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[of-krypton]

intrepidxreporter​:

Lois beamed when Clark laughed and agreed with her assessment. She certainly didn’t think her life was lacking in any way. But it was nice to have time to be just the two of them. No capes. No big story. Just Lois and Clark on a date.

A few passers by in the street jumped at the loud whistle, but Lois didn’t even flinch. “Thanks,” she smiled, sliding into the backseat of the taxi and telling the driver where they were headed.

No sooner did the car pull away from the curb that her phone started ring. Lois frowned a little at the caller ID on the screen before answering. “Hello… yes, he’s here with me… uh-huh, one moment.” Lois then offered the phone to Clark, a knowing look on her face. “It’s Bruce and his impeccable timing again.”

Handing the phone over, Lois teased further. “Tell your boyfriend he has your number. Stop calling my phone.”

“You’re welcome.” Clark smiled easily, taking up the vacant half of the cab’s back seat and letting Lois tell the driver where they were headed. Looking out of the window, he heard Bruce’s voice over the line and a tiny matching frown came to his face. Why would he be calling Lois? Taking the phone as it was offered, he gave his wife a bemused look at the teasing before holding the device to his ear. Sure, he and Bruce spent quite a bit of time together, but he wasn’t sure they were close enough to be mistaken for boyfriends. “Hello, Bruce.”

“Lois says can you call my phone next time? Oh,” he glanced down at his pocket and sure enough the cell’s screen was black and the battery dead, “oops.”

[of-krypton]

intrepidxreporter​:

Lois let the matter drop, knowing she was right and Clark was just to oblivious to see it. It was just one of the many endearing qualities her husband had. “Interested or not, doesn’t matter. You’re spoken for.” She smiled smugly.

“Great!” Lois was pleased Clark agreed. “I was beginning to think we had forgotten what date night was.”

Exiting the elevator into the lobby, Lois made her way through the busy entrance and out the turnstile doors onto the street. She looked around for a taxi, moving to the side of the street and trying in vain to flag one down.

“I am, happily.” Clark smiled, leaning down to kiss his wife’s cheek as the elevator doors closed. It had taken them a while to get to where they were, his five year absence had thrown them off track. But things had worked out for the best eventually.

The smile on Lois’ face summoned a matching one on his own and he laughed. “I think we were dangerously close to forgetting.”

When Lo struck out hailing a cab, Clark whistled putting a little extra breath behind it. A taxi screeched to a halt in front of them only a second later and he opened the door, “after you.”

[of-krypton]

intrepidxreporter​:

“I always play nice.” Lois bit back, knowing full well that there were times she didn’t. “Besides, it’s not you I’m worried about. It’s her who needs to learn the difference between having a chat and ‘having a chat’.” The repetition of phrase said in a completely different tone along with an amused smirk.

“Mmhmm,” Lois hummed around the lip of her coffee cup before crouching down to help Clark with the papers he dropped. Standing once more, she placed the papers she held onto the pile - no where near as neatly as Clark did.

Lois led the way to the elevator, shouting to their editor-in-chief, Perry White, as a courtesy of letting him know they were going somewhere. Not that he could stop them. Lois didn’t take no for an answer.

“Do you want to go to that diner you like near the edge of the city once we’re done talking to Kord Industries? Just the two of us.”

Behind his glasses, one eyebrow lifted slightly at the intonation on the second repetition of the phrase. “Honestly, Lois. You needn’t worry, I’m sure she’s not really interested.”

“Sure, I’d love to.” Kal smiled at the suggestion, they hadn’t had much chance for dinner dates recently. Between work, the cape and raising a teenager, they didn’t have much time to be just them.

[of-krypton]

intrepidxreporter​:

Lois hummed around her mug, conceding that Clark was right in that they couldn’t be so quick to judge. Still, her instinct was telling her something wasn’t right.

“You would know,” Lois murmured with a knowing smirk as Clark continued. “Do you still have that old contact at NASA? Maybe they might know something.” Her voice returned to a more conversational level. “But first, we’ll head over to the primary source.”

“Right.” The confirmation was met with movement as Lois stood and gathered her notepad, pen and voice recorder into her bag. “And there’s no time like the present. Ready when you are.”

“I do.” Clark gave a little smile, knowing what was coming next without even having to ask. That was the beauty of working with Lois, he knew her so well. “I’ll give her a call, but you need to play nice. Talking is not flirting, at least not on my end.” His eyebrows lifted in a little knowing look, remembering the awkwardness the last time his wife had met his friend.

“We’re going right now?” Clark turned to his own desk, knocking a stack of papers off the edge in the process. “Darn it.” Collecting the scattered pages, he set them neatly back on the desk and pulled on his coat, glad he’d made their coffee in to-go cups. “After you, Lois.”

[of-krypton]

intrepidxreporter​:

“You know I have worked wonders with less than reliable sources compared to what you’ve just given me, Smallville.” Lois replied to the knowing look with one of her own. She picked up the coffee mug and sipped with a hum of appreciation. Clark always knew exactly how she liked her coffee.

“Well, they already have big egos and big wallets, even just the notion of them collaborating doesn’t sound good. Let alone whatever they are working on.” the clear sass in her voice said she wasn’t afraid to take on the big name companies to find out their story. “But good, bad, it doesn’t matter, the public has a right to know and we should investigate.”

Tapping her pen, not yet putting ink to paper to take notes, Lois eyed her husband for a beat. “You want to ride shotgun on this story, Kent?”

Clark just nodded in response to the comment; Lois had managed to get to the bottom of stories with even the thinnest of leads. There was absolutely no doubting her skills as an investigative journalist, and this story had the potential to be front page for more than one issue of the Planet.

He took a sip of his own coffee, contemplating which angle to take when reporting this particular news. “We shouldn’t be too quick to praise or vilify them. After all they could be working on the project for NASA. Then again it could be for the military or communications companies. There are a lot of satellites up there, it’s getting a little overcrowded to be honest.”

“Shotgun buys the snacks, right?”

[of-krypton]

intrepidxreporter​:

“Wait, wait, run that by me again.” Lois asked, somewhat shocked yet excited by what she had been told. Grabbing a pen and whatever was handy in front of her to scribble notes on, Lois turned her eager attention toward the person that had approached her, gesturing with said pen for them to take a seat near her.

“If what you’re saying is true then this could lead to something big.”

“Hold your horses, Lois. The source isn’t the best.” Clark gave his wife a gentle but knowing smile. Setting a coffee mug down in front of her, he settled in the seat she indicated. “Kord Industries and S.T.A.R Labs collaborating on research into space grade materials, could lead to many things. All of them big.”

“The thing is,” Clark lowered his voice slightly, “not all of them could be good big things.”

[of-krypton]

Character Name: Kal El Alias: Clark Kent // Superman Age: 41 Face Claim: Brandon Routh Species: Alien - Kryptonian Home Earth: Earth-49

History:

Kal doesn't remember much from his time before the Kents found him. His journey to Earth was a blur of nothingness, interspersed with vague memories of the lessons his father recorded in the ship's memory. As far as he's concerned, his history began when he crash landed outside Smallville, Kansas. Being brought up by the Kents was one of the best things that happened to him, on the farm he learned the value of hard work, the strength of family and stong sense of right and wrong. Of course it wasn’t always easy for them, especially when he first began to develop his powers. Learning to tone down his speed and strength when at school -especially whilst playing sports- was one of the hardest things for young Clark. Knowing he was so much more robust than everyone around him weighed heavily on his mind and the fact that despite all his powers he hadn’t been able to save his father, Jonathan, was what sparked him to become Superman.

Kal spent a decade building the Fortress of Solitude and studying there to become the hero he was destined to be. Learning about his home world and the abilities he had been given thanks to his alien metabolism interacting with Earth’s yellow sun. When he was ready to return to civilisation, Kal headed to Metropolis, back in his Clark Kent persona and found employment as a reporter for the Daily Planet. There he meets and befriends Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane. He falls for Lois almost immediately, but unfortunately as Clark, he doesn’t gain her attention in that way at all. Superman, however, has much better luck, and Lois is smitten by him after he rescues her from a falling helicopter. Kal allows her to interview him in his hero guise and even takes her out for a romantic flight. Lois is the first to call him Superman, and the name sticks.

Kal didn’t only meet friends in Metropolis, Lex Luthor also crossed his path there. The “criminal mastermind” saw Superman as a threat to his masterplan (hijacking two missiles and blowing the San Andreas fault to destroy the west coast) and as such lured him into a trap. After obsessive research, he located a meteor from Kal’s home planet and mined the Kryptonite ore contained within it. Luring Superman to his lair with a phony threat to gas the population of Metropolis, he traps Kal with the kryptonite and throws him into his pool to drown. Eve Teschmacher, Luthor’s assistant, helps Kal escape asking him to stop the decoy missile first to save her mother, who happens to live in Hackensack. Once free Superman diverts the decoy as promised then flies into the earth to fix the break in the fault that the second missile made. Though this stops the major disaster of the west coast sliding into the sea, there are still terrible aftershocks. One causes a breach in the Hoover Dam, and while Kal is busy with this Lois is caught up in another quake, trapped in her car she is pulled into a crevasse and crushed. Overwhelmed by grief and anger, Kal travels back in time by flying faster than the speed of light, reversing it to prevent the dam breach and fixes the fault line to stop the crevasse from reaching Lois’ car. He stops the reversal at the point the earthquake began and flies back to find Lois, who is alive and well. Once certain she is okay, he disappears to capture Luthor and his henchman Otis, delivering them to prison.

A few months pass and Kal settles into his roles as both Superman and mild mannered reporter, Clark Kent. Saving those in need and getting on with every day life in Metropolis. Until he finds out that Lois is on assignment in Paris, where terrorists have taken control of the Eiffel Tower and have threatened to level the city with a hydrogen bomb. Superman flies in to save the day, launching the bomb into space where it detonates. Unfortunately the shockwaves release Zod, Ursa and Non from the Phantom Zone and the three Kryptonian criminals head for the closest planet; Earth. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor escapes prison with the help of Ms Teschmacher and using his alpha wave tracking device, they go north to find Superman’s base. When they arrive Luthor activates the Fortress’ control panel and learns about the three Kryptonian villains who have escaped. He decides to collaborate with them to defeat Superman and take over the world. Clark and Lois are sent to Niagara Falls for a story and while there Lois suspects that he might be Superman. She jumps into the Niagara river, to prove her theory, but Kal remains in his Clark guise (even though he uses his heat vision to cut off a tree branch so Lois can hold onto it). This convinces Lois that he isn’t Superman, but just hours later his secret is revealed when he retrieves his glasses from an open fire barehanded without being burned. after some hesitation, he finally tells the truth and takes Lois to the Fortress. He decides to give up being Superman so he can live a normal life with Lois, despite his Father’s disapproval. A chamber containing the power of the Kryptonian red sun removes his powers, destroying the control panel in the process. He and Lois then sleep together.

Zod, Ursa and Non attack a NASA-Soviet moon mission and head down to Earth where they cause the destruction of East Houston. When the military become involved, they quickly overpower them and demand their surrender. The General refuses, saying his commander is the President, Zod then decides to make the President kneel before him and heads to Washington. Clark and Lois see Zod’s demand on tv on their way back from the Fortress, and the President’s call to Superman for help. Kal realizes that life with Lois can never be, and decides to erase Lois’s memories of all events surrounding Zod’s arrival, including her knowledge that Clark Kent is Superman.

When Astronomers claim to have found evidence of Krypton, Kal builds a new ship and embarks on a quest to find his home world. Once he arrives, all he finds is a desolate, partially destroyed planet, which begins to make him sick. Distraught by what he has seen and felt, he returns to Earth, crash landing back at the Kent farm -his true home. Five years had passed on his adopted planet during his voyage, his mother had almost given up hope of seeing him again, but assured him that though he was the last of his kind. He would never be alone. Deciding to reconnect with his life on Earth, Kal travels back to Metropolis and his old life as Clark Kent, Reporter at the Daily Planet. Life had moved on without him, Lois had a son and had won her Pulitzer, for her article “Why the World doesn’t need Superman”. He attempts to change her mind by granting her an exclusive interview and allowing her insight into what it is to be Superman - hearing the Earth crying out for a savior hour after hour.

Lex Luthor is also free from jail, having been released early, Superman was called as a witness for the release trial, but of course had not been able to attend, so Luthor walked free. The criminal was still obsessed with Superman, and conned a rich woman out of her fortune by marrying her, using the money to fund his second expedition to the Arctic, and the Fortress. Learning all he can about the crystals used to build the Fortress, he steals them from the console and schemes to create an island off the coast of America - once again meaning to use land as a commodity to hold the world to ransom. Lois investigates the power outage caused by Lex’s first experiment, which leads her to Lex’s yacht. She is trapped aboard with Jason (her son) , but manages to fax a sos to the Planet.

Kal (as Superman) flies out to the coordinates she gave, meaning to rescue her, but the aftershocks from the Island’s creation cause havoc in Metropolis and he has to deal with the disasters there before he can get to her. He saves Lois, Richard (Perry’s nephew) and Jason from Lex’s sinking yacht and sends them off in the seaplane Richard used to fly out there. Heading to the island, he walks right into Luthor’s trap, realising too late that the island contains pieces of Kryptonite. Luthor gloats over him in his weakened state, kicking Superman to the floor and allowing his gang to almost beat him to death. While he was trying to pick himself up off the ground, Luthor delivers the final blow, and stabs him in the back with a shard of Kryptonite. Kal defiantly manages to stand, despite the incredible pain, but falls off the island’s edge and into the ocean.

Lois saves his life by pulling him from the ocean and removing the shard of Kryptonite from his back. Though she asks him to fly back to the city with Jason, Richard and herself, Kal knows he has to deal with Lex and his Kryptonite island. He manages to fly the island into space and pushes it out of Earth’s orbit before succumbing to the effects of Kryptonite and his wounds. Falling to Earth, he is unresponsive and the world waits outside the hospital for any sign that Superman is alive. While he is unconscious, Lois visits and explains that Jason is his son. The next evening, Kal wakes and visits Jason and Lois, letting them know he will always be there for them.

A few years later Clark and Lois are married, Kal sharing his secret with her again. Together they bring up Jason who shows more and more superpowers as he grows, just as Kal had.

Positive Traits: Compassionate, Heroic, Benevolent Negative Traits: Odd, Melancholy,