Helium

Chapter Two

We don't even have to go a block to find the place Robin's looking for. When we arrive at the counter, she looks up at me. "May I order for us?"

"Please do," I invite her.

"You're not a vegetarian or anything, are you?" she wonders. "They have veggie burgers."

"I'm from Kansas, remember?" I joke.

She rolls her eyes at me, but she's smiling. "You can be a vegetarian and be from Kansas, I'm sure." She turns back to the counter and says, "We will have two cheeseburgers with the works, two orders of fries, and two root beer floats, please."

We sit at a small table in the corner. Our legs touch underneath it and I smile again, unable to help myself.

"I'm sorry about what I said in Perry's office, Clark," Robin starts. "You have to play hardball with him to get anywhere, and it was my last shot at Lois Lane. I don't care that you're new. I was new once too and I did pretty well, if I do say so myself, so I think it will be fantastic working with you."

"That's very kind of you, Robin. I wasn't offended. As far as the Planet's concerned, I've never done this before, so I know I have a lot to learn. I'm still not exactly sure what you do, or what we're supposed to do together, though."

She nods and laughs. "Of course. I promised to explain. I'm a writer, just like you, but I write books. My publisher pays me to research topics, usually for about a year, depending on what it is, and then I write a nonfiction book about it that's interesting and accessible to a wide audience of readers."

"That sounds interesting," I tell her. "How long have you been doing it?"

"Since I graduated from college," she explains. "I got recruited at a school fair after one of my professors recommended me to a publisher. It's kind of an unusual gig, and not one that's widely known. Publishers don't want writers banging down their doors any more than they already are. My first project was the official biography of newspaper genius Perry White."

"Ah, I see. It seemed like you knew him, based on how you two were talking."

I pause as our food is delivered, my eyes widening at the huge bag of fries that's beside each plate. She grins and picks up her burger. "Try it, and then I will keep talking."

I obediently take a bite of my burger. After I chew and swallow, I glance at her with a raised eyebrow. "Wow. Well, I don't know if it's the best burger in Metropolis, since it's the only burger I've had in Metropolis, but it's definitely the best burger I've had."

"Reporters," she scoffed playfully. "Always so factual." She winks at me. "I'll take it. Keep eating."

She continues talking between bites of her burger. "Perry taught me pretty much everything I know about getting to the bottom of a story. Observing him for a year was the best thing that could have happened to me. I may have written the book on him, but he was my mentor, and I'll always be grateful for that."

"He didn't seem like he was being, well, very nice to you back at the Planet," I observe.

Especially on the call I overheard, but I can't exactly tell her about that.

"That isn't his fault. My publisher wanted me to shadow Lois Lane. The problem is that Lois, like Perry said, wants nothing to do with me. He's doing the best he can."

"Couldn't he have assigned you to some other reporter with more experience than me, though?"

She shakes her head. "No, Perry's right. There are two angles in this business. The top and the bottom. Again, sorry. It sounds offensive in the reverse too. The old and the new. Lois would be a great story because she's one of the greatest investigative reporters there is. She's proven. You're going to be a great story because of exactly the opposite. You're new. An unknown factor. You have the possibility to become anything. Perry said you're a risk, and that's true. But you're a risk that could pay off in a really amazing way if it works."