Superman - Son of Krypton

Chapter Sixteen - Public Enemy Number One

"Kent!"

"Uh oh," Clark muttered to himself. He had only been out of the elevator for a second or two when Perry White spotted him from his office. It took Clark a moment to realize what his boss would want from him. And then it hit him: he had been gone for several days. He hadn't even thought about what had been going on at the Daily Planet.

Clark made his way into White's office and shut the door behind him, because he knew what was coming. Yelling. Lots of it. And Clark didn't have a ready-made excuse to defend himself. He couldn't very well tell his boss that he had been held captive in a building for a secret organization. He might as well tell the man that his dog ate his schedule.

"So, Mr. Kent. I don't suppose you know why I called you here?" Perry took of his glasses and studied them absently.

"Did it have something to do with the days I was ah... gone?"

"A week! An entire week you don't show up for work. I tried modestly to see if anyone knew where you were, but you must be pretty unpopular, because no one had a clue."

"No, I doubt they would..." Clark muttered.

"Okay, so let's here it then." White set his glasses down on his desk rather harshly and stared at Clark. Clark resisted the instinct to readjust his own glasses.

"Here what, sir?"

"Your reason for being gone a week, of course!" Perry White looked as if one more "stupid" question from Clark would make him explode.

"I don't have an excuse, sir," Clark said after a moment. Clark had realized that he wasn't going to keep lying to people to cover himself. He couldn't tell his boss what was going on, so he wouldn't tell him anything at all.

Perry White just looked at Clark. He seemed, for once, to be at a loss for words. Finally, he composed himself. "I've had many employees work under me, Clark. But none of them are quite like you."

"Well, I'm sure I won't be your employee for long," Clark said, knowing what was to come. After all, one does not just miss a week of work unexpectedly without consequences.

"And why is that?"

"Well, you're going to fire me. I missed a week of work."

"Yes, I suppose you did..." Perry muttered. "But no, I am not going to fire you."

"What?"

"I see something in you, Kent."

"Something good?" Clark asked.

Perry White just shrugged. "Not necessarily. Just something... different. I quite like different. Besides, your article on Superman did exceed my expectations, albeit my expectations were low."

"Does that mean you used it?" Clark's face lit up.

"No."

"Oh, but I thought..."

"You thought wrong. I was mildly impressed with the article, and I had half a mind to use it, even. However, when you didn't show for work, I decided to publish Lane's instead. Turns out it was the right decision."

"Why?" Clark asked.

"Didn't you watch the news last night? Superman is public enemy number one."

"What? No..." Clark turned away from Perry to find a TV.

"Kent! We're not finished here."

"Oh," Clark turned back. "Sorry."

"As you mentioned, you were gone for a week, and that doesn't go without consequences," White explained.

Oh great, Clark thought, here it comes.

"I am not going to fire you. Well, not today at least. But if you get away with skipping work for a week, what's to stop everyone else from doing it?"

"Oh, well I..."

"I want you to spend a week, a month, a year even if that's what it takes shadowing Ms. Lane. I want you to understand the dedication she puts into her work here. She will show you every step of creating a story for the Daily Planet. I want you to be there for all of it, until you can create your own juicy story. That won't be a problem, will it?"

Clark was about to protest, but thought better of it. He didn't want to follow Lois Lane around and "learn" from her. Sure, she may be a better reporter than him, but he sure wasn't going to learn anything from getting yelled at from her and getting a massive blow to his ego.

But then he thought about the Superman thing. Public enemy number one? That sounded serious. So Clark bit his tongue.

"No sir."

"Good," said White. "Now scram."

Clark exited White's office and showed himself to the nearest screen. Sure enough, the channel on that TV and all the others around it were tuned in to the same topic. It was video footage of Clark in his Superman shirt breaking out of the Squad K prison. The video make Superman out to look like a monster. And people were eating it right up. The words on the screens all read the same thing.

Superman Is Now Public Enemy Number One.