Man of Tomorrow

Death

Clark stands at the entrance of the alleyway of a bar. After a while, a cab pulls up a few feet away from the alleyway and stops. Lois gets out of the cab and pays the cab driver. Lois walks over to Clark.

"Mr. Kent?"

"Ms. Lane. It's good to see you again."

"Of course it is. So have you got something for me?" asks Lois.

"That depends." pushes back Clark.

"On what?"

"On who you're really reporting for." explains Clark.

"What do you mean?" Lois wonders aloud.

"These mobsters, whoever they are, they aren't getting their information from the pages of a newspaper. Which means there are only a few places they could be getting their information from. And since I'm pretty much convinced that the people hurt in the accidents aren't talking, and John's talking to reporters about this, that leaves only one place where they could be getting it from." insists Clark.

"Wow, you almost sound like a reporter." quips Lois.

"Well I took classes in school for journalism." suggests Clark.

"Then you must know that a reporter's first allegiance is to truth and justice. And the truth is that these criminals are exploiting regular working people for their own purposes. There's no justice in that." explains Lois confidently.

A shadowy figure walks towards Clark and Lois.

"Depends on whose justice we're talking about here." the figure declares.

Lois and Clark look towards the shadowy figure who steps out of the shadows.

"Who are you?" asks Lois.

"Someone with more important priorities then truth and justice." declares the shadowy figure as they pull out a gun and pulls back the hammer, loading it.

Clark moves in front of Lois to protect her.

"What are you doing?" Lois questions.

"I should think that would be obvious." the shadowy figure responds.

"Not you, him." points out Lois, shoving Clark, "What are you going to do? Catch the bullet with your hand?

"I was just..." tries Clark.

"Enough talk." the shadowy figure fires.

Clark grabs Lois and dives for safety as the bullets hurtle towards them. Several of the bullets bounces off Clark's back. Clark lands partly on top of Lois, stunning her slightly. Clark gets up to see the shadowy figure standing with the gun in hand.

"What the hell? I hit you. I know I hit you."

"Obviously, you missed." Clark says with a smile.

Clark chases the shadowy figure out of the alley. The shadowy figure runs right out into the street as an oncoming car speeds towards him. The car hits him at full speed, killing him on impact. Clark looks on, unable to do anything as the shadowy figure dies.

"Ow."

Clark turns around to see Lois pulling herself to her feet. Clark walks over to Lois.

"Are you all right?" asks Clark.

"Better than I could have been if you hadn't been the world's biggest boy scout and saved me from a severe case of lead poisoning." suggests Lois.

"Can I take that as a yes?"

"Yeah. What about you? Did you catch the bullets?" asks Lois.

"What?" Clark asks with a bit of shock.

"Did they hit you? Are you bleeding?" explains Lois.

"Oh. No, I'm fine. I think they missed." Clark says, trying to pass it off.

"Then why aren't we dead now?" wonders Lois aloud, then looks towards the accident which has just taken place, "Oh. Is he?"

"I think he's dead. Any thoughts as to why they were coming after you?"

"I'm a reporter. Take your pick of articles I've written and I'm sure you
can find a reason." suggests Lois.

"He seemed more professional then your average person though." offers Clark.

"You think it might have been a mob hit?" asks Lois, obviously concerned.

Clark and Lois look at each other before speaking the same words, "John."

Lois pulls out her cell phone and calls a phone number.