Superman Movieverse Forum

Title: Family Reunion
Author: Mr. Beeto
Rating: PG-13
Beta: htbthomas and Shado Librarian
Summary: AU Twist on Donner/Singer Movieverse: Tie the three films together into a cohesive whole, and provide a more credible and interesting reason for Superman to have returned to Krypton.

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Author’s Notes:
My thanks again to the beta team:  htbthomas and Shado Librarian a.k.a. dandello.

Chapter 19 – An Evening at the Office

Thursday, September 28, 2006 6:00PM EDT
Clark tucked a napkin in the collar of Kara’s yellow turtleneck, and set a burrito on a paper plate in front of her as she eyed the meal skeptically.  “Just try a bite,” he encouraged her.   She struggled with it, with some of the filling dropping out the back end as she bit into it.  Her eyes lit up as she chewed, and she eagerly took a much larger second bite.  “I think it’s safe to say that she likes burritos,” Clark commented mirthfully.

“Me, too!” Jason declared eagerly as he took another bite of his own half-eaten burrito.

As the group ate their meal, they were entertained by Clark’s recollection of some of the culinary options offered in the places he’d traveled, provoking reactions of disbelief from his audience over such exotic menu choices such as fried scorpions.  Lois was still attempting to reconcile the tableau before her with what she now knew, and she was grateful that his animated tale gave her an excuse to closely observe him and Kara without being obvious.  However, Richard had noticed her rapt attention by the time the anecdotes and the meal ended.

As the group finished their dinner, Lois shifted her attention to Jason, who was picking at the tidbits on his plate that had dropped from his burritos.  It was clear that Clark’s tales of other cultures menus hadn’t affected the children’s appetites.  They’d both finished two burritos and split a third and meticulously gathered all the dropped morsels with their forks.  “All done!” Jason declared as he slid out of his seat.

“Me, too,” Kara echoed.  She also slid out of her chair and followed Jason to the door.

“It amazes me how much some kids can pack away and still be thin as a rod,” Richard observed.  “Does she always eat like that?”

“Um, usually, I guess,” Clark replied awkwardly.  “She, um, she seems to have a healthy appetite.”

“Jason ate just as much,” Lois pointed out.  She finally noticed the children’s attempted escape and hollered, “Hey!  Where do you two think you’re going?”

“It’s okay, Miss Lane.  I can keep an eye on them,” Jimmy offered.  “I want to get some pictures of them anyway.”  Once Lois nodded her assent, Jimmy led Jason and Kara into the bullpen.

Richard turned and looked at the map still projected on the screen at the end of the room.  “So back to what you were saying earlier…” Richard ventured cautiously.  “This map is garbage?  Did any of your sources pan out?”

“We still have Star Labs,” Lois answered tentatively.

  “What do they have?”

“Let me show you,” Clark offered.  He reached for the projector remote, and his brow wrinkled in concentration.  “How do you switch this to my laptop?”

So Clark is the one with the good sources, Richard thought.  Lois didn’t really need to stay late after all.  She just doesn’t want to let go of the story.  Why is she so competitive with him?

“Here, give it to me,” Lois commanded.  She pressed a couple icons on the remote’s touch screen and the screen across the room switched its display to Clark’s laptop.

“Thanks,” Clark told her.  “Anyway, these two pictures are of microchips taken from some of the cell towers around town, at a million times magnification.  See the pitting on the surface?”

“The EMP damage,” Lois commented.  “It looks like a lunar landscape...”

“…which isn’t good,” Clark added.  “Each ‘crater’ is from a micro-explosion on the surface of the chip…”

“…which Star Labs is trying to measure to quantify the damage...”

  “…but they were initially only grading these pictures on a scale of one to ten for severity.  It did isolate it to the southeast section of the city, but it’s too subjective to really narrow it down beyond that…”

“…but that didn’t stop the feds from trying to read between the lines…” Lois said irritably.

“…despite it being a huge leap of faith.  If you look at these two pictures, both chips rated a nine on the initial scale–” Clark explained.

“They look pretty much the same to me,” Richard interrupted.  Geez, how do they finish each others’ sentences like that?

“Well, um, they’re not,” Clark stated tentatively.  “N-not really.  If you, um, measure the area of damage against the total surface area of the chip, you get, um, ninety-four point seven six two zero percent for the one on the left, and, um, eighty-nine point five two one one percent on the right…”

“…and that kind of accuracy could lead us to the source of the EMP.” Lois added triumphantly.

“ Doctor Faulkner’s team is pulling an all-nighter to do just that.  They’re reprogramming their optical scanning equipment to use the revised algorithms and if all goes well, they’ll start rescanning the microchip images tomorrow morning...”

“So we’re going to have to wait until they finish processing the data,” Lois concluded.  She turned to Clark and asked, “When do we follow up with Faulkner?”

“’We’?” Richard asked in surprise.  “Perry gave the story to Clark, remember?”  He has a handle on everything, Richard thought.  It’s his story.  Let it go so we can go home.

“There’s been a change of plans,” Lois declared.  “Polly will cover Superman.  In fact, she should be here any minute for me to brief her…  And Clark and I will work together on the EMP.  Clark, when–”

“Lois, Perry was rather insistent that you cover the Superman story when I talked to him earlier,” Richard interrupted.  Please drop it, Lois, Richard thought.  Let Clark handle this.

“Your uncle should be delighted that I was able to arrange for Polly to do it!” Lois hollered.  “Superman was not at all happy about my editorial and he flat out refused to go on the record with me.”

“Um, th-that sounds a bit harsh,” Clark observed quietly.  “I can’t, um, believe that he m-meant it like that.  It really doesn’t sound like him.”

Lois glared at Clark and said icily, “Well, I guess he was just full of surprises tonight then, wasn’t he?  Now for the third time, when do we follow up with Faulkner?”

“T-Tomorrow afternoon at two o’clock,” Clark answered timidly.

“So in the meantime… Luthor?”

“Luthor,” Clark confirmed as he nodded his head.

“You don’t really think Lex Luthor had something to do with the EMP, do you?” Richard asked curiously.  Please say ‘no’.

Lois’ eyes briefly widened in surprise at Richard’s question and her eyes darted over to Clark, whose face also expressed surprise.  After a moment’s consideration, she returned her attention to Richard and quietly stated, “I wouldn’t rule it out.  But even if he wasn’t involved in that, you can be sure that he’s been up to nothing good.”



Thursday, September 28, 2006 7:00PM EDT

Clark looked up from his laptop and through the glass wall into the bullpen, where Jason and Kara were playing under Jimmy’s watchful supervision.  Kara had talked Jason out of playing Godzilla.  He was now playing Superman, with his arms out in front of him and running around making whooshing sound while Kara gave him tips on the proper form for arm movements while flying.  Jason swooped in to rescue an unsuspecting Kara from an imaginary building on fire.  Rescue complete, Kara wanted her turn to be the superhero, which sparked a little argument over gender, since Superman was obviously not a girl.

Clark suppressed a chuckle while he continued to watch the tableau and barely registered Lois’ complaining.  “How did he manage to keep such a low profile since he got out?” she demanded to know as she slammed down the phone.  “None of my sources have anything.”

“Well, did you ever consider that Superman might have been wrong about him?” Richard suggested.  “Maybe it really was that other guy who did everything.  Otis something, I think.”

“Otis Fortney was a buffoon,” Lois said harshly.  “He was a high school dropout who could barely find his ass with both hands – strictly small-time, mostly doing B and E’s until he hooked up with Luthor.  After that he was probably little more than an errand boy and eventually a scapegoat for Luthor when his mad plan failed so miserably.”

“Whoa, easy there, Lois,” Richard backpedaled.  “I’m just playing devil’s advocate here.”

“Well, next time, try doing some homework on the topic first,” she snapped.  “Anybody who spent two minutes researching Fortney would realize what an idiot the man was.”

“Okay, okay, I get the point,” Richard protested and he held up his hands in a surrender gesture.  Lois just glared at him momentarily before returning to her laptop.

“Um, Richard?” Clark said tentatively.  “Luthor, um, already had a long history with the courts years before Otis ever showed up.  He’d… He’d swindled tens of thousands of people out of their life savings and made off with about a hundred million dollars.  There was, um, a judgment against him for restitution, but the money was gone.  He tried to blame it all on his accountant, Milton Meier, who, um, ended up dead before he could defend himself against the slander.  I suspect that, um… that Luthor hid the money in some other accounts, which was probably what he used to buy up all that desert land before he tried to drop the west coast into the sea.  If... if you closely scrutinize that attempted genocide with his pyramid scheme from years earlier, you’ll find a lot of similarities.  For instance, some poor scapegoat ending up dead before he could defend himself.  Milton Meier after his first scheme went sour and Otis Fortney the last time.”

“Have you found anything a little more recent?” Lois asked.  “My sources have come up dry.”

“Well, Luthor’s name popped up in some unexpected places in the legal records,” Clark explained.  “Unfortunately, the court records are sealed.  All I’ve got are the docket entries.  There’s really not much more I can do here.”

“There are ways to find out what’s in those court records,” Lois reminded him.  “Once we’re done here–”

“Polly’s finally here,” Richard interrupted.

Lois spun around and looked out into the bullpen where she spotted the slender older woman talking with Jimmy and the children before finally making her way to the conference room, pulling her wheeled laptop case behind her.  As she walked through the door, Lois irritably pointed out, “I called you over an hour ago.”

“I had to make myself beautiful,” Polly said dramatically.

“This is a serious interview with a major public figure.  Not a blind date,” Lois argued.

“I think that you’ve mistaken me for Cat Grant,” Polly said sharply.  “I don’t do blind dates… or my interview subjects, no matter how much my grandson adores him.”

Lois glared at her while Richard suggested, “Well…  Let’s get started.  We printed out his basic background information.  The bio’s there, too.”

“Thank you, Richard,” Polly told him sincerely.  She put on her reading glasses and began to peruse the printouts.

Lois sighed and added, “You should be aware of some of the interview idiosyncrasies, too,” Lois added irritably.  “Don’t be surprised if he’s late – rescues come first.  He’s also been known to fly off without warning in the middle of an interview to answer a call for help.  He’s usually not gone long, though.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Polly answered without looking up from her printouts.

Lois suddenly realized that the subject of their strategy session was sitting across from her.  How many times was he right there, as Clark, while I went on and on about Superman? she thought.  While I went on and on about him!  Oh, God, the things I said, right in front of him...  She felt her checks grow warm and lowered her head to hide the blush.  She glanced over at Clark and said icily, “Clark, didn’t you say that you were about done for the night?”

“Um, well, I probably won’t make much more headway from the office,” he admitted.  “But the kids seem to be having such a good time together…  I’d really hate to spoil their fun.”

Lois rolled her eyes and sighed.  You would throw that back at me.  Jerk.  “Well, then maybe you should check on them,” Lois said irritably.

“Oh, um, okay.”

Lois waited for Clark to join Jimmy and children in the bullpen before finally returning her attention to Polly.  “Oh, and he’ll try to control the interview,” Lois warned.  “Don’t let him get away with that.”
 


Richard could only conclude that Lois was furious with Kent.  They may have agreed to work together on the EMP and were still finishing each other’s sentences, but he recognized the tinge of anger that accented her words when she talked to him.  What on Earth is going on there? he wondered.  This can’t still be about the EMP.  She’s never been that upset over a story before.  While Lois ran down her lists of do’s and don’ts with Polly, he glanced into the bullpen at her old partner.  Clark was squatting down in front of Jason and Kara, exaggerating his facial expressions as he spoke to them and both of the kids were giggling at whatever it was he was saying.   He sure knows how to keep those two entertained, Richard observed.  If only it were that easy with Lois.

He returned his attention to the women in the room as Lois continued with her rules of engagement for the Superman interview.  “…And you can forget about the surprise questions,” Lois declared.  “One, you won’t surprise him.  In fact, not only is he probably eavesdropping on us, he’s probably also scanned our research and knows exactly what you’re going to ask.  But, you can still ask the hard questions.  You just won’t surprise him, so don’t make an ambush part of your interview strategy…  And don’t let him weasel out of the tough questions, either.  He’s really good at changing the subject when he doesn’t want to answer the question.”

She’s mad at Superman, too, Richard thought.  Is there anyone she isn’t mad at lately?

“Lois, I’m no cub reporter and this is hardly my first celebrity interview,” Polly reminded her.  “I think we can skip the interview tactics and get right to the background material.”

  “I don’t think you understand,” Lois insisted.  “You have to be tough with him.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Lois.  He’s not going to walk all over me.  But I’m not going to let him have it with both barrels either…  Now, you wrote in your first article that he was the last of his kind?”

“Yeah, his world was destroyed in a supernova - the entire population was wiped out,” Lois answered somberly.  “He believed that he was the only survivor…”

Richard listened intently as Lois answered Polly’s questions and continued to offer suggestions for the interview.  Well, it looks like Lois will get her wish, Richard thought.  With Polly doing the interview, Superman won’t be coming back into her life.  Now, if only we could get our life together back on track – nothing’s gone right between us all week.  Richard again looked out in the bullpen, where Clark was now seated with a child perched on each leg as he entertained them and Jimmy took pictures of the trio.  Where does Clark fit into all this, and why is Lois so obsessed with him? Richard wondered.



Clark was enjoying his time with the two children, entertaining them with children’s tales from cultures from around the globe and beyond while he eavesdropped on Lois and Polly.  He had a moment of concern when he heard Lois describe Krypton’s end, but Kara simply snuggled into his embrace and he continued his storytelling.  By the time he reached the story’s end, Kara’s sadness had been forgotten.

“Tell us another story, Mister Kent,” Jason pleaded with him.

“Yeah, another story, Dad.”

“Sounds like you have a fan club, Clark,” Jimmy said mirthfully.

“This time, make it a story with monsters in it,” Jason added.  “Do you know any Godzilla stories?”

Clark chuckled at the two of them.  “Monsters?  Are you sure you want a scary story?” he teased.

“Uh-huh,” Jason assured him.

Clark could hear that Lois and Polly were nearing the end of the briefing and knew that this stolen moment would have to come to an end.  He looked over at the conference room and reluctantly told them, “It looks like they’re almost done in conference room, so we’ll have to save the story for next time.”

“Awww!” the children both complained.

Clark lifted them off his lap as he stood up, setting them both gently on the floor and suggesting, “Let’s see what the others are up to, okay?  I think they might be getting ready to go home.”

“Before you go, let me get you a copy of these pictures,” Jimmy insisted.  “I have some good ones.”

“Sure,” Clark agreed as he continued guiding the kids to the conference room.



Richard looked up as Jason entered the room and ran over to him and began telling him about the amazing story that Mister Kent told them.  Kara ran up behind him, quietly nodding in agreement to the description.  Richard laughed lightly at his son’s enthusiasm.  Well, I know who we’re calling to babysit if I can ever talk Lois into an evening out, he thought mirthfully.

While Richard listened attentively to Jason, Clark reclaimed his seat across from Lois and asked, “How’s it coming along?”

“Just about done,” Polly informed him.  She turned back to Lois and asked, “One last thing - kryptonite.  Where did it come from, and how much of it is floating around?”

“The meteorites are radioactive pieces of his home world, so–” Lois began.

“Here they are,” Jimmy said loudly as he entered the room waving a thumb drive in the air.  “You can copy them all down to your laptop.”

“Jimmy, what have you got there?” Richard asked curiously.

“Oh, it’s some pictures of the kids that I took earlier,” Jimmy answered cheerfully.  “I got some great shots.”  He looked up and noticed that Clark’s laptop was still displayed on the projector and suggested, “Since you’re already hooked up, we can do a slide show.”

“Jimmy…” Lois said irritably.  “We’re trying to finish up a briefing here, so we can all go home.”

“I’d barely have time to get there before I’d have to turn around and come back,” Polly commented.  “I don’t mind the distraction.”

“Lois, you don’t have to sit through the whole thing,” Richard said cautiously.  “Jimmy can start his slide show, and once you and Polly are done, we can leave if you want to.”  Maybe there are some good ones of Jason for our family album, Richard thought.

“Just give me a second,” Jimmy said while he took the seat beside Clark, and copied his pictures down to the laptop.  A couple minutes later, he was ready to begin and asked eagerly, “Do you kids want to see this?  Hey, guys?  Jason.  Kara.  The slide show’s starting!”  The youngsters showed little enthusiasm in the slide show, but climbed into the seats to Richard’s right and looked over at the screen.  Richard chuckled at their reaction as he settled in to enjoy Jimmy’s slide show.

Lois finally pulled herself away from the distraction and returned her attention to Polly.  “Kryptonite comes from meteorites from Superman’s home world, Krypton.  It’s radioactive and deadly to him.  I have no idea how it ended up on Earth or how much of it is here,” she explained

“How deadly is it?” Polly asked.  “Like cigarettes are deadly or like mustard gas?”

“Probably more like mustard gas, but you’ll have to ask him,” Lois answered thoughtfully.  “I’d advise against putting those details in a story, however.  Too many bad guys have a grudge to settle with him for us to be providing a detailed exposé on his Achilles heel.”

“Point taken,” Polly replied.

“Hey!” Jason interrupted.  “Kara looks just like me!”

Richard’s eyes shot wide as he scrutinized the two nearly identical smiling faces staring back from the screen.  He couldn’t dispute Jason’s assessment as he compared the matching pairs of cerulean blue eyes, along with matching noses, mouths, and chins.  They also both had a dimple in their left cheek as they smiled back at the camera.  Richard softly moaned, “No.”  It can’t be! he thought.

Jason hadn’t caught the despair in Richard’s voice and argued, “She does, too!  Even our eyes match, and Grandma says that nobody has eyes the same kinda’ blue as mine.  But Kara’s are the same.”

  “So are Dad’s,” Kara added quietly.

Richard turned from the screen and looked at Clark, who was staring over the glasses that had slipped down his nose with a guilty expression on his face.   He quickly pushed his glasses back in place, and looked down at his hands, suddenly nervous at the attention.  Richard was forced to concede that not only was Clark’s eye color an exact match with Jason and Kara’s, both children also had the same cleft chin.  No, there’s got to be another explanation, Richard thought.

“Mommy, why does Kara look like me?” Jason asked insistently.

“Jason, don’t worry about it,” Lois replied sternly.  Richard looked over at her and noticed that she also had a guilty expression on her face.

Jason was quiet for a moment then turned to Kara and asked in a loud whisper, “Why do you look like me?”

“We’re related,” Kara answered simply.

“Really?” Jason asked incredulously.

“Uh-huh,” Kara answered.  A wide smile spread across her face and she told him excitedly, “Um, your mom said that you’re actually a Kent and I’m your big sister.  Isn’t that swell?”

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