New Earth: Superman and Lois

Chapter 7

"Hey, you okay?" Lois asked Clark as she entered his office.

"Yeah, just running up against a deadline." Clark said.

"I'm confused, as the boss, aren't you the one who sets the deadlines?" Lois asked.

"It's not a deadline for a story." Clark said.

"Then what is it a deadline for." Lois asked.

"A deadline to catch Lex before we go offworld for our honeymoon, since I'm postponing it just to deal with him." Clark said.

"You're right about that, but why are you obsessing over him? We both know that Kara is more than capable of dealing with Lex while you're gone." Lois said.

"I know, but the thing is, she shouldn't have to. Lex is my mess, she shouldn't have to clean it up. Again." Clark said.

"Clark, what happened in the old universe wasn't your fault. We all thought that Stryker's Island was secure enough to hold Lex, but we were wrong." Lois said.

"Lex turned Kara into public enemy number one. He literally managed to take over the country and while he did that, what was I doing? I was sitting on Argo, completely unaware of what was going on." Clark said.

"Clark, Kara had no way of contacting us through Argo's shield." Lois said.

"Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that I failed to stop him. He turned Supergirl into a fugitive, he nearly killed Jimmy and he betrayed Lena in such a way that she betrayed Kara." Clark said.

"Clark, you spent years battling with Lex, but you won in the end. You put him in prison. What happened after that is not your fault." Lois said.

"I wish I could believe that. But a part of me thinks that if I'd been there when Lex escaped, maybe I could've stopped him before things got as bad as they did." Clark said.

"Clark, we can't live in the past, especially a past that doesn't even exist anymore and things go our way, that past will never become our future." Lois said.

"I know, but my failure to stop Lex isn't the only thing that's been bothering me." Clark admitted.

"Then what else is it?" Lois asked.

"It's what I'm going to do with Lex when I eventually beat him." Clark said.

"Meaning what?" Lois asked.

"I don't think that there's any prison on earth that can hold Lex, since he'll always find his way out of it." Clark said.

"Wait Clark, are you saying you want to kill Lex?" Lois asked.

"I don't want to kill him, but I don't think I have any other choice." Clark said.

"I understand that, but I desperately hope that we can find another solution." Lois said.

"I hope so." Clark said, right as he stood up abruptly and Lois recognized the look.

"Go, you're needed." Lois said and Clark nodded as he pressed a button hidden under his desk, which revealed a secret stairway to the roof.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." Clark said as he removed his glasses and activated his new suit ring, which bore the same red, blue and yellow crest as his suit on it, since he had to admit, the suit ring was far more convenient than wearing his super suit under his clothes as he headed up to fly off.

Superman flew through Metropolis, he was tuning in to what had gotten his attention and he had to admit, it sounded kind of familiar to him, someone jumping off a bridge, but not for the usual reason, though he still headed towards it.

However, when he arrived at the scene, he immediately recognized why this was a familiar, since he recognized the jumper.

"Alright, you got me here. Now what do you want?" Superman asked as he raised his hand to the glyph on his chest, hoping that it would work.

"It's very simple alien. For you to die." John Corben said as he turned around and sure enough, embedded in his chest was a kryptonite heart.

"Yeah, that's not going to work the way you think it will." Superman said as he touched the glyph on his chest, and activated the new anti kryptonite suit that Kara had convinced him to let Lena build for him and he had to admit, if he didn't regret doubting Lena before, he did now, since the suit worked like a charm.

"Oh, what's that supposed to do?" Metallo asked, as he blasted Superman with kryptonite, only to be stunned when it didn't affect him.

"It's supposed to do that. So, who sent you?" Superman asked.

"You'll find out soon enough." Metallo said as he attempted to blast Superman again, only for the man of steel to dodge and fly towards him, slamming his fist into him.

"Let me take a guess then. Project Cadmus?" Superman asked.

"How do you know about them?" Metallo asked.

"Because they took someone both Supergirl and I cared about. And until now, the trail on them had gone cold. But now, it looks like I may have found a new lead." Superman said.

"You'll never get me to talk." Metallo said as he pulled out a remote.

"No." Superman said, however, he moved too slowly to stop him from hitting the detonator, causing one of the main bridge supports to give out.

"Your choice alien. Catch me or save everyone on this bridge. Even you can't do both." Metallo said as Superman glared at him before flying off to stabilize the bridge, which he did by using his heat vision to seal the cracks while using his flight and super strength to hold a majority of the bridge together.

However, by the time he finished, Metallo had gotten away.

"Next time." Superman said, making a mental note to let Kara know about this development, since she would be very interested in learning that Cadmus had resurfaced.