her to get really angry
with him, either. He hadn't even bothered letting her know
himself! That, combined with the heat and worrying over the
future of Superman in Metropolis, well, it was just the last
straw! Of course, it couldn't possibly be his fault that
something had come up, but it meant she'd be stuck with lots of
extra work, not to mention she needed her partner there for a
whole slew of other reasons, besides work.

She wouldn't be caught dead saying it out loud, but right now,
Lois desperately needed a friend to tell *her* they cared and
that everything would be all right. She might be able to appear
strong and determined at work, but once she'd find herself alone
at home again, all the stress and the anxiety would catch up
with her. That was when she'd need someone to be strong for her
and the only person she could possibly think of ever letting
herself be vulnerable with - other than Superman, probably - was
Clark. As much as Lois tried to deny she liked him at all, she
would be the first to admit that he was one of the good guys.
Someone you could count on and trust. And feel safe with. But of
course, just when she needed him, Clark *had* to go running back
to Smallville. Well... Lois was going to personally give him a
piece of her mind! How could he think of leaving her there alone
when she needed him so badly? Men were so unreliable!

Lois managed to leave the Planet around 7:00 that evening.
Considering half the people in the newsroom were missing in
action, she guessed she was lucky to have made it out of there
at all tonight. Her anger had cooled down several degrees by
then, but she was still intent on paying Clark a visit. If
anything, maybe she'd be able to convince him to let her know
where Superman was. It was definitely worth a try... And if she
could possibly manage to get a hug out of this, she would most
certainly not complain, she thought, against her better
judgment.

She headed off towards Clark's apartment, walking as rapidly as
she dared considering just standing outside was sufficient to
cause anyone to break into a sweat in a matter of minutes. Lois
still preferred walking there as opposed to taking a cab. For
one thing, it wasn't very far away and she always hated having
to listen to cabbies chat about the weather - especially now
that everyone thought Superman was guilty of causing a heat
wave. The last thing she wanted to hear people talk about was
the weather!

When Lois arrived at Clark's place, she noticed there were no
lights on. For a minute she wondered if perhaps he was already
gone? Perry had said that Clark was going to take a red eye
flight out to Kansas. Maybe he had found a seat on an earlier
one? Selfishly, she hoped he was still around and had simply
gone out for a few minutes.

She went up the stairs leading to his front door and knocked. He
probably wasn't there, but she thought she should at least find
out for sure before she let herself in. In the event there was
no answer, she would just get the spare key she knew Clark kept
hidden under the big flowerpot on the side of the door.

Lois waited a few short seconds before putting her ear to the
door. If Clark was in there, maybe she would hear him? But other
than what sounded like a radio, she heard nothing. She knocked
again and waited a few seconds more. Much to her surprise, upon
turning the doorknob, she found that the door wasn't even
locked. She opened it slowly.

"Clark?" she called out. "Clark, are you there?"

She listened for a second and thought she heard footsteps coming
from inside. Her heart started racing... It was pitch dark in
there and she didn't want to venture further inside in case
whoever was there wasn't Clark. If only she could see what was
going on! She wasn't scared of taking on a burglar or anyone
else for that matter - she did know tae kwon do after all - but
she wasn't too keen on fighting in the dark and risk breaking
her neck tumbling down the stairs. Judging by the sound, whoever
it was, was coming closer towards her. Lois held her breath and
leaned in against the door, which caused the hinges to creak
loudly. So much for her stealth advantage, she thought.

Suddenly a light came on.

"Lois?" Clark asked on seeing her standing halfway through his
front door. "What are you doing here? And why can't you knock
like normal people do?"

"Clark! You scared me half to death! Of course I knocked. Twice!
And then I saw the door wasn't locked, so I opened it. Didn't
you even hear me call out your name?"

"Oh... uh... Really?" he said, confused. "I was on my way to get
some water in the kitchen and I heard a cracking sound coming
from the door. I didn't hear anything else prior to that." Was
he so lost in thought that even with super-hearing he couldn't
hear Lois coming inside his apartment? That was a first for
sure. "Well, don't just stand there," he continued, slightly
frustrated. "You can come in, Lois, you're already halfway there
anyway."

"Wow, what a way to make a girl feel welcome..." she remarked
bitterly. "You're still not feeling well, are you, Clark?" she
asked, closing the door behind her and making her way towards
him.

"No, I'm not," he admitted.

"I've still got that migraine medication with me, if you like?"
Lois said, pulling a small plastic bottle out of her briefcase
and handing it to him.

"Lois... what are you doing here?" he asked again, not bothering
to take the bottle he was being handed.

Seeing he wasn't going to take it, Lois put the medication back
in her briefcase and said in a sour tone, "What? Can't I drop by
and see my partner before he leaves for God knows how long? In
fact, I'm more than a little hurt that you decided to skip town
and didn't even bother to tell me yourself. I thought we were
friends."

Clark shot her an exasperated glance, the likes of which Lois
had never seen on him. OK, maybe she'd gone a little bit too
far... She reminded herself that it wasn't his fault he had to
leave and tried to calm down a bit. Clark was obviously not
feeling well, she thought, because he would never have reacted
that way normally. In fact, whatever this family thing was, it
had him so preoccupied he hadn't heard a single thing even
though she'd made plenty of noise before actually coming
inside.

"Ah... I'm sorry," Lois apologized, breaking the awkward
silence, "I didn't mean it that way. This whole thing with the
heat and Superman... it's really stressing me out. I just needed
to see a friendly face, I guess. But... you look like you need a
friend even more than I do."

If there had ever been a time when Clark wished Lois knew his
secret, it was now. It would have been so easy to talk to her,
then. He so badly needed to be able to share his pain and
frustrations with someone. But that wasn't going to happen
tonight... And he didn't have the heart or even the strength to
go through the whole 'I am Superman' speech right now either. He
knew too well how Lois would take this sort of news - she'd be
angry with him, she'd probably yell and want to hit him or
something. It was likely she'd storm out of there in a fit of
rage, actually! He much preferred having her here and in a good
mood even if that meant he would need to keep everything bottled
up inside, as usual.

"Yeah, I could definitely use a friend right about now," he said
finally, with a sad smile. "You have any idea where I can find
one?" he continued, in a futile attempt at humor.

"Right here, you lunkhead." she said teasingly. Lois took the
last few steps towards Clark and pulled him into an amicable
hug. She smiled as she realized she'd managed to get that hug,
just as she'd hoped.

"Thanks," Clark whispered, taking in the warmth from her body
and the sweet smell of her hair.

"Thing will get better, you'll see," she told him, trying very
hard to believe it herself.

Just then, they heard a special news report on the radio. "We
interrupt this program to bring you breaking news," an announcer
with a deep baritone voice said. "We have just learned that a
high-speed Metro train has lost its brakes. Passengers in the
main terminal are being evacuated, but there are over three
hundred people at risk on the train. We now join our special
correspondent...."

Lois let go of Clark immediately. "I guess I better get over
there," she told him, shrugging. "You feel well enough to tag
along?"

"You go ahead," he replied, "I'll... ah... they could use
Superman's help over there. I'll make sure he knows about
this."

"But, Clark... he can't. The injunction... If he shows up there
tonight, they're likely to have his head!"

"Lois, a *train* has lost its brakes. We both know there's
nothing anyone else can do to stop that. If Superman doesn't
help, who knows how many people will die. We can't let that
happen!"

"No, of course we can't, you're right," she conceded. "Well you
better hurry and get him, then!" and with that they made their
way out of the apartment, each going in a different direction.

~.~.~.~.~

Clark ran into the alley behind his apartment, then spun into
the Suit and took off to the sky. "I'm sorry," he whispered once
he got high enough so he got a good glimpse of the city. He was
fairly certain that this rescue would cause the temperature to
rise again and he really felt bad about causing the citizens of
Metropolis to suffer this way. He hoped they would
understand...

Superman flew towards the main train terminal at top speed. Once
he reached there, he stood on the tracks, arms stretched out in
front of him, and waited for the train to arrive, hoping he'd be
strong enough to stop its course. The train hit him head-on. Its
engine had been cut off in an attempt at slowing it down but the
speed at which it was currently traveling still caused Superman
to recoil several feet back. Twice he tried flying towards the
front of the train and pushing forward into the locomotive with
all his might, his hands creating deep indentations in the
metal. Finally, the train came to a grinding halt.

He quickly x-rayed the locomotive and the cars it was pulling to
check for injured railroad employees or passengers, but saw no
one in need of immediate medical attention. Completely avoiding
contact with people - especially the press - Superman flew off
the scene of the accident as soon as he could manage it. 

When he got inside his apartment, Clark slumped onto the sofa,
exhausted and as heavy-hearted as he'd ever been in his life.
He'd blatantly violated the terms of the injunction and he knew
perfectly well what this meant: Superman was in trouble. Deep.

But what else could Clark have done, under the circumstances?
People would have died if he hadn't shown up there tonight!
There was no way he could just turn off his super hearing,
silence his heart, his conscience, and simply stop being
Superman. Standing still and ignoring calls for help when he was
the only one who *could* help was something he just could not
do. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he'd done that.
He had all these amazing powers, gifts that he could use to save
lives and to do some good for the world that had welcomed him
with open arms. Going back to being 'just Clark' and hiding for
fear of his secret being revealed: that wasn't an option
anymore. He was Superman, he had sworn to be there for the
people of Metropolis and the world; pretending that it wasn't
the case was just plain impossible.

He would simply have to suffer the consequences of his actions,
no matter how unpleasant that was bound to be. This, at least,
he knew he could live with. Oh, he knew it wouldn't be easy;
he'd given his word and yet he had turned around and done
exactly what he'd been asked not to do. As inconceivable as this
was for a man who stood for truth and justice, Superman had
broken his promise; even worse, he'd broken the law! But, on the
other hand, stopping that train... Clark knew it was the right
thing to do. And 'doing the right thing' was something Superman
stood for as well.

By 8:30 PM that evening, news of the latest Superman rescue was
all over Metropolis. Public demonstrations had mushroomed all
around the city. Crowds of people, worried about this causing
new temperature rises and furious as the hero for ignoring the
injunction, were amassing around many key municipal buildings;
City Hall, the courthouse and most police precincts were
surrounded by protesters, thirsty for justice. Angry citizens
with their fists in the air were shouting for the Mayor to take
action. Several held up signs asking for Superman to leave the
city.

The Mayor of Metropolis reacted within a half hour by holding a
press conference. He started off by requesting that people
please remain calm. They may be outraged, and it was
understandable, but anger and violence was not the answer.
Rioting would obviously not be tolerated and an order had been
given to the police to disperse the crowds and bring in anyone
who did not comply.

"I absolutely hate to have to do this," the Mayor told the press
and the citizens gathered in front of City Hall to hear his
allocution, "but under the circumstances, I have no other
choice. Superman, first I'd like to personally thank you for
everything you've ever done for the people of Metropolis. This
of course includes rescuing over 300 people on the Metro train
tonight. However, because you've chosen to disrespect the court
order and, in doing so, have shown disrespect for the very
things you have claimed to stand for and because of the current
situation, I need to ask you to leave the city. It saddens me
that things have come to this, but we see no other alternatives
at this time. Superman, wherever you are, I beg you to please
leave Metropolis at once."

~.~.~.~.~

Clark spent the next few hours staring blankly into space,
having not moved an inch from the sofa he'd sat in when he first
got inside the apartment. He'd heard the press conference and
had been crushed as he realized that people had started cheering
as the Mayor made his argument asking for Superman to go away.
They were cheering! After everything he'd done for them, they
were rejoicing at the idea that he would leave in disgrace. He
couldn't believe that these were the same people who once
idolized Superman to such a degree they almost worshiped the
very ground he walked on. For the first time in his life, Clark
wondered if there was any good left in the world.

The phone rang several times, but he never answered. He had a
good idea who it was that would be calling him, but he didn't
have the heart to talk to his parents. He knew they would try to
encourage him to fight this, but he just didn't have it in him
to battle it out anymore. And fight what, anyway? It seemed
obvious that every time he did anything 'super', the temperature
went up. But if *he* wasn't causing that, who was? Who had the
power to do this and how? And, more importantly, how could he
possibly figure out what was going on while he was being locked
up somewhere? He couldn't prove anything, especially if he was
being prevented from investigating things! His hands were tied
behind his back. Besides, he didn't especially want to stay
somewhere he wasn't welcome anymore. Superman would leave
tonight, just as he'd been asked.

By midnight Clark had written his very last Superman exclusive.
He thought at first that Superman should make a public
appearance of some kind, but then he'd realized that, given the
state of things, this would definitely not encourage people to
stay calm. So he settled for Superman's farewell and most
sincere apologies to be printed in the Daily Planet instead.
Clark saved the article on a disk, then he typed his resignation
letter. Since Superman had to go, then Clark would pack up his
things and move, leaving behind his job, his friends and a great
big piece of his heart. He'd swing by the newsroom, send off the
article to the editor, leave his notice on Perry's desk and then
grab his personal things before leaving for good.

The only thing left after that would be saying goodbye to Lois.
That was the one thing he was looking forward to the least. How
do you say goodbye to the woman you love?

~.~.~.~.~

Meanwhile, a celebration was underway at the Wizard's
hideout...

"To the success of phase three," the Weather Wizard said,
lifting up a glass of champagne.

"To our success," Livewire echoed with a smile, on the other end
of the videoconference, before taking a sip from her glass.

"Where are our other colleagues, my dear?" the Wizard asked as
he noticed she was the only one showing up on screen.

"Ah... Yes, I meant to tell you... They've left," she explained.
"I told you that Metallo refused to take orders from you any
longer. Well, he's convinced the other two that you have no
right ordering them around. Kalibak's gone back to his own
Dimension or wherever it is that he's from anyway... And Toyman,
I don't know, he said something about space rats. See if I
care!"

Livewire hoped the Wizard would take the bait. Metallo hadn't
convinced anyone of anything... she had. Why should they listen
to the Weather Wizard, she'd told them, what right did *he* have
to position himself as their leader? He wasn't one of them. He
was from Central City; he didn't even share their goal of
destroying the Man of Steel. Of course they'd all agreed with
her. Men were so predictable! And in a lucky twist of fate
they'd even left Metropolis, deciding that causing Superman to
leave the city wasn't a good enough revenge and that they should
endeavor to find him and make him pay for all his sins. How
absolutely perfect this was, she thought.

"Never mind them, then. Let's you and I enjoy the fruits of our
labor. We're free to create havoc and mayhem to our heart's
content. Nobody can stop us now. Metropolis is ours for the
taking." He burst into a wicked laugh as he daydreamed about all
the riches and the power he would acquire.

Unbeknownst to the Wizard, Livewire was busy planning a 'phase
four'... That was when she would usurp his self-appointed crown
and proclaim herself supreme ruler of Metropolis. She deserved
it, after all. She was the one who had done all the dirty work.
All the Wizard had ever done was wave his little wand and bark
orders at everyone else. He didn't deserve the rewards. The
others didn't either! All they'd done was complain. None of
*them* deserved anything. Definitely not.

~.~.~.~.~

When Clark walked into the newsroom, he was surprised to find
Lois still there. It seemed as though she'd been reading
scientific journals and that she'd fallen asleep at her desk
while doing so. He knew how determined Lois could be, but this
went beyond her usual dedication for a story. Of course,
Superman had never been 'just a story' to her, but still... Most
everyone seemed convinced that, once he was gone, the heat wave
would be a thing of the past. Yet here she was, in the middle of
the night, still searching for clues in a futile attempt to
prove that Superman wasn't responsible for this weather
phenomenon. He couldn't help but admire her tenacity... After
all, he - Superman, that was - had given up, at the request of
the population of Metropolis. He hadn't really expected anyone
to bother with this anymore...

Clark made his way to his desk, sent off his final Superman
exclusive to the editor and reluctantly packed all his personal
belongings in a cardboard box. The chore done, he walked over to
his partner's desk. He wasn't nearly prepared to say goodbye to
her but it was now or never, he knew.

"Lois," he said, gently placing his hand on her shoulder.

Lois slowly lifted her head up from her desk and looked in his
direction. "Hmmm?" she mumbled, not quite awake.

"Lois, It's late. You should go home."

"Clark? You're still here? I thought you'd be in Smallville by
now." Lois sprung off her chair, fully alert now.

Just then, she caught sight of the box sitting on Clark's desk.
A picture frame, which held a photograph of his parents, was
jutting out of it.

"What are you doing?" she asked her partner, alarmed. This
couldn't be what it looked like, could it?

"I'm leaving Metropolis," Clark answered. "I'm... going to work
for the Smallville Post. Managing Editor." It was the first
thing that came to mind. Perhaps not the best excuse he'd ever
thought of, but he was pretty sure it would work.

Lois just about fell back in her chair. "No!!" a voice in her
head screamed out. This couldn't be happening!

"You're quitting?" she said, frowning. "You were only supposed
to be gone a few days! You can't quit, we're in the middle of a
crisis!"

"Look, I know there's no good time to..." he started.

"Is that what your 'family emergency' was? A job interview?"
Lois asked, accusingly.

"No, of course not!" Clark countered.

"Then what? Is it that bad over there or do you just miss the
cornfields so much? Because, you know, I seem to remember you
saying this - " She made a circular gesture to indicate the
newsroom. " - was your dream job. Big city newspaper, isn't that
what you'd always wanted to do? What could possibly make you
want to go back to *Small*ville. "

"I guess I'm just not cut out for big city life," he lied.

"Well, nobody's cut out for big city life. That's what makes it
so exciting," she told him after a moment's reflection.

Clark sat in the empty chair next to Lois' desk and gently took
one of her hands in his. "Lois... I'm sorry... I just can't stay
in Metropolis anymore," he told her.

"No, no, no! The Daily Planet needs you. Superman needs you now
more than ever." Lois was desperate to make him change his mind.
"And... I need you, too..." she whispered, looking at their
joined hands. It was hard enough dealing with the fact that
Superman would be leaving; she didn't think she'd be able to
stand losing Clark as well. How could everything fall apart like
this?

"You don't need a partner, Lois. You never did," he told her
reassuringly. In fact, he recalled that she'd made it quite
clear on several occasions that being partnered with him - or
anyone for that matter - wasn't exactly her cup of tea. She'd be
partnerless again; wasn't that what she wanted?

"Well maybe not, but... I was... s-starting to like having one,"
she replied, trying to hide the pain she felt. She wasn't going
to fall apart, not now. Lois Lane did not break down and cry!

"I just wanted to say goodbye," he said softly.

"Oh, I get it!" she threw at him, withdrawing her hand from
his.

"You do?" he asked, clearly confused.

"Well it's obvious, Clark. Nobody in their right mind gives up a
great job in the middle of the night because they have the
chance of a lifetime to edit the Smallville Gazette!"

"Post..."

"Whatever!" she snapped back. She looked him straight in the
eyes and continued, "This isn't about a job. Did you really
think I hadn't figured out what it was about you and Superman?"

"What do you mean?" Clark asked, startled. Did she know? She
couldn't, could she? She would have said something if she did...
Right?

"You idolize the man, Clark. And now he's in trouble and you
share his pain. Look, I know it's depressing that they've told
Superman to leave, but seriously... Clark, you can't throw away
your career because you won't allow yourself to stay in
Metropolis. I mean, granted, this is a city where people are so
incredibly dense that, even after all he's done for us, they're
shooing Superman away as if he's some insignificant little bum.
But leaving over that... It makes no sense! You need to step out
of that whole goody two-shoes attitude, once and for all. No,
the world isn't perfect and people do really dumb things, I
mean, really, really dumb things, but that's not a reason for
you to leave! Go unpack your stuff... You are not a quitter."

"You don't understand..."

"Then why, Clark? Why?!" Lois demanded, her eyes filling with
tears.

She was clearly taking this harder than he'd expected. Clark
knew that Lois had a hard time with people dropping out of her
life - men mostly, whom she felt had taken everything they
needed from her and just left her there to pick up the pieces.
But... what did she care if he left and never came back?
Superman, he could imagine, but Clark Kent? She hadn't really
given him any reason to believe she cared much about him.

"I have no choice," he told her.

<No choice?>

"Yes, you do!" she blurted out. "You can choose to stay and find
whatever it is that's going to stop this heat wave and save
Superman!"

"I can't save Superman, Lois," Clark told her, shaking his head
miserably. "Believe me, I tried."

<*He* can't save Superman? He tried? Huh?>

"Well you can't do it alone! I can't do this alone either, I
need you here. We're partners. Lane and Kent, best reporting
team in the city, remember? Clark, there's nothing you and I
together can't get to the bottom of. And by God, I think we owe
Superman this much, after all the trouble he's ever gotten us
out of."

"Lois, I appreciate what you're saying and I wish it didn't have
to be this way. But I really have to go."

"Clark Kent!" Lois snapped her fingers at him. "Would you listen
to yourself?! You'd think you've been banished along with
Superman or something. He might have to go away - for now! - but
nobody's asking *you* to leave the city!"

Clark just stared at her with a defeated air, saying nothing. He
couldn't tell her that they had indeed asked him to leave... but
how could he lie to her so openly? He'd already crossed the line
between a little white lie and pure fiction when he'd told her
he had a job waiting for him in Smallville. Of course, it
wouldn't actually be that hard for him to *get* the job, but
that was beside the point. He opened his mouth to speak, but
words did not come out, so he closed it again. He looked at his
feet and shook his head, then he looked at Lois again, his eyes
filled with the deepest sorrow.

"I'm sorry," he said finally. As much as Clark thought it would
have been for the best to stand there and tell Lois that, no, of
course they hadn't asked him to leave, he could not bring
himself to do so.

He was sorry? That didn't make much sense to Lois at first.
Sorry for what? Suddenly, she found herself playing some sort of
crazy connect-the-dots game in her head: he had said that he had
no choice, had told her that he'd tried to save Superman but
that he had failed... And now he had this sad look in his eyes
and, instead of confirming the fact that no one was making him
leave, he was apologizing?

And then it hit her. Like a ton of bricks. Her eyes grew wide
and her jaw dropped. Clark was...? He was...? Superman?

"But... but...? That can't be! He's so... and you're just..."
Lois was babbling semi-coherently. "You don't even look... oh,
wait... you do."

Clark knew that this was the point of no return. There was no
way he could hide the truth from her any longer. He gave her a
sad smile. "Look, can we go somewhere a little more private and
finish this conversation?" he asked.

She nodded, still dazed by what she'd just uncovered. He led her
to the conference room and shut the door behind them.

"Clark?" Lois asked, distraught. "That's why you're leaving,
isn't it? The real reason you're leaving, I mean. You...
You're..."

"Yes, Lois," he answered slowly. He took a deep breath and
looked her in the eyes. "I'm Superman," he said finally.

Well, this explained quite a few things, she thought. The
disappearances and the lame excuses, the exclusive interviews!
It also occurred to her that she'd been gushing over Superman...
directly to his face. Lois turned bright red at the thought. She
was so embarrassed, she wished she could disappear right under
the carpet.

"Great reporter I am," she whispered, frustrated at herself for
not figuring this out long ago. "I had Superman for a partner
and I never even suspected it for a second. You must think I'm
such a dope!"

"Lois, no! You're one of the most brilliant people I know," he
told her. "Don't beat yourself up for not seeing something you
weren't meant to notice in the first place. I'm really sorry
that you had to find out this way. This isn't how I wanted to
tell you. Look, I know this is a lot to process and I swear I'll
answer any question you can possibly think of, but I need to ask
something of you first."

She looked at him, genuinely confused.

"Lois, I need you to promise that whatever is said here isn't
going beyond these doors. Can you do that? Please?"

"What? Why? What do you mean?"

"Uh... well, see, you've just discovered that Superman spends a
good part of his life hiding behind a suit and tie, pretending
to be just the same as any other citizen of Metropolis. Now,
correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that precisely the kind of
earth-shattering story every single reporter in Metropolis - and
especially one Lois Lane - has been after ever since Superman
showed up? Not to mention I'm pretty confident that the Lois
Lane I know would sooner die than give up a story so big it
could very well be worth a Pulitzer."

"Touche," she admitted, blushing. "But, I wouldn't... I just...
I couldn't *do* that, print that. I swear! You have to believe
me, Clark! I know how big a story this is, but if I printed
it... then even if we did prove that Superman... err... *you*
aren't the cause of the heat wave, well... you'd still never
come back, would you?" Her eyes were tearing up again. "I'd not
only be depriving the city of a hero we all love and respect -
not to mention we really need him here - but I'd be losing my
partner in the process. And for what? A front-page story? I
can't even begin to imagine what kind of a horrible person would
do that... I'm not..." She stopped cold.

Lois shut her eyes tightly as she realized the enormity of what
she was going to say. How could she claim she wasn't a horrible
person? She was! She had been to him every single day since he'd
started working at the Planet. Was she so shallow that she
couldn't see beyond the flashy blue and red spandex? It was him
in that Suit, yet put a pair of glasses on his nose and... and
suddenly she wouldn't give him the time of day? Lois scolded
herself silently for being so incredibly blind and heartless.
How could she not have noticed... how could she have been so
mean!

"Oh, Clark, I *have* been horrible to you, haven't I? I'm so, so
sorry. Oh my God, I'm sorry." She turned her back to him as a
river of tears ran down her cheeks.

Clark stepped towards Lois and gathered her in his arms. "It's
OK, Lois, it's OK. You're not a horrible person, don't you ever
say that! I never meant to upset you, I hope you believe me.
It's just that... you know... it is newsworthy and as much as I
like seeing my name on the front page of the Planet, I like it
best when it's next to yours, on the byline."

For a long while, she just stood there and sobbed, letting
herself be consoled by him. She'd been awful to him, yet there
he was trying to make her feel better. He had such a good heart,
he cared so much about everyone else, this above all else was
what made him 'super' she thought, not the powers. It was what
was inside that made him a hero and that couldn't possibly come
attached to a cape or a pair of boots, could it? It came from
being raised by a loving family, with good values. It came...
well, it came from Clark.

As Lois realized these things, it occurred to her that this
meant that what she loved the most about Superman was... Clark.
And when she claimed to be completely, hopelessly, and incurably
in love with the superhero, what it really meant was that she
was in love with... the good-natured farm boy who hid underneath
the Suit. Suddenly, the thought of him leaving became completely
unbearable to her. She couldn't lose him. Not without ever...
Not without knowing... No!! She took a long ragged breath as her
legs gave from under her. Had it not been for two strong arms
holding her, she would have fallen to the floor like a rag
doll.

Clark sat her down and kneeled in front of her. He looked down,
then took a deep breath before looking up again. "Lois...
please," he finally managed to say after a moment. "Please don't
cry anymore. I..."

Lois knew that he was going to tell her that the time had come
for him to leave. That he might not ever come back. And he'd
apologize... Clark always apologized for everything even when it
wasn't even *his* fault. She couldn't let him say these things.
She didn't want to hear them!

"No..." was all she managed to get out at first. She wiped the
tears from her eyes and took a deep breath. "Clark, don't!
You... you can't leave! They're wrong, you know they are. This
isn't your fault! We just need to find who's responsible, that's
all."

"Lois, even if I'm really not sure what's causing all this heat,
it doesn't change anything. I had given them my word. Superman's
word. He never lies, you know." He tried to smile.

"But... Clark? It not *you* they've asked to leave, it's...
well, it's the other you. Can't you be just you and leave him
behind?" Ideas were rushing through her head. Maybe she could
convince him to stay, somehow?

"It doesn't work that way, Lois." he said, knowing full well
what she was thinking. "Besides, even if I never wore the Suit
again, I'd still hear people crying out for help every single
day. I can't block that out of my head and pretend there's
nothing going on, that no one's in danger, that I'm not
Superman. I'm not able to do that, I tried before and, believe
me, it just makes everything worse."

"There has to be a way, Clark, there has to! If we just sat down
and thought about it for a little while. You and me... together.
We solve mysteries on a daily basis, we can find something. We
can," she said, hopeful.

"Lois..." he said, pleading. He couldn't let her go on trying to
find a solution; he knew perfectly well there was none. "You
have to let go. Please... let me go."

He got up and took a few steps back. If he didn't leave soon,
Clark felt that he wouldn't ever have the courage to do so.
Seeing Lois like this wasn't helping. It always hurt him to see
her cry and know there was nothing he could do to ease her pain,
but this... this was so much worse! This was Lois practically
begging him to stay. Not Superman... it was Clark she was
desperately trying to hang on to. *Clark*. If she kept on, he
might never find the strength to go.

"No," she said in a trembling little voice.

"I have to, Lois," he sighed.

"No, no..." she whispered, shaking her head as more tears came
flooding from her eyes.

Lois stumbled out of her chair, her vision too blurry to see
anything clearly and she lunged herself clumsily towards Clark.
She wrapped her arms around his neck as tightly as she possibly
could. If words weren't working, then she'd just have to hold on
to him physically.

"Don't... leave... me... Clark." she hiccupped in-between
tears.

Clark closed his eyes. It was all he could do to keep on
breathing. He'd felt pain before in his life, but this was the
worst pain he'd ever known. There he stood with a woman in his
arms, a woman who was desperately trying to hang on to him and
who he desperately wanted to hang on to as well. He loved her so
much, there weren't even words to express it, and now - against
all odds - she was showing signs of actually wanting to be with
the real him as opposed to the alter ego he'd created for
himself. The mere thought of leaving her behind hurt more than a
thousand shards of kryptonite being thrust inside his body
possibly could.

"Lois, stop. Please, please stop," he begged her, his voice
cracking. He grabbed her hands behind his neck and gently
brought them down to her sides.

"You have no idea how hard this is already," Clark continued.
"Please, I'm begging you, don't make it impossible for me to go.
Superman needs to leave and I can't be me without being him too.
There is no other solution for now. Let me go, Lois. Please... I
can't keep arguing with you over this. This is... it's...
killing me." A lone teardrop fell from his left eye and traced a
path down to his chin.

She looked up at him as if for the very last time. "Promise that
you'll be back," she implored him, "Clark? Promise me that
you'll come back."

"Oh, Lois, how I wish I could," he whispered.

Clark lowered his head slightly and captured her lips in a
tender goodbye kiss. He took a step back and proceeded to exit
the conference room. As he picked up the box he'd left on his
desk, he took one last look at Lois and then he made his way to
the elevator before disappearing behind its closing doors. The
last sounds he heard coming from the newsroom were of Lois,
crying... If he had listened closely enough he might also have
heard his heart shattering into millions of pieces.


~.~.~.~.~

Meanwhile, in the villain's lair...

The Weather Wizard took his wand and made circular motions with
it pointing straight in front of him. The glassy globe set at
the end of the rod lit up and turned a bright shade of red
before emitting a high pitched sound. As soon as he heard it,
the Wizard stopped swirling the wand and set it back down on an
end table.

It was done. As the sun rose, the temperature would rise a few
degrees more than the previous day. Just enough to match the
effort Superman had put into stopping the train.

He strongly suspected the Man of Steel would leave Metropolis
before morning, but he knew that he needed to keep up
appearances. If the temperature didn't go up again, then people
might get suspicious. And the last thing he wanted right now was
Superman back in the city!

All the Wizard needed to do now was stage an experiment.... Just
in case that dreaded Super Boy-Scout had gotten wise and decided
to trap whoever it was that had been controlling the weather.
The Wizard knew he couldn't risk it. So he had planned a little
something that would help prove that Superman was nowhere near
Metropolis.

Once he knew for a fact that the whole operation had been a
success, he would make the temperature go back down.

There was no need to hurry... with Superman out of the way, he'd
have all the time in the world to take over the city. Good
things, the Wizard knew, should never be rushed.

~.~.~.~.~

When Jimmy came in the newsroom, several hours later, he found
Lois sitting on the floor in a corner of the conference room.
She had her arms crossed over both knees and her forehead
resting on her arms. Something must have really upset her, he
thought, because there was an empty box of Kleenex on a nearby
chair and several used tissues littered on the floor.

He kneeled next to her. "Lois," he said, concerned, "is
something wrong?"

"Jimmy?" she asked, looking over to him, somewhat confused,
"What time is it?"

Lois had obviously been crying; her eyes were red and puffy.
Jimmy had never seen her like this before and he didn't quite
know what to say to make her feel better. She was always so
positive and sure of herself. he had no idea how to be around
this version of Lois Lane who looked so depressed and defeated.
He'd better not find out that some jerk had hurt her, because
he'd hunt him down and... well, something like that.

"It's just about 7:00 AM. Would you... uh... like me to get you
some coffee?" he offered.

"Oh, no... No," she answered. Coffee... Clark usually brought
her coffee in the morning. But he wouldn't be doing that today,
would he? She'd never realized how much she counted on that to
help start her day on the right track.

"Lois, what's wrong?" Jimmy asked again.

"Oh... it's just... he's gone," she whispered, fighting back a
fresh wave of tears.

"Superman?" Jimmy asked, surprised. She'd been crying over
Superman? He knew she had a thing for him, but he hadn't
realized how bad it really was.

"Yeah, Superman left during the night," she explained as she got
up and set out to dispose of the used Kleenex. "But... ah...
actually, Clark's gone too. He went back to Smallville."

Jimmy just stood there, gaping at her, the information not quite
registering in his brain.

"Is Perry in already?" she enquired, impatiently.

"He's in his office," Jimmy told her.

Lois mumbled a thank you and left the conference room.

~.~.~.~.~

At the same time, in another villain's lair...

Livewire had been pacing for hours. She wasn't a very patient
woman. She'd never been. She liked when things moved along at a
fast pace. She liked action! And this... well, this wasn't going
anywhere near as fast as she would have wanted it to!

Why wasn't there anything on the news yet? Why weren't they
confirming that Superman was gone? What was taking so long?!

Surely he had to have left by now! It was morning. He'd had
*hours* to get the hell out of Metropolis. And being that the
man was so good and straight and... *weak*, then for sure he
must be gone by now! He would not have stuck around when the
people of Metropolis were organizing rallies to make him leave.
He was *weak*, he would *cave*!

So why wasn't it all over the news yet?! Stupid reporters! She
hated them! All of them! Especially *her*... Lois *Lame*. How
could anyone with half a brain swoon over Superman like that?
Worse yet, she was his little pet, wasn't she? Of course she
was. He *liked* her! Ah! She was so ridiculous, so vain!
Livewire smiled at the thought of Lois being left heartbroken.

She let out a dark, wicked laugh. Bruising other people's egos
and hurting their feelings gave her such a wonderful high! She
used to get paid to do it before that good for nothing so-called
'hero' had ruined her life and taken away her career. Oh how she
would make him pay for it! She'd ruin the one thing he cared
most about. Yes! She knew exactly what she was going to do!

But first... first she was going to go out and paint the town
red. Or rather... electric blue! Damned if she was going to wait
all day for the news! She already knew that Superman was gone.
She could *feel* it. And she more than definitely deserved a
little celebration. A real celebration!

~.~.~.~.~

Lois walked into the editor's office, closed the door behind her
and let herself drop on the leather sofa.

"Well, he's gone," she said, sadly.

"Yeah, I know," Perry answered, lifting up Clark's resignation
letter from his desk. "You OK there, Lois? Because... well... If
you need a little bit of time off to adjust? I mean, now's not
the best time considering there's so many people MIA already,
but if you need it... you know I'd be more than happy to give
you all the time off you like. Or a new partner, even, if you
want one?"

Lois frowned. "Uh... I meant Superman," she clarified. Why did
Perry think she would take losing her partner so hard? Of course
she was taking it rather hard, especially given what she now
knew about Clark, but Perry wasn't aware of that.

"Oh... yes, of course, Superman," Perry acquiesced. " I thought
you knew that... well, uh... Clark resigned."

"Yeah, I know... big city wasn't for him, I guess. It was just a
matter of time before he went back to Smallville. I told you he
wouldn't last very long," she said, trying to sound as
emotionless as she could. She thought it best to keep up the
appearance that she didn't care for him much or people would
start wondering why Lois Lane had suddenly taken a liking to the
'hack from nowheresville' she kept putting down. She wasn't
prepared to explain it to them, not when she was barely coming
to terms with it herself.

"Lois... darlin', you know you can't fool me that easy," Perry
told her in his best fatherly tone. "Anyone else, perhaps... but
this ol' hound dog ain't as gullible as the rest of the pack."

"OK, OK! So I care. It's just, you know... I hadn't realized
before... there's a lot of things about him... that I never
noticed... and now he's gone and... Oh, Perry, what am I going
to do without him?"

In the blink of an eye, Lois had lost perhaps the most important
person in her life. She had barely just *found* him and now he
was gone. Things felt incredibly pointless now...

"I'm real sorry, honey. Kent was a good reporter - and a good
man. And he'll be missed a great deal. But, you know, something
tells me he'll come back eventually. When things... cool down a
bit, I suppose?"

Lois looked at the editor, puzzled. What did he mean, 'when
things cool down'? It almost sounded like.... Nah! She had to be
reading too much into his comment. Perry didn't know. He
couldn't have known! Clark hadn't told *her* until last night
and she was his partner, surely he wouldn't have told anyone
else either. Of course not!

"Maybe... I mean, I hope so..." she admitted. She would do a lot
more than just hope, though; in fact she'd do absolutely
everything she could in order for him to come back! "I guess
we'll just have to wait and see. Anyway... uh... I hope you
weren't planning on having me write something about Superman
today, because the thing is... I don't think I can. I...
uh...."

"I know, honey. You don't have to worry about that. We've got a
great exclusive already, Superman's farewell to Metropolis,
courtesy of you know who."

"Yeah, I should have known." Lois shook her head as she realized
the irony... He was saying goodbye by saying goodbye. If she
hadn't been so downhearted, she might have found it amusing.

"You should go on home and get some shut eye," Perry suggested.
"I don't imagine you've gotten a lot of rest the last few
days... And, like I said, if you think you need a day or two...
you just say the word."

"No, no... I can't take time off... still need to figure this
out. Someone's behind this heat wave and I'll be damned if
they're going to get away with it that easily!"

Jimmy stormed into Perry's office. "Hey, you gotta see this!" he
said, excitedly. "On TV," he added before rushing back out of
the office.

Lois got up and walked out, closely followed by Perry. They got
over to the TV set in the center of the newsroom and gasped in
shock at the images they saw on the screen. Apparently, all the
electronic billboards around the city were displaying the same
message repeatedly: Superman's 'S' being torn in two halves.

Suddenly, the billboards all went black. Bright sparks of
lightning brought them back to life a few seconds later. This
time, instead of the big red 'S', they bore a message that read:
"Goodbye Superman! We'll miss you!" It was replaced after a
moment by the word "NOT" in huge electric blue lettering.

"Who?" Jimmy asked, mystified.

"Oh, I know who that is all right," Lois said through clenched
teeth. "Leslie Willis. This little stunt has her name written
all over it! She got her get out of jail card a few weeks ago.
But how did she...? Perry? The article... it's not been printed
yet, has it?"

"No, it got in well after the deadline last night. As far as I
know, I'm the only one who's read it yet. Unless she can get
into our network and access it?"

"Oh, she most definitely can," Lois confirmed. "But if she had,
she would have left some sort of calling card. This girl thrives
for the spotlight, if she was going to do anything, it would be
grandiose - like the billboards. We'd definitely know if she'd
infiltrated our computer network. No.... I think she knew
already."

"Maybe she just happened to see Superman leaving?" Jimmy
suggested.

"Not likely," Lois told him. "No one outside of us three - and
Clark - could possibly know that he's gone already. So unless
it's just a lucky guess, and my gut feeling is that it's not,
then that means she knows. And if she *knows*, then it means
she's got something to do with all this!"

"But Lois," Jimmy started, shaking his head, "all she can
control is lightning and electricity. You can't generate enough
heat through those to cause a heat wave like this!"

"She's probably not working alone, Jimmy," Perry offered.

"That's what I'm thinking," Lois said. "Jimmy, can you find out
who her cellmates were when she was inside? We need to know who
she's working with!"

Jimmy nodded and scurried over to his desk.

"Perry, I think we need to run Clark's piece as soon as we can.
It's exactly what they're waiting for: confirmation. And once
they have it, they're bound to get a lot more careless. As long
as they think he might still be around, they'll hide. Well, OK,
*she* won't," Lois pointed at the TV which showed images of the
dazzling light show that was still going on, "but whoever it is
she's working with probably will. They must have had a reason
for wanting to drive Superman away, so I'm thinking once they
find out their plan worked, they're going to want to come out of
the shade and... well I don't even want to think about what
might happen next!"

"My thoughts entirely," the editor agreed. "Lois, I know if
anybody can find a way to save Superman, it's you." He patted
her gently on the arm.

Lois nodded and smiled. She hoped she'd found a thread that
would lead her right to whoever was doing this. And... oh, when
she got her hands on them, she'd give them a piece of her mind!

With that, she walked over to her desk and started digging into
Leslie Willis' past and acquaintances.

~.~.~.~.~

A few hours later, back at the Wizard's hideout...

"She's going to *ruin* everything!" The Wizard raged. "That
nasty little b... is going to ruin it!"

He kicked himself for not keeping a shorter leash on the woman.
And for being so stupid as to fall asleep right when he knew
that things would start moving along. So much for the experiment
he'd spent all night planning for, he thought. Better act now.

He picked up his wand and swirled it in wide circular motions
above his head. When the glassy globe turned a bright shade of
blue, he pointed it towards the floor in one sharp motion. The
globe became completely transparent for a second and then
emitted a high-pitched sound. The Wizard placed the wand back on
the end table.

"Let's see just how slippery you are when you're wet!" he said,
bursting out in maniacal laughter.

~.~.~.~.~

Running Clark's Superman exclusive on the front page of a
special edition of the Daily Planet had brought out every single
criminal who wasn't currently residing in the pen. Petty thugs
and all manner of felons had literally started crawling out of
the woodwork. The police had their hands full trying to keep
everything under control and it seemed prisons were starting to
put up 'no vacancy' signs.

And of course, the temperature had risen again and people were
so convinced that Superman was guilty of it by now, that they'd
probably scream bloody murder if he were to show his face
anywhere near or around the city. Lois knew this would never
have happened if she'd only been able to figure out who was
responsible for all this mess... She'd lost her edge, she
thought. Maybe she should reconsider her career choice?

Suddenly, an enormous black cloud formed over the city. By the
time people started noticing its presence, it was already
raining over downtown Metropolis. It wasn't just a pleasant
little spring shower, either; this was a downpour of cataclysmic
proportions.

"Great shades of Elvis," Perry muttered, looking out his window,
astounded.

"Lois, Jimmy," he yelled, "get in here, *now*!"

Startled, Lois jumped out of her chair and ran to the editor's
office as fast as she could, with Jimmy following closely behind
her.

"I sure hope you guys have some idea who's doing this," Perry
told them. "'cause if this keeps up, streets are going to become
rivers and turn Metropolis into a modern Venice!"

~.~.~.~.~

Meanwhile, somewhere in Central City...

"Hey, honey, have you seen the news?" Iris asked her husband. As
soon as she'd seen what was going on in Metropolis, she'd called
him at the forensics lab where he worked.

"No, not since this morning. Why? What's up?" he asked. Her
enquiring whether he was aware of something going on could only
mean one thing...

"Turn on channel four, you won't believe what's going on in
Metropolis!"

"Metropolis?" he wondered, switching the TV on.

"Yeah, you know how I told you they were having a heat wave
there, of all things! I just knew it looked suspicious... And
the worst part is they thought it was Superman doing that. I
hear they drove him right out of the city. Of course, they
couldn't have known... but... I wish I'd put two and two
together sooner!"

"Holy..." he mumbled, in disbelief as he saw images of the
torrential rains that were pouring over the city.

"No kidding!" Iris remarked. "You know what that means, right?"

"I'm off to see the Wizard?" he quipped.

Iris couldn't help but smile. He could make even the worst
things sound so amusing...

"I'll call..." she started to say, but he interrupted her
immediately.

"He won't be there, Iris."

"I wish you'd quit trying to think faster than I do, it's the
only race you'll never win..." she told him, teasingly. "I know
*he* won't be there, but he does have a partner at the Daily
Planet, right? I'll just talk to her. She must know how to get a
hold of the guy! Besides, I can fax her my notes on Mardon, I'm
sure they'll come in handy. You... you just need to go and help
out!"

"Ok, well, I'll be in Metropolis in a flash," he chuckled. "Just
make sure they get Supes back there, pronto. See if you can't
get A.C. as well, maybe? Cause I'm going to need all the super
friends I can get if we're going to put things right. I sure
can't do all this on my own."

~.~.~.~.~

Lois had gone back to her desk, completely shocked. What on
earth was going on out there? It wasn't simply about saving
Superman anymore - there were people out there who were in
danger of *drowning* just because they'd gone out today! She
launched a search on her computer in a desperate attempt to find
any sort of information about weather control. It sounded
unbelievable that anyone could actually do such a thing, but the
evidence was out there, falling from that enormous black cloud,
high above their heads...

"Lois, line 2, there's a..." Jimmy called out, but Lois had
answered before he could get the rest of his sentence out.

"Lois Lane," she said, picking up the phone.

What was it with her, Jimmy wondered. She kept interrupting him
right before he was able to give her useful information. He
shrugged.

"Ms. Lane? Hi, my name is Iris Allen; I work for the
Picture-News in Central City. You're Mr. Kent's partner, I
believe?"

"Yes, but..." she sighed. "I'm sorry... uh... Mr. Kent has left
the Daily Planet." Just speaking his name felt like something
sharp was stabbing through her heart. She closed her eyes for a
second, trying to contain her emotions.

"I'm sorry, yes, I thought he'd probably have left... My husband
Barry is a good friend of his. We're aware of the 'situation'."

Lois caught herself right on the verge of asking which situation
she meant, the real one or the one he'd invented... If she'd
done that, she might have given away things she'd sworn she was
going to keep to herself. And she didn't even really know who
she was talking to! Keeping this secret was going to take a lot
more restraint than what Lois was used to, she thought.

"I'm sorry? I'm not real sure I'm following you..." she said,
choosing her words carefully. Playing dumb was probably her best
bet.

For a second, Iris wondered whether or not Lois knew just what
situation she meant. If Clark Kent was anything like Barry
Allen, then he might not have told a soul that he had a 'super'
alter ego. Mmmm... But, then again, this was Lois Lane she was
talking to! Surely she must have figured it out on her own -
this woman had a reputation for being one of the top
investigative reporters in the country! And if Iris had figured
out Barry's secret so easily, then for sure Lois would have
realized who Clark really was... Of course, she was also
probably a lot brighter than to spill the beans to just about
anyone who claimed to know her partner.

"Listen, the reason I'm calling is, well, I think I have a
pretty good idea what's causing the heat and the flood-like
rains in Metropolis." Iris said finally, completely avoiding the
'other' subject.

"You do?"

How could someone from Central City have figured this whole
thing out? Lois was just about certain that she'd lost her edge
now. Not only had she been forced during the night to admit that
she was completely blind, but now she had people from out of
town scooping her? Maybe a change of career *was* in order!

"Well, I think so anyway... I'm going to fax you some documents,
press clippings and some of my notes on a madman who calls
himself the Weather Wizard."

"The who? What?" This conversation was getting stranger by the
second.

"The Weather Wizard, Ms. Lane," Iris explained. "His real name
is Mark Mardon. We've seen a lot of him around here in Central
City over the past few years. This man has the ability to
control the weather. He has some sort of metallic wand that he's
made using scientific data that his brother was working on at
the time he was murdered. I would guess that his brother's
violent death has probably pushed him over the edge... Anyway,
the bottom line is he can do just about anything weather-wise as
long as he's yielding that wand. I've actually seen him create
tornadoes out of thin air with it. Kind of scary!"

"I don't doubt it is. And you think this wizard person has
caused all this insane weather we've been having in Metropolis?
Why would he do that?" Lois asked, perplexed.

"Well, I can't be absolutely sure why, but I've just spoken to
one of my contacts here and word is that he's joined up with a
group of criminals that are calling themselves the Superman
Revenge Squad."

"Oh my God!" Lois whispered in astonishment. There was a
Superman *Revenge* Squad? The lengths to which these people
would go... unbelievable! She wondered if Clark knew anything
about them. Was that what it was really like, being Superman?
Besides the rescues, she thought, was he always trying to thwart
criminals that were out to get him? How could he live like that
and not tell a soul? She felt even worse now for being so
dismissive of him. He deserved far better than to be treated
like this. And if she ever got a chance to, she promised herself
that she'd do whatever it took to make it up to him.

"I'm sorry it took us so long to put two and two together over
here..." Iris told her, genuinely regretful. If she'd only
realized what was happening over there, she knew it would have
saved a lot of people from being hurt - physically for most and
emotionally for at least one of them. "It hit me when I saw the
news just a bit earlier. I thought the heat wave was odd, but I
don't know, it didn't really strike me before. Although now I
have to say it's just about crystal clear. In fact, from what I
can see, the electric generator, the train and other recent
so-called accidents fit the M.O. of the supposed other members
of this team. It makes perfect sense..."

Lois could not believe what she was hearing. Someone had
actually been engineering disasters just so they could pin the
blame on Superman for a heat wave they were controlling as well?
You really had to be a madman for such a thing to even begin to
make sense at all!

"You know, if I'd been more observant myself, I might have
realized that the generator incident could only have been caused
by Leslie Willis. I knew she was out of jail," Lois admitted,
remorsefully, "and for crying out loud, witnesses all said
they'd seen a lightning bolt shoot directly into that
generator." She really was completely blind, wasn't she? No
wonder she couldn't see past a pair of glasses!

"Leslie Willis?" Iris inquired. "Does she go by the name
'Livewire' by any chance?"

"Yeah, that's her. She got her powers in a freak accident last
September during a thunderstorm," Lois explained. "She's been
inside for a while, but she got out a couple of weeks ago. On
good behavior, of all things! We really should have kept a
closer watch on her. I should have known!"

"Well, then I guess we've got our culprits. Because, according
to my contact, that Livewire woman is affiliated with the SRS
for sure."

"Ms. Allen? Uh... Why are you telling me all this? I mean, why
aren't you breaking the news yourself? You've obviously figured
out a whole lot more than I did, and you could have gotten the
rest of it from just about anyone here in Metropolis. So why get
in touch with me?"

"Ah, well, it's just that The Flash is on his way to Metropolis
- the Wizard is an old nemesis of his - but Superman's help
would really come in handy. I'm going to get in touch with
Aquaman as well, but I have no idea how to contact Superman... I
thought maybe you'd be able to get him to come back?"

The Flash, Lois had heard about before, but Aquaman? Geez, how
many of these guys were there? Whatever his powers were, though,
with all the rain that was falling from the sky, an Aquaman
would certainly be useful.

"I wish I had any idea how to get in touch with Superman. I
don't know where to find him," Lois admitted, annoyed at herself
for not getting Clark to tell her where to find him.

"Can't you... uh... get in touch with Mr. Kent? I know how close
he is to Superman. I figured you'd be our best shot at getting
in contact with him." Maybe Lois really didn't know, Iris
thought.

Close to Superman? That's the understatement of the century,
Lois thought. But why would Iris say such a thing? Before she
found out they were one and the same, Lois might have referred
to Superman as being a friend of Clark's, just like he was a
friend of hers, but she would never have thought of them as
being especially close...

"I'll see what I can do," she told Iris finally.

"In the meantime, let me fax you the press clippings and notes I
have about these people," Iris offered. "I hope it helps bring
them to justice! That Weather Wizard, especially. He's been a
thorn in our side for a long while now. I'm just sorry that when
we thought he was gone for good that he was actually just hiding
out in Metropolis instead."

"Well, you know, criminal masterminds aren't always easy to
figure out. Thanks for sending me the information. I'm sure
it'll make a great case against these people once they're
caught."

"Trust me, Lois, nothing would make me happier than to know that
demented Wizard was behind bars for good," Iris told her. "He's
gone after my husband a few times more that I care to
remember."

After her husband? Who could she be married to that some crazy
weather-controlling freak would want to go after?

Just then, Lois caught a glimpse of the images of downtown
Metropolis, which were being broadcast on TV. It seemed The
Flash had just arrived.

Oh... wait a second! *That* was who she was married to, wasn't
it? Pieces of the puzzle were starting to fall into place in
Lois' head. She smiled at the knowledge that she still "had it"
after all. Maybe she simply had a blind spot when it came to
guys in *blue* spandex. Thankfully, she only knew one like
that...

"Iris?" Lois said, before the other woman could hang up.
"Listen, don't worry, I'll find a way to get Superman here
and... uh... we'll send The Flash back to you in one piece."

"I hope so," Iris whispered.

Lois thanked Iris again and hung up. She hoped things would turn
out ok. Having gotten a taste of what her life might be like
without Clark in it, she could imagine just how painful it would
be for someone to lose their *husband* while he was out saving
innocent people from certain doom.

~.~.~.~.~

Ever since he'd seen the first images of The Flash on TV, Jimmy
had been completely mesmerized. He was glued to the television
set, trying to catch a good look at the superhero, even though
all anyone could really see of him were red blurs appearing and
disappearing about as fast as one could blink.

The longest they'd seen of him was a few seconds when he'd stood
on top of a Hummer and yelled out something which didn't make
any sense to most people at the time. "Hey Wiz-man," he'd
shouted as loudly as he could, "Will you stop it with the rain
already? It's not them you want. Not when you can have me
instead!" And then he'd vanished in a red blur again.

Jimmy was in awe. That guy really had cojones, he thought. And
what a neat costume, too!

"Hey Jimmy," Lois called out to him for the third time.
"Yoo-hoo? Jimmy, you listening to me at all?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, Lois," he answered, barely taking his eyes off
the TV screen for a second. "Have you seen? The Flash is here!
He's so cool! Hey, I'll bet this guy is even faster than
Superman!"

"Oh come on, Jimmy, of course he's not faster than Superman!"
What a ridiculous notion, Lois thought, as if anyone could
possibly be better than Superman at anything! Just then, she
remembered that the guy in the Suit with the flashy red 'S' whom
she was putting on a very high pedestal was... well, *Clark*. It
felt so strange to think that he had all these amazing powers.
He could fly, for Pete's sake! She shook her head. She really
needed to stop idolizing Superman or she'd never be able to work
with Clark again without making an absolute fool of herself. She
wondered if she'd ever get a chance to in the first place - what
if he didn't come back? She shook her head again, hoping it
would chase away that thought.

"Yeah, well, I say he's faster!" Jimmy told her, sounding very
sure of himself.

"You know what? I really don't care who's faster or stronger or
whatever, as long as he's around to help. Anyway... Jimmy, I
have to step out for a few minutes, but I'm expecting a fax from
the Picture-News in Central City. The second it gets here, can
you make sure a copy of it is sent to Inspector Henderson at
Metro PD for me?"

"A fax? Yes, yes, OK. I'll do that."

"You'd better!" she told him stepping right in front of him and
blocking his view of the TV set in the process.

"Yes, Lois, I will. Now would you move out of the way, I'm
missing all the action!"

"What action?" Lois mumbled as she walked away. "All they can
see are short streaks of red every few seconds. Pfff!"

~.~.~.~.~

Lois made her way to the storage room and then locked the door
behind her. She guessed that this would probably look suspicious
if anyone had seen her do it, but she knew they were all staring
at the television screen hoping to catch a glimpse of that Flash
character. Good thing, she thought, because this way no one
would think of coming over to eavesdrop either.

She turned on her cell phone and dialed, hoping there would be
someone to answer the call.

She heard one ring... and another... and a third... and then she
lost count... Finally, Martha Kent picked up. Lois felt waves of
relief rushing through her.

"Mrs. Kent, Hi! It's Lois. Uh... Lois Lane. From the Daily
Planet. You remember me, don't you?"

"Lois, honey, yes of course I remember," Martha answered "How
are you holding up over there?"

"Oh... Me? I'm Ok, it was kind of a shock, you know, things
happened so quick and then they asked him to leave and... well,
of course now we desperately need his help to catch these
lunatics, but we don't know where he's flown off to. You
wouldn't happen to know where he's hiding out, would you?" Lois
was so nervous she was starting to babble.

"Who? Superman? Why would we...."

"Oh, oh... it's OK..." Lois interrupted, "you don't have to
pretend... I know..."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"I mean I know... that Clark is... well... him."

"Lois, you're not making any sense, honey..." Martha said,
slightly worried. Did Lois really actually know, she wondered?

"You made the suit for him... I know. The whole secret
identity... Clark told me before he left last night. Well, I
figured it out actually, but that's not important how I know, is
it? I just do. Listen, I really, really need to get in touch
with him. The city's about to be flooded and The Flash is here
but we need Superman, too. Oh and we know who caused the heat.
It's not him, it never was. I knew all along it couldn't be him,
I told him, too, but I think he was too heartbroken to listen to
anything I was saying at the time..." She was babbling
uncontrollably now. "Poor guy, I can't imagine how it feels to
be told you need to leave like that after all he's done for us,
it's just so cruel. And he's such a good man... I mean, you
know... Well, obviously, you would, since..."

"Lois?" Martha interrupted, laughing softly.

"Oh, oh sorry... I lose track of my own thoughts sometimes when
I'm stressed. So, anyway, do you happen to know where he is?"
She closed her eyes tightly, hoping the answer to come would be
a yes.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure, but..." she started saying.

"Oh," Lois interjected. "I'm sorry... I just assumed you'd be
aware of his whereabouts. It must be hard on you guys too? This
whole thing turned into such an awful mess. I still can't
believe they made him leave like that."

"You know, honey, it's not the first time Clark's had to pack up
and leave on a moment's notice. We're pretty much used to
getting that call and finding out that he's had to fly off to
some other remote part of the world that we've often never even
heard of. It's a lot harder on him than it is on us, though.
Poor sweetie, it breaks his heart every time - and well... it's
so much worse this time around, what with all the friends he'd
made and... well he'd found his calling and his purpose in
Metropolis, you know?"

"Mrs. Kent? When you speak to him... tell him we've got proof
he's not responsible for the heat, tell him we need him to come
back. Oh... and... uh... would you... uh... tell him... I miss
him," Lois' voice cracked on the last few words. He hadn't been
gone a full 24 hours, yet it felt like a lifetime ago that he'd
said goodbye.

"Oh, honey, you can tell him yourself. He's standing right
here."

"What? He is? But I thought you said you didn't know where he
was?" Lois asked, confused.

"I didn't... You just didn't let me finish. I was trying to say
that I wasn't sure but that I thought I'd seen him land near the
barn a few minutes ago," Martha told her. "Here, let me put him
through."

"Did you mean that?" Clark asked, once he'd grabbed the phone
from his mother.

"Mean what? I haven't said anything!"

"Not directly to me, no..."

"You mean...? You heard that?" Lois felt herself turn bright
red. He'd heard?

"That's why it's called 'super-hearing', Lois," he teased.

"Oh," she whispered. A second later, as her wits returned to
her, she continued, "Look, now's not the time to try and be
cute, Clark. The city is about to be flooded! We need you!"

"Flooded?" Clark asked, astounded. He had had no idea of what
was going on in Metropolis since he'd left. He'd spent a good
deal of time sitting atop one of the great pyramids of Giza
where a rise in temperature would hardly make any difference at
all. On a whim he'd decided to stop by Smallville before
deciding on where he was going to go to start over this time.

"Yes, yes, flooded. There's this guy who controls the weather.
Everything, it's all his fault. And now for whatever reason he's
making it rain. It's like he's trying to cover the city in water
or something. God only knows why," Lois explained, in full
babble mode again. "I found out from Iris Allen, she explained
about the Weather Wizard and everything. The Flash is in
Metropolis now, and she said something about an Aquaman, too?
But we need Superman, Clark!"

"Flash? In Metropolis?"

"Well, yes, that Wizard guy, Iris said he was an old rival of
his, so he came to help. Oh, you have no idea of the chaos
that's been reigning here since this morning, you wouldn't
believe it. I see it and I can barely believe it myself. So you
see, you really need to come back! Plus, you know, I promised
Iris that we'd send her back her husband in one piece!"

"Iris' husband? You mean Barry? What's he got to do with this?"
Clark asked, pretending not to know.

"Oh, come on, Clark, don't play dumb with me. He's The Flash!
You *know* that."

"Yeah, I do. I'm just surprised that you do too..."

"Well, of course I do. I'm not blind, you know!" Lois told him
defiantly.

Just a little bit, he thought. But he knew better than to say
that out loud.

Seeing that he wasn't answering, Lois continued impatiently,
"So, are you coming or what?"

"Well... you haven't answered my question," Clark said,
playfully. He knew this might be pushing his luck just a little
bit, but he all but ached to hear Lois tell him directly what
she'd told his mother to tell him just a moment ago. If anything
could help heal the pain he'd felt as he'd been forced to leave
Metropolis, this was certainly it.

"What question? Clark... there's no time for games!" Lois said
as impatient as ever.

"Did you mean it, Lois? What you said before?" he asked again.

"What?" Lois asked, before it dawned on her that he meant the
thing she'd told his mother just before he picked up the phone.
"Oh, that...?" She swallowed uneasily and continued, her voice
barely a whisper, "Yes, of course I meant it, Clark."

Lois waited for an answer but all she heard was static.

"Clark?" she asked. But, still, all she heard was static. She
looked at her phone and shook it. What a really awful time to
lose the connection she thought, frustrated. Ah well, she
guessed he'd be smart enough to take that as his cue to get into
his Suit and fly over to Metropolis on the double.

She unlocked the storage room's door and, as she opened it, she
found herself starting right at a big red 'S' set over a certain
blue spandex suit which she didn't imagine she'd see so soon
again. She looked up at Clark's face, amazed at the speed at
which he'd shown up there. The Flash had nothing on him for
sure, she thought.

"Seriously?" he asked, his eyes intense with unspoken emotion.

Lois just stood and stared for a few seconds. It was the first
time she saw him in the Suit, since she'd found out that Clark
was Superman. No wonder she'd never really looked that closely
as his face when he wore it... it fit just right in all the
right places, she thought appreciatively.

"Lois?" he said, with a bemused look. Clark couldn't help but
notice she was giving him the once-over.

"Oh..." she said finally, her cheeks reddening. "Yeah," she
whispered, and looking him straight in the eyes she added,
"seriously."

He smiled and gently brushed the back of his hand against her
cheek.

"Now, go!" she ordered him softly, a second later. She would
have liked for this moment not to end so soon, but Superman was
needed out there! Not to mention it would look mighty suspicious
if anyone had seen them standing there right at that moment.

He nodded and, with that, he disappeared in a blur of red and
blue.

~.~.~.~.~

Lois went back to the newsroom, a bright smile on her face. He
was here now and everything would be OK again. Clark - Superman!
- was back in Metropolis. The Weather Wizard and that nasty
Livewire woman would be caught in no time! 

She walked over to Jimmy, who was still glued to the TV set in
the hopes of catching a glimpse of The Flash. "Come on, Jimmy,"
she told him, "grab your camera, we're going out there."

"Lois, are you out of your mind? Have you seen what it looks
like on the streets? I'm staying right here where it's safe!"

"No," she commanded, "you're going to get your camera, then we
are going to go outside and we're going to get ourselves the
best front page material we've had in months."

"You can do whatever you like, but I am not taking a walk in a
foot and a half of water!"

"Listen, Jimmy..." Lois pleaded. "There are two, possibly even
three, super-powered guys out there trying to stop a madman
who's controlling the weather. This is your chance at an award
winning photograph, trust me!"

"Yeah, but Lois, Metropolis is a big city," Jimmy argued. "They
could be anywhere. Who's to say we're going to see anything
besides lots and lots of water? I'm not going to ruin a
perfectly good pair of shoes just to make you happy."

"Oh, for crying out loud! For one thing, if you'd actually
listened to the news instead of trying to catch a few red blurs
on TV, you might have realized that it's not raining anywhere
but downtown. And second, Superman is back. I'll take pictures
myself if I have to, but I'll be damned if I'm going to let the
Star get the exclusive."

"He's back?" Jimmy asked, clearly excited. "Why didn't you just
say so? Come on! I know a great place were we can go that's not
very far. You know that really big ugly sculpture they're trying
to pass off as modern art, in the little park in front of the
First Metropolis Bank? We can climb that, there's room for both
of us to stand on top. It's high enough that we'll have a great
view and we'll be safe from the rising waters. It's perfect!"

Jimmy picked up the camera from his desk and they hurried into
the elevator.

~.~.~.~.~

Meanwhile, far away from the rain...

"What is *he* doing here?" the Wizard raged, having seen images
of The Flash on TV. "He has no business in Metropolis! This
doesn't concern him!"

He started pacing. It wasn't useful, he knew, but he just
couldn't help it. The Flash was here and his message meant he
knew exactly who was behind the weather conditions. How had his
plan deteriorated so fast? 

It was all *her* fault! Why, oh why, did she have to go and
announce to the world that Superman was gone? What else could he
have done but try and stop her? He'd known since the second they
met that she would be his downfall. She could make his blood
boil like no one could and mess with his head in such a way he
should never have let her.

That damned flamboyant, impulsive - and insanely beautiful -
blue pain in the butt! She'd done what he feared she might do,
what he knew she would if he wasn't careful... she'd pushed him
right over the edge and he'd reacted in a fit of rage, without
thinking of the consequences. 

If he didn't find a way out of this fast, he was done for. In
the meantime, more rain might help. Maybe he could manage to
flush The Flash away?

~.~.~.~.~

The Flash had been running around all over the business district
for the last few minutes, getting as many people out of harm's
way as he could and stopping criminal activity when possible. 

It was raining harder than ever now. Perhaps the Wizard hadn't
heard his message? He'd been so sure that offering himself on a
silver platter, in exchange for the lives of everyone else,
would grab the man's attention... Of course, he had no real
intention of surrendering just like that - especially not with
help he knew should be on the way. Unless the Wizard had gotten
wiser and seen right through his ploy? No matter... For now,
Flash's only objective was to make sure people were safe. He'd
worry about the Wizard if and when he was faced with him. 

"Hey, speedy," he heard a man say as he was running out of an
alleyway he'd just been checking. He knew of only one person
who'd be able to catch up to him if he was running at full speed
like this. 

Flash stopped on a dime and sank right into the water. "Ugh!" he
exclaimed in disgust. He'd forgotten that, considering the speed
he was going, he'd been pretty much walking on water.

"It's Flash," he said in a falsely defiant air to the man
hovering a few feet above him in the air. "How many times do I
need to tell you? *Flash*." 

"Right..." the other answered, amused. "And why should I bother
trying to get it right when you're going around calling me
'Supes'?"

"It's just... ah... a term of endearment, you know? Cause I like
you so darn much!" Flash let out a great big laugh. "Good to see
you, big guy. One has to wonder, though... what the hell took
you so long? You know, I seem to remember you being almost as
fast as I am. What happened? Old age catching up with you?" he
added, semi-seriously.

"Oh, don't be so full of yourself," Superman told him, lowering
himself until his feet hit the water. "I seem to remember you
being almost as fast as *I* am. Besides, from what I understand,
you've been here less then ten minutes."

"Yeah, but do you have any idea how many people I've *saved* in
those ten minutes?" he replied with a sly smile.

"I suppose if I ask, you're going to tell me you've saved a few
million people?" Superman chuckled. 

"*Several* millions. You underestimate me, as always," Flash
retorted.

"Oh, cut it out, you guys!" said another man, jumping out of the
water like a dolphin.

"Hey! A.C., you made it!" Flash grinned widely.

"You're not supposed to call me that," the man whispered, a bit
uneasy. "That's the whole point of the costume and the secret
identity, you know?"

"Aquaman. I'm sorry," Flash said, with a playful bow of the
head. "But, come on, you'd have to be insanely brilliant to
figure out what A.C. even stands for! For all anyone knows it
could mean 'air conditioning' or 'alternating current' and about
a zillion different first and last name combinations. Chill out,
will ya!"

"You know, we may all be lightning fast in our own way, but I
daresay we're wasting a lot of time arguing over these things,"
Superman told them.

"Ah, yes, of course, always Mr. Reasonable," Aquaman said with
an exaggerated grimace. 

Superman raised an eyebrow at him. "Someone needs to be.
Especially with you two around."

"Well, look who's being full of himself now,