Metropolis the RPG

[LuckyVic]

Clark stood up and dusted himself off. The explosion hadn't hurt him or the suit that was directly touching him, but the cape was on fire and burning. He unclipped it and let it finish burning on the ground. He quickly scanned the rest of the building to make sure that the blast hadn't damaged the structual integrity. When he was satisfied he turned to face Lois, there was still enough dust that he didn't think she would immediately recognize him. He focused his eyes on the ropes that were holding her up and burned them easily.

She fell into his arms, and he caught her as gently as he could. "Evening Miss Lane." he said and then set her down on her feet. He walked over to where her clothing had been layed down and then offered them to her. "I think you might be needing these."

 

[LuckyVic]

Lois and Clark JP

She’d collapsed against Mr. Muscles as soon as her arms were free. Pain ripped through her shoulders, her wrists, her legs, her feet. Pain so intense she couldn’t move. She felt him set her down, then she was collapsing. He was saying something about clothes, and the floor, the burnt floor was rushing to greet her. But the darkness was faster. The darkness welcomed her, as the pain vanished. Vanished as darkness enveloped her mind. Unconsciousness swept over Lois like a comfortable and warm blanket on a cold and snowing morning.

Clark couldn't believe this, he had known Lois for years, he had never seen her faint so often before. He dressed her, grabbed the rest of her things and then took her to her apartment. Fortunately she seemed to have a habit of leaving the glass door of her balcony unlocked. He took her in and laid her on her bed, and then turned to leave.

Lois' eyes blinked open and she saw HIM. The man dreams were made of and for. A hand waved limply as her mind tried to kick everything back into gear. "hey.. you gonna just split again?" she mumbled. "Don't I even get a name? Forcing her body to move she rolled upright. Looking at him she smiled.

Clark stopped briefly, and he actually wondered about that. He knew he could say Clark Kent, but he wondered if he should use Kal-El. But then that would reveal his Alien heritage, and he wasn't sure if the Earth was ready for it just yet. For now they'd probably think he was a mutant or a meteor freak, "I think the name you gave me will do for now." he told her in his deeper voice.

Wow, eyes you fall into forever and a voice to make your legs melt and heart smolder. 'I Wonder what else he has..' Lois thought. "Hey, I'm not normally in this habit.. but thank you. For saving me... Twice now I think. And before you run off again.. err.. fly.. You do fly don't you?"

He simply nodded to her question about his being able to fly and waited to see what else she wanted to know..

"Anyway.. I’m a reporter. A damned good one to you know. I'd like to, well, interview you. If you don't mind." She wasn't gonna mention her job was on the line. She wouldn't mention spending an hour talking to him was the best thing to come to mind. Err, second best, she corrected. "Before you say no, consider this. Everyone wants to know about you. Everyone. Right now the Genesis/Superman story is being reprinted in England, Tokyo, Moscow. People are gonna go nuts to get the scoop on you. Jolie and Pitt are old news. Your it." Taking a deep breath she stood up and took a step towards him. "You've saved me. Twice. Give me the chance to save you. I'll tell your story. The way you want it done. You'll get final say on everything printed. Everything I write anyway. If someone else runs this story you'll get nothing. They'll butcher your reputation and trash you. You won't be able to go anywhere or do anything. I'll give you peace and quiet. Well, I'll try to anyways." She was babbling. god she was babbling. She felt like she was on her first date. Well, the first date her father hadn't set up.

He smiled "I'm a private man Miss Lane." he said as he turned and walked to the open sliding glass door. "But if I ever change my mind, I'll let you know." he told her. Then before she could grab on like she did before, he flew off into the sky.

Sitting on the edge of her bed Lois tried to figure out how to save this. Twice he'd rescued her, and still no information. Perry was gonna have her ass.

 

[Varshanka]

Fire me.. Please...

Collapsing back on her bed Lois looked up at the ceiling. Someone hated her. She knew it. Perry White was her boss. Clark Kent - Smallville!!! was her coworker, and He!! Superman! Had had to save her. Twice.

Yeah, the Universe was stacked against her. Rolling over she stood back up and moved to the bathroom. If she passed out again she'd seriously consider getting checked out by a hospital. But for now...

Clothes made a pile on the floor as she showered. Several times. Getting the creepy guys touch off her skin was hardest of all.

***

Wandering around her apartment Lois made several phone calls. One to her father. That had netted her a tiny piece of information. Yeah they had it on radar. Yeah it moved fast - like Mch 6 before they lost it. No it didn't leave metropolis.

Another was to the Police. Yes, they'd send over a sketch artist and someone to take her statement. No. She didn't have to come down to the station.

 

[camerindrake]

Hal

After a talk with General Hawkins, Hal drove back to Coast City from Edwards Air Force Base. Traffic was horrible through Los Angles County and it was night fall before he was able to get to Ferris Test Center.

Hal pulled in to the card reader and looked at the new sign. Looks like the merger went through he thought to himself. Of course, knowing Carol, she made out big, he thought as he swiped his identification card through the reader. It blinked red.

Had gritted his teeth and growled, "What the..." He swiped again once again it blinked red. "You got to be kidding me." Hal said as he swiped once more to the same result.

"Let me get that," a sultry voice said as Carol walked up from behind Hal's car, her Ferrari idling behind his Skyline. Carol stood at around five foot seven and has long flowing black hair her skin tanned enough enough to be enticing and deep blue eyes. Her Navy dress with plunging neckline making her eyes even bluer than normal. She swiped a car the reader blinking green and the gates began to open. She handed him the card with the bowing logo Hal's picture and name on it. "Part of the merger, everyone had to get new ID cards."

"Thanks, babe. I know I'm early." Hal said as he put his car in gear. "See you inside? He asked.

"Of course. Tom is working on something and has a problem." responded Carol speaking of Tom Kalmaku, Hal's best friend and head engineer for the Ferris Test Center.

Hal smiled to Carol as he drove into the facility. He pulled up to an old hanger and got out of his car hitting the lock. As he walked to the hanger, the Air Force pilot ran his fingers through the keyring and found an old beat up key that went to the hanger door. Hal unlocked the door and walked in closing the door behind him.

On the hanger floor before him, Jordan saw bits and pieces of metal scattered along the floor. He walked amongst the wreckage, as he had a thousand times before looking for the clue to why the aircraft had exploded killing his father that fateful day.

"Find anything new?" Carol asked from the shadows.

"No. I have flown in the F15 my whole career I don't see how it blew up on him like that. It is stable. The developers still don't know what malfunctioned. They ran through the design with a fine tooth comb." Hal responded as he looked amongst the wreckage.

"Why did you choose the aircraft that your father died in, Hal? Its still boggles my mind. You were top of your class you could have had any choice of Aircraft to fly in.? Carol asked as she walked up to Hal touching his arm with her slender fingers wrapping them around his bicep.

"It felt like the right thing to do. I had to prove to myself it was a good aircraft. It was not what killed him." Hal responded almost choking up.

"Com'on, I think you have looked at this long enough," Carol said as she tapped Hals shoulder with her forehead.

"Yeah," was all that Hal could say as he turned and wrapped his arm around Carol and they walked out of the Hanger together.

As the walked towards the Research and Development Hanger Hal gives her the news about getting the position and the move to Metropolis.

"You're kidding right," responded Carol to the news almost excitedly.

No, I got the orders today. answered Hal with a slightly surprised look in his eyes to her enthusiasm.

"The main branch of Bowing, which I have controlling shares mind you, is located in Metropolis." said Carol hugging onto Hal's arm.

At that moment they walked into the hanger and Tom runs up to them his hair slightly charred and his face blackened. His face showed an almost childlike glee. Hal and Carol looked at each other with confused looks. When Tom had this look on his face it could only mean one thing. He found a bit of trouble and was having a ball.

Carol was first to speak, "Tom whats going on?"

Tom with a huge smile responded, "A pure muck up by the R and D department. But its so much fun to try and fix. You see they quadrupled the possible output of the engine right. But the blast length they didn't compensate for. You know the normal tailwind for an engine"

Hal responded, "Sure, 200 feet at idle"

Tom almost jumps up in excitement, "Exactly! Watch this."

He set up the engine for start up and handed Carol and Hal foam ear plugs and ear defenders. Carol and Hal proceeded to open the ear plug boxes and soften them up before putting them in their ears and then put on the ear defenders. Tom then hits the switches and yells "Watch this." He hit the last switch and a giant fire ball exploded out of the engine as it started up and the force of the blast from the engine cracks the blast wall even more than it already was from prior start ups and the cement begins to melt.

Carol and Hal looked at each other in amazement. Tom almost giggling from their looks turned off the engine, It dumping fuel into the Tin fuel containers on the floor which was almost full.

"What did I tell you, A complete muck up. Tom screamed.

Hal tapped his ear and Tom removed his ear defenders.

"Very explosive, I think that Carol is going to have to put in a call to the repair center for the blast wall if you keep starting it up." Hal responded after Tom removed his ear plugs.

"What do you think, Tom?" Carol asked, wanting Tom's professional opinion.

"I know Wayne Industries is going to hate it, but I think it should go back to the drawing board. They got more than the amount of power Lucius Fox asked for but unless they can cut blast parameters down. There is no frame on the market that can handle it. Tom explained to Carol with exasperation. "Though, if you want, I can try and work with what they gave me.

Carol nodded and responded,"Do it. Tell R and D to come up with a new design and scrap this waste of money."

Hal whisted as he turned to follow Carol as she walked out of the hanger.

Carol smiled to Hal and asked. "See you at the house?"

Hal pretends disbelief, "Me miss your world famous lasagna, not on your life."

Carol smiles, "You better be there or you will find yourself on the couch."

 

[LuckyVic]

Mercy

Mercy had watched from the shadows. She saw how Dr. Ulrich and her goon had knocked the boy out, and take Miss Lane into the facility. If Lois Lane had some how stumbled onto the fact that Ulrich had sabotaged the X-33 Genesis, then that would explain the woman's desire to silence the reporter. Lane could become a threat to Mr. Luthor. Lane was the type of reporter that would continue until she found whatever was hidden. That was something Mercy wouldn't allow. She made her way to the good Doctor's car and slid underneath it with uncommon ease, especially for a woman of her size.

After a few moments she was returning to her hiding place and observe things again. A few minutes later she saw Dr. Ulrich leave the lab alone, obviously she had left the goon inside with Lane. Ulrich entered her car and when she went to turn it on the car exploded. She was just about to call Mr. Luthor when she heard a loud crash and then what sounded like an explosion. But she didn't see anything or anyone. So she just blew it off. So she just dialed Luthor's direct line. "Mr. Luthor, I'm affraid to inform you that Dr. Ulrich has had an accident."

 

[camerindrake]

Hal

Hal pulled up to the condo. Carols condo actually. Hal got out of his Skyline as hit the lock button on his key ring and the car answered with a honk. He closed the door and walked towards the condo. He was answered with the smell of lasagna. The meal went without a hitch. Carol and Hal talked about how things were going to be once they got to Metropolis with his new position and not being on flight status. Soon after they went to bed.

Hal laid there with Carol laying naked beside him only thing covering them both was a sheet. Hal shifted over onto his side obvious his dream was not a pleasant one.

Hal found himself flying his F15 over Afghanistan with his heavy payload ready to drop.

Kyle "Ace" Morgan over the radio talking to him, "Echo 2, do you copy?"

Hal responded, "Yeah your loud and clear, Echo 1."

Ace over the radio said, "You lucky devil. You get to go home in two days. What are you going to do when you get back?"

Hal responded, "Kiss the ground of our great country then kiss my girlfriend, Carol, of course."

Ace snickered, "That all you are going to do, Jordan."

Hal looks over to Ace's F15 and flips him off, "Get your mind out of the Gutter, Morgan"

Ace then laughed hard, "Never, Jordan. You know me, I got a hot date with time itself and I am going to have as much fun as I can before it runs out."

Hal shook his head and said, "Yeah, that sounds about right."

Then it happened a loud ringing hit his ears and warning flashed across his HUD.

Hal yelled, "Shit!"

Ace asked, "What is it?"

Hal, practically screaming, said, "I got incoming but I cant see it"

Ace responded, "Long range scud. Maneuver, damn it."

However it was too late Hal's aircraft was hit. Hal pulled his ejector in time his canopy blew and his seat ignited sending him up. He watched as his jet went up in flames. Ace moved away from the fireball in time and maneuvered back dropping his payload. Hal's parachute opened jerking Hals body back. His body ached all over but he was alive. For now.

So much for getting back home in two days, Hal thought.

Then his seat hit the ground hard. He checked his gear. He had enough rations to make it for a week, if he lasted that long. The vacuum sealed dehydrated stuff that tasted like paste but it was smaller and easier to carry than MRE's. His nine millimeter on his right thigh. Two clips of ammo on his web belt, nothing more than a distraction if they had any kind of body armor but it was something. And body armor under his flight suit. Thank god they started issuing it to the pilots, Hal thought. It was thin and light weight enough for them to wear in the small confines of a cockpit. He felt sorry for the enlisted who still had to wear those bulky flak vests. And a radio he strapped to the front of his flight suit. He then proceeded to unfasten himself from his seat.

"This is Echo 2. I am down, I need a rally point," Hal said into the radio.

"This is Dispatch we have a Blackhawk on its way..." started the person on dispatch.

But before he could get coordinates he heard the rustling of feet on the hard rocks of the mountain side. Hal turned around to find it to be nothing more than a twelve year old kid with an AK-47 on his back.

"Oh shit." was all Hal could say.

The kid saw Hal and pulled his AK and started speaking though Hal couldn't understand a word the kid was saying.

"Come on, kid, you don't want to do this," said Hal as he pulled his 9mm.

He heard the kid say a few more words the heard the distinct scream of the word JIHAD and the click of the trigger being pulled on the AK-47. Hal pulled his trigger and heard the loud shot of the 9mm.

Hal woke up breathing heavy and covered in sweat. Carol had her hand on his shoulder and saying, "It was just a dream, Hal. It was just a dream"

Hal responded, "A nightmare. A bad memory."

Hal then got up and went to the bathroom. He turned on the faucet at the sink and started to splash cold water on his face rubbing the cool water onto his neck and looking at his reflection in the mirror.

It wasn't murder. It was self defense. Hal kept telling himself but it doesn't make him feel any better about killing a 12 year old kid. But he knows that is why they choose children as their holy warriors. Hal hates himself but he hates them more for making him do it. He remembered the five years in a padded room as he tried to recover his fractured mind. Only thing that kept him going was Carol's visits.

At that moment Carol placed her hand on Hal's shoulder and asked, "A nightmare about that day again wasn't it. You okay?"

Hal shook his head and responded with a simple yeah and walked back to bed laying down. Carol watched him with a worried look on her face. He hadn't spoken about what happened that day he was shot down but she knew it bothered him greatly. She after a few moments joined him.

 

[Varshanka]

technology is great.

Closing the door Lois took a seat on the couch. Well, that hadn't been nearly as much fun as she'd envisioned. But she'd made a statement to the police and gotten a sketch artist to help her out.

She looked at the drawing on her coffeee table. It looked like him. A lot. Enough for one of the geeks at the Planet to flesh out and make a 3d image from.

*****

Walking into the newsroom Lois wondered if she still had a job. The geek had sent her a reply back and had an image already in her inner office email. Looking around she slid into her chair and began typing. It only took a moment to bring up the image. The geek had done some great work. It almost looked real. Sending back a message she pointed out a few minor changes.

 

[LuckyVic]

April 11th, 2014

The next morning, Clark was making his way to the Planet when his super hearing picked up the silent alarm from a near by bank. He dashed into an alley and with a burst of superspeed he changed into his other suit, without breaking his stride.

Inside of the bank there was a small group of men, there were two with automatic weapons up in threatening manor towards keeping all the patrons on the ground. Two others were behind the counter grabbing money from the drawers and filling them into duffle bags. Then in the back there were two more working on the vault. They were the ones that met Superman first. Clark crashed through the window and ripped one of the pipes off the vault door and used it to tie both men up.

He then stood behind the door, as one of the men that was keeping an eye on the patrons came to the back to check on what the noise was. He was introduced by a forarm that sent him flying back about 20 feet. He then put on another burst of speed and soon the remainning criminals soon found themselves on their asses and unconcious. Superman made sure that the criminals hadn't been to badly injured, as well as didn't harm anyone of the innocent patrons, and then off he was before anyone could ask him anything.

A few minutes later he was at the planet, late, however putting the finishing touches on a story about how Superman stopped a robbery at the 1st National Bank of Metropolis. Lois wouldn't be happy about this one.

 

[camerindrake]

Ollie

Last night Ollie had flown back to Metropolis and back had a ride back to his penthouse. The Justice League was finding that they had new agendas. AC found out he was the king of Atlantis and was working on quelling rebellions. Impulse was well being Impulse working mostly out of keystone city now. Victor of all people was starting a new initiative. He was bringing in teens who were lost but wanted to do some good. Ollie had placed a great amount of funds to Cyborgs disposal for this. If anyone could put the young heroes on the right path it would be Victor.

Ollie looked in the mirror the next morning after a shower. God I need a haircut, he thought to himself his hair had become a blond shag. He had grown a full beard from more or less his lack of time jumping form mission to mission with little respite in between. He foamed up a lather of shaving cream, that type you place in the heating device that warms it for your face. None of the cheep stuff from a Wal-Mart or Target for this guy. He then pulled out a strait razer and shaved down until all that was left was a mustache and goatee. Ollie found himself laughing at the buccaneer look of his still shaving cream covered face. He then shaved over his top lip and smirks for a moment.

"I think its about time for bit of a make over." Ollie said to to himself. He then rinsed the rest off leaving the bottom soul batch that came just off the bottom of his chin. the shag was combed straight down cause it was a bit long to spike up like he preferred with the gel.

He went to his bed room and opened his closet. He found a nice pair of white slacks and a royal blue dress shirt. He sucked on his teeth for a moment and then went back to his closet and replaced the royal blue shirt with an charcoal gray one of the same type. and grabbed a white blazer.

"That should do." Ollie finally comfortable with his choice said.

Ollie then got dressed and went down to his garage and looked at his choices of cars. Austen Martin, Porsche, or the Bugatti Ollie thought to himself. He grabbed the first set of keys on the rack which happened to be the Bugatti. At the time he bought the car it was the fastest in the world. oh but how times change. He got into the emerald green vehicle and hit the button to the doors to the garage and pulled out.

He then drove to the planet. He wondered how Lois was doing since Chloe disappeared. presumably dead. It had been nearly 8 years he thought about that and how much she had helped the League. He was so busy trying to fix the worlds problems he had let things like this slip. He needed to think about his own backyard as well as the things that hit on a worldwide scale. Balance, that was the key.

He pulled up to the parking lot to the Planet and parked. He looked up to the globe smiled. God how i missed seeing that, he thought to himself. He then closed the door and locked the Bugatti and hit the security system. He then walked up to the Planet grabbing a paper from the vendor just outside and tossed him a buck. the weekday papers were only fifty cent but he didn't mind giving the guy a tip he sat out there rain sleet or snow. He deserved a bit more for his time weathering the elements.

Once inside he hit up the florist. and leaned on her counter.

"What are you looking for, hun?" asked the florist not looking up from her morning edition of the Daily Planet which had on its front page last nights exploits of the hero now dubbed Superman.

"A dozen yellow roses." Said Ollie with a grin.

The florist looked up and nearly fell out of her seat. "Of course, Mr. Queen. Um, right away Mr. Queen." stuttered the now quite beyond herself florist.

"Call me Ollie." responded the quite amused billionaire.

Once the florist got Ollie his roses he paid her and went on into the news room after the security not quite believing him at first until he showed the guy his license let him through.

He stood in front of Lois' desk and waited a few moments for her to look up from her monitor. He then cleared his throat.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jessi, The Flash, and...

(Soundtrack: Matchbox 20. "Unwell." From More Than You Think You Are.)

The previous night.​

The Flash stopped behind a Dumpster when Lois' vehicle paused at a stoplight. Peering out, she watched the brakelights and lamented the elongated passage of Time.

"C'mon," she murmured, "c'mon. C'monc'monc'mon. (This is worse than waiting for microwave popcorn.)"

'Comfort zones, much?' Jessi snarked, though not cruelly.

The light turned green, the vehicle started to pull away, and The Flash exulted: "Finally!"

But when she made to follow at a relatively gradual pace, a streak of red and of gold slashed across her path, and caused her to stumble, caused her nearly to fall.

"Wait," The Flash mumbled, startled--

--'what?' Jessi supplied, utterly bewildered.

That streak blazed by again, causing The Flash's blonde ponytail to flutter and dance in a near-transonic slipstream.

"Is that?" The Flash breathed--

--'Oh my God,' Jessi whispered.

Evidently dissatisfied with their responses thus far, the streak blasted by a third time.

And this time, The Flash gave chase.

Grinning from ear to ear.

Jessi rationalised: 'Lois can take care of herself. She's had, what, training that could put a Green Beret on his ass? And Jimmy's...

Um.

Well, Lois could probably take care of herself and Jimmy, if it came to that.'

But The Flash wasn't listening. She was running.

(Soundtrack: Angels and Airwaves. "The Adventure." From We Don't Need To Whisper.)

They were across The Atlantic-- Portugal --almost before The Flash could blink, and then they were in The Pyrenees, and then they were back in Russia, and then they were in India...

Things took a detour South after that, blazing down across the waves of The Indian Ocean.

(They were so close behind their prey that they could see his bootprints in the surface of the sea, before the impressions faded back into fluid mystery; but still he might as well have been miles away, with all the headstart he'd gotten.

He'd been doing this for longer, after all, and he rarely took breaks for a "real life.")

They were in Australia, running a couple of laps around Ayer's Rock.

East across The Pacific, to The Strait of Magellan, and then North up through South America, wrecking a druglord's shipment and half his weaponry without even slowing down, without even stopping for breath.

Central America. Mexico. Texas.

UpupupNorthNorthNorthEastEastEast.

Reaching, straining, The Flash almost caught hold of his hood as he skidded on some gravel on the roof of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina--

--but then he was gone again, and her fingers clutched naught but his afterimage.

"Little bastard," The Flash growled, delighted.

New York State.

Metropolis blurred into place around them like the slamming of a door and she never stopped never stopped never slowed until--

--she found him, sitting on her kitchen floor, cross-legged, an ostensible Zen Master of Speed, like he'd been there all along. He was dangling a little piece of string for Querl, who was purring like a mothereffer and clawing at that string like eight of his nine lives depended on it.

The Flash grinned at him, and he glanced up at her, his wraparound shades hiding his eyes but not his brilliantly arched eyebrow.

"Hey, hermana," he grinned, letting Querl have the string as he rose fluidly to his feet. He knocked his hood back, revealing his wild shock of brown hair. "Or should I say, hermanas? How y'all doin'?"

The Flash beamed, and threw her arms around him, this time too fast for him to react.

"BART!' both women cried, flooded with joy as well as lightning.

(Soundtrack: Train. "Extraordinary." From Spider-Man 2.)

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jessi, The Flash, and Bart "Impulse" Allen

(Soundtrack: Electrasy. "Cosmic Castaway." From Titan A.E.)

April 11, 2014.​

They had stayed up most of the night talking.

It had been, for Jessi, not unlike carrying on two conversations at once, as she'd had to switch between herself and The Flash several times, mid-stream-of-consciousness.

Apparently, he'd set himself up in Keystone City while she hadn't been looking. He'd probably done this on purpose, just to annoy her. It wasn't like him to have a steady base of operations; he hadn't had one since they'd been kids in Nebraska. (And of course he'd chosen the town where she'd gone to school.)

These days he was doing less and less for Ollie, but he still regarded Green Arrow's assignments as his most fulfilling contributions to the world.

(He couldn't help but worry, though, that Level 33.1 was still out there, somewhere, in a form nigh-undetectable. Project Ares hadn't been the end of it, he'd felt that in his bones.)

He had remained darkly silent on the topic of his love life. (Seemed like he'd had even less success than Jessi in that regard.)

Eventually they'd crashed, though, and crashed hard, and Jessi's head had been swimming with renewed respect for her brother and with subconscious attempts to sort their playing catch-up.

Bart had fallen asleep on the couch, Querl curled up on his stomach.

(Bart could snore pretty damn loud, when he wanted to.)

And now...

...now they stood in Jessi's "office," the oft-forgotten little sanctum sanctorum at the base of the dataspine that was The Daily Planet.

And Bart, clad in a newer version of his old red hoodie, blue-jeans and damn fine running shoes, looked supremely uncomfortable. On his back rode a backpack identical to Jessi's.

Jessi, dressed in a white blouse with a white a-shirt hidden behind its buttoned-up front as well as prim-and-proper businesslike slacks, slid her glasses off of her face and gazed at him with soft dark eyes.

"You okay?" she prompted, her voice gentle.

He shook his head.

"Can't believe you work down here," he scowled, though not angrily, "of all places. You told me you worked The Planet, I figured you'd be on the horoscopes or something, Sunday full-colour supplements. Not down here."

"Why, what's wrong with--" Jessi began to ask, not unreasonably confused.

Bart shook his head again, more sharply this time, and turned away from her, holding up his hand as if to ward away further questions.

'Burr up his ass?' The Flash wondered, unimpressed by such behaviour.

"Shhh," Jessi chided her, near-silently.

Bart lowered his hand, but he did not raise his bowed head, nor did he turn and look at his dual sister.

"There was this girl," he murmured. "She was somethin' special. Had a thing for her, moment I saw her. Never worked out. Either some douche was runnin' interference for her, or she was dating somebody else. I ain't the settling-down type, yeah? Always on the move, right?"

"That's our Bart," Jessi agreed, with no small chagrin and no small concern.

'That's our "Brat,"' The Flash chimed in, though she, too, sounded worried for him.

"Always figured I'd settle down with her, someday," he murmured. "I woulda given it up for her, woulda given up The Life. (I actually saved her life, once. Right in this very room. Dude tried to shoot her. Right in this very damn room. But bullets ain't never been no sweat for me.)"

"Right in this room?" Jessi frowned.

"You can't tell me you never heard of her," Bart glanced over his shoulder at her, bewildered. "She had a Missin' In Action thing happen to her. Word is she died on the job. Planet newsprint got in her blood, in her brain, and she got killed--"

"Holy Hell," Jessi interrupted. "Chloe? You knew -- you had a thing for Chloe Sullivan? She's been gone three years now, people still talk about her 'round here like she was legendary."

"Well," Bart murmured, "she kinda was."

"God," Jessi breathed. "Bart. I'm so sorry."

Bart shrugged, and smiled a smile of vague recovery, of slow slow healing.

"S'fine," he murmured. "It's just... we-all can make time freakin' crawl, the two of us. But life's still too short. Way too short."

'Amen,' The Flash murmured, and Jessi didn't see fit to shush her.

Jessi walked over to her brother, and, donning her glasses once more, she gave his hand a squeeze.

"You need to get goin'?" she wondered, gentle as could be.

"Nawh," Bart replied, his eyes slowly coming back alive, his devil's grin slowly returning. "Y'all ain't the only people in Metropolis I gotsa check in with 'fore I bounce."

Jessi blinked owlish eyes at him. "What? Who else is there?"

(Soundtrack: AFI. "Love Like Winter." From Decemberunderground.)

 

[camerindrake]

Hal

The next day Hal and Carol were getting their bags in the car. Carol had said it was a nice day earlier and said they should take her convertible. Hal didn't argue he loved it when she let him drive the convertible. All he had was the car he brought back from his tour in Japan. which he could sale to the nearest skyline fan boy for sixty k. But he liked it so he kept it around.

He had just got the last suitcase in the trunk when carol walked up behind him.

"Com'ere" Carol said taking his chin.

"Huh" responded Hal as he looked at her face. He then began to smile his coy smile which was broken off by a deep kiss by Carol. "Hey there beautiful," Hal said after the kiss.

"You feeling better this morning." Carol asked with true concern on her face.

"I am now," Hal answered followed with his own question, "You have the keys?"

Carol raised her right hand dangling the keys in front of him and answered with a mischivous smile, "Right here." at which point she tosses them to him and Hal caught them with his sly smirk.

"Get in we have a long trip ahead, said Hal as he closed the boot. "You did tell Tom when the movers are going to be here for our stuff."

Carol noded and responded, "Yeah, I made him put it in his pda with the alarm. He is working with the engineering team to get the new prototype blueprints hashed out himself."

Hal went wide eyed and responded, "That serious?"

Carol's only answer was, "We are not loosing this contract with Wayne Industries."

Hal put the car into gear and they were off.

 

[camerindrake]

A bar in Metropolis

On the tube was a Metropolis Sharks game, a rerun of last nights game. It was early by most standards but the barkeep Dave, a simple Irishman who inherited the bar from his pap who had inherited it from his pap, knew people drank no matter what time of day it was. He thought why not give 'em a place where they could do it and enjoy Fox Sports net without having to pay for the cable bill.

The old man sitting at the end of the bar had been a patron for over twenty years. Dave knew when the old man useta work at the docks at 8 in the mornin after he got off he would sit right there where he sat now and be there til ten. Every day on the minute never failed. After the old guy retired he would be here without fail at nine. It was clockwork.

Only reason the old guy wasn't here earlier was cause Dave didn't open up 'til nine. The old chap was quieter than usual Dave noticed though. "Bugger, ey Scroogie, you okay over der?"

The old man mumbled something but Dave couldn't make it out by the glasses where he was drying the last one off. He placed it down with the rest of the glasses used for the mixed drinks and then walked over to the elderly chap. He noticed the old man had bearly touched his jack n coke. "Scroogie, you okay pal.

The old man looked up his eyes oozing a black substance that ran all the way down to his long gray beard and his eyed bone white with no pupil and iris. He then said as clear as a bell, "THE CENTER IS COMING."

 

[LuckyVic]

Clark Kent; April 11th, 2014

After submitting his story about the Superman and the bank robbers that morning, Clark had some free time and looked the online edition of the planet. There he saw Lois' story about the previous night's events. What he hadn't known was that appearantly Dr. Ulrich, who Lois and the thug that was arrested, both claimed was behind the murder of Dr. Stein and the attempted murder on Lois, was herself killed as a result of a faulty ingnition circut in her car.

This struck Clark as weird. What were the odds that this woman would die of virtually the same thing that had caused the accident on the new space plane. There had to be more to this story and he was determined to find out. Problem was that it would require some computer expertise, that was above his own capabilities. He found himself wishing that Chole was still around. However there had to be someone at the Planet that could do the job as well. After asking around he was directed to the bowels of the Daily Planet. Ironically what Chole called her sanctum sanctorum when she first started her internship there.

He heard voices, one was femine and had to be the person he was looking for, the other was deeper a male and definately recognizable. He knocked on the door and opened it. "I'm looking for Jessi Allen." he said as he walked in.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jessi, Bart, and The Flash

"I'm looking for Jessi Allen." he said as he walked in.

Jessi, who was facing the door, blinked again, again owlishly, a little astonished that someone in this building knew her name. Usually she was "That Girl from Archives," or "'Ey Wassername."

And then she blushed, red as Bart's hoodie, when she saw who it was at the door.

She already felt her tongue getting tied. (He was beautiful.)

'Keep it together, girl,' The Flash chortled, laughing at her. 'How you've ever managed to get laid without my help is soooo beyond my ken.'

Bart, who was facing Jessi with his back to the door, grinned the laziest, most know-it-all grin he'd ever displayed.

"Look at that, sis," he murmured, "you spoke of The Devil. And here he is."

He swung around, his movements languid, the motions of a man who had alllll the time in the world. He jutted his chin at Clark, sort of a reverse nod, greeting and respect all at once.

"Heya, Boy Scout," he smirked, hands up beside him in that what'sgoin'on shrug of his, and he walked closer to The Man of Steel, mischief dancing in his eyes.

A finger ticked back and forth before Clark's face, tracing the width of those glasses. "Nice frames, amigo. New look?"

Jessi was no longer blushing. She was pale as her own white blouse.

"You know," she stammered, "each other? Bart, you know Clar -- uh, Mister Kent?"

'Figures,' The Flash muttered. 'Of course he knows him. Damn brat gets around; I'd be surprised if he didn't know The King of Atlantis or the mythical Ahwehota or some shit. I'll bet he knows Superman, too.'

 

[LuckyVic]

A finger ticked back and forth before Clark's face, tracing the width of those glasses. "Nice frames, amigo. New look?"

Jessi was no longer blushing. She was pale as her own white blouse.

"You know," she stammered, "each other? Bart, you know, Clar -- uh, Mister Kent?"

'Figures,' The Flash muttered. 'Of course he knows him. Damn brat gets around; I'd be surprised if he didn't know The King of Atlantis or the mythical Ahwehota or some shit. I'll bet he knows Superman, too.'

Clark smiled as he saw Bart. "Well hello there to you as well Bart. It's been awhile. And yes, the glasses are relatively new. just a sign of getting older I guess." he replied to him. Then turning his attention back to Jessi. "Yes Bart and I go back to when I lived in Metropolis." Clark told her.

"So how do you two know each other?" he asked.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Bart, Jessi, and The Flash

"Boy Scout, here," Bart exposited, turning to look at Jessi while aiming a thumb in Clark's direction, his other hand tucking its thumb into his belt, "was almost single-handedly responsible for setting me back on the narrow and the straight durin' my coulda-been-more-successful run as an Artful Dodger. I lifted his dad's wallet, and he tracked me down, and he gave me a lecture about law an' order an' selflessness -- I forget what he said, exactly, he tends ta drone when he gets goin'. Anyway, he made me a better person for it.

"'Course," he mused, roguish and rueful all at once, "lesson didn't really glue onta me 'till a couple years later, when I met O.J. an' his merry band. But Clark got me started on the track, an' I owe him hardcore."

He turned and slapped Clark on the upper arm. Not too hard. Bart knew how resilient The Boy Scout could be, and Bart had no desire to break all the bones in his own hand.

"As for how me an' Jess know each other," he began--

"We're sisters," Jessi blurted. "(I mean, um.)"

Bart shot Jessi a bewildered look.

'Try again,' The Flash suggested gently.

Going a little shaky, Jessi did so: "I mean, we're--" she floundered, trying not to drown. (Clark's eyes were as blue and as deep as oceans, after all.) "Bart's my."

'Deep breath,' The Flash murmured, retaining her patience. There was a time to mock, after all, but then there were times when the girl just needed a dialogue coach.

Jessi breathed in, and then let it out: "We're siblings," she drove it home successfully. "We have a couple of parents in common."

'Attagirl,' The Flash audibly smirked.

Bart grinned at her, and then swung that grin around to Clark: "What, the whole 'Allen' thing didn't tip you off? They ever have a World's Greatest Detective Contest, promise me you'll sit it out, aight?"

 

[LuckyVic]

"Just because a person shares the same last name as you do, doesn't mean your sibs." Clark reminded Bart. He then looked at Jessi again and readjusted his glasses again. "Anyway, I was looking for some help and I need a computer expert. From what I've been told you are about as good at they get here at the Planet." he told her.

 

[Varshanka]

April 11th, 2014

Lois looked up at the cough her eyes traveling up the familiar and rugged chest. Settling on the roses for just the briefest of moments before contuining to that decidedly handsome face. "Hmph. I would have expected green roses. Yellow is such a girlie color. Did your female assistant tell you what color to get? Yellow means friendship you know. So I'm guessing your not here to renew our .... interest in each other?"

Scowling she watched as a duplicate of Clarks story appeared on her screen. Geeks were so very handy indeed. She got a copy of every story and email perry got. Just to keep ahead in the game, at least that's what she told herself.

Turning back to Oliver she closed the window and shut off the monitor. Leaning back in her chair she watched his eyes, nowing her shirt was pulling a little tighter, and with those buttons strategically loosened, well....

Men were men. Except when they were pigs. Or dogs.


Tag: Oliver Queen, Clark Kent

 

[ChasNicollette]

Bart, The Flash, and Jessi

"Just because a person shares the same last name as you do, doesn't mean your sibs." Clark reminded Bart. He then looked at Jessi again and readjusted his glasses again. "Anyway, I was looking for some help and I need a computer expert. From what I've been told you are about as good at they get here at the Planet." he told her.

Bart made a thoughtful-seeming face.

"(Point,)" he mused, partly under his breath. "(Jess an' me, we coulda been second cousins, or something. Second cousins by marriage, adoption, two-way time-travel and cloning. But not siblings, no way, uh-uh.)"

'Never stops talking,' The Flash sighed. 'Promise me I don't sound like that when I'm out in front.'

But Jessi ignored both Impulse and The Flash and had eyes only for her bespectacled co-worker.

"Well," she mumbled, smiling a wobbly smile at him, "I don't mean to brag, but if it weren't for my typing skills, I don't think I ever would have gotten this job. Mr. White seems to prize WPM's very highly. In fact, he said the only person he had here on staff who could type faster than me was you, Mr. Kent. He said: 'not only does he know how to treat his editor-in-chief with the proper respect, not only does he have a snappy, punchy prose style, but he is, in my forty years in this business, the fastest typist I've ever seen.'"

She tucked a darksome ruddy-brown forelock back behind her ear, and she grinned at him.

"I do okay," she said, with surprising boldness, at least for her. "Our parents, Bart's and mine, they worked in this lab as research assistants, and I always used to assist them whenever I could. In college, I had to do a twenty-page paper once on legends and stories involving men and women of great speed. Hermes, Mercury, Windrunner... (I think my favourite was Eric Idle's character in Terry Gilliam's version of Baron Munchausen.) I finished it in a week, works cited and everything."

Bart nodded, grinning, leaning on a filing cabinet and scratching the side of his nose. Not bad, sis. You are go for climbing the corporate ladder.

The Flash just bit her tongue, so to speak. Stayed quiet. Watched.

"So what did you need help with, anyway?" Jessi wondered, not unreasonably.

 

[LuckyVic]

Clark Kent; April 11th, 2014

"Well as you probably know, thanks to Ms.Lane's article we believe that Dr. Ulrich was behind the sabotage of the X-33 space plane. But somethings don't make sense to me. So I was wondering if you could access her phone, cell phone, and maybe email records." Clark asked her.

He knew that what he was asking for was technically illegal, but he had a hunch that Ulrich wasn't alone in this and he needed to find out who she was working with. he wouldn't even be asking this, but even a Superman needed help from time to time.

 

[camerindrake]

Green Arrow

Ollie looked Lois up and down for a moment being very suttle then eased into his lazy but sly grin. "And risk breaking your heart everytime i have to leave or break plans that we have made cause of a call I recieve." Then Ollie scrunches his eyebrows in all seriousness and continued, "I rather not risk having to do that again. So friendship it will have to be." Then Ollie smiled again and said, "And so far that coffee is where it soposed to be and not on me and these wonderful flowers. I believe that is a good sign don't you."

Ollie then offered the flowers to Lois with smile and a offer of friendship.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Bart

"Well as you probably know, thanks to Ms.Lane's article we believe that Dr. Ulrich was behind the sabotage of the X-33 space plane. But somethings don't make sense to me. So I was wondering if you could access her phone, cell phone, and maybe email records." Clark asked her.

He knew that what he was asking for was technically illegal, but he had a hunch that Ulrich wasn't alone in this and he needed to find out who she was working with. he wouldn't even be asking this, but even a Superman needed help from time to time.

"Seems to me," Bart chuckled, "this is an old trick for you, Stretch. My cell phone records still ain't recovered from the last time you had someone check those."

His face took on a look of pain, then, for all of a second, for all of an instant, as something occured to him.

Of course, if he's asking for help with this now, that means the time he did this to me he probably asked--

He flinched.

But then a mask of wise-assery came up on his face, covering that look of pain. Covering it, the way he always did.

"You know what?" he gestured to the room around them. "This place has some muy torqued-off feng shui. Givin' me hives. That in mind, I'ma go run some errands. Stuff I gotta do. While I'm at it, I'll get some takeout. There's this place down in Suicide Slums, The Ace O' Clubs, what has some serious triple-decker B.B.Q. burgers, bigger even than your head, Kent. I'll bring back what, two for each of us three? (Dibs on the leftovers.)"

...and then, in a searing shimmer of red and gold, Bart was gone.

First things first.

A gale blew through the florist's shop that Oliver Queen had just visited. Petals and leaves hurtled everywhere in a momentary cyclone.

The florist almost fell out of her seat again, but recovered just in time and then the wind was gone--

Dollars sat on the counter, kept from blowing away by a souvenir Metropolis paperweight from one of the shelves, and with the dollars sat a "thank you" note.

Seconds later, Bart stood in a green-grassed cemetary, dressed in his Impulse uniform, a sad little smile on his face. The sky was blue overhead, and he gazed down at the granite-grey marble of a headstone.

He held a bouquet of orange tulips. Tulips had been her favourite flowers. He'd gotten her an orange one from a garden as a magic trick, moments after meeting her for the first time.

'Chloe Anne Sullivan,' the headstone read. 'Gone Too Soon.'

He laid the bouquet down atop the young woman's grave, and ran his fingers over the top curve of the headstone.

"I need to get over you," he whispered. "I know that. But not yet. Not quite yet. Maybe tomorrow. Vaya con Dios, Muy Caliente."

And then he was back in Metropolis, sitting at a stool at The Ace O' Clubs, back in his street clothes.

(He'd come here all the time, back in the day. Hanison, that assface, ever gave Bart a fair share for one of his pawn-shop scores, he'd bring the winnings here. Too young to drink in those days, but the food was damned good, impossibly good for a place that looked like such a dive. The Ace O' Clubs was Metropolis' best kept secret.)

Guy behind the counter was a big beefy ol' fella, looked like he'd worked the docks for like a hundred years, and had been boxing pro for a hundred years before that. Saltwater, and Salt of The Earth. (He wore a blue sweater with Superman's symbol on the chest; it looked like he'd made it himself, because the staples gave it away.)

"Bibbo," Bart grinned. "My favourite lottery winner! You got that gourmet chef still workin' out back?"

"Heya, Kid," "Bibbo" Bibbowski grunted. "Been halfa ferever. Ya want th' usual?"

"Six," Bart affirmed, "to go, my good man."

Bibbo arched his eyebrows, and his pudgy forehead dissolved into an array of wrinkles as he wrote down the order. "'Six?' Looks like I ain't th' only one what won some lottery."

"Just treating mi hermana y mi amigo," Bart dismissed, and glanced at Bibbo's chest. "What's with the shirt? You like the big blue new guy, huh?"

"Stand-up feller, an' tough as nails," Bibbo nodded, putting the order in and then getting Bart a massive glass of Mountain Dew from the soda fountain. (No ice, wouldn't want to dilute the sugary caffienated goodness.) "I kin tell jus' by lookin' at 'im. He's my Fav'rit."

Bart grinned his ass off at that, as he poured eight packets of sugar into that Mountain Dew.

"Mine too, Bibbo," he nodded, continuing to grin his ass off as he stirred his Dew with a bendy-straw, "mine too."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Jessi and The Flash

Bart vanished, but not before getting a look on his face like his soul had just shattered...

'Poor guy,' The Flash opined softly. 'Our bodies heal quick, but our hearts take a freakin' eternity. I need to give him a hug when he gets back, soon as Clarkie's delicious butt is out the door.'

Jessi smiled quietly to herself and to The Flash, and she nodded subtly.

And then she fixed a more serious expression on Clark Kent.

"This isn't my usual stock in trade," Jessi pointed out to him. "But I do happen to know that NY-Com is notorious for neglecting backdoor accessibility to their systems."

'(That'swhatshesaid!)' The Flash giggled, and Jessi blushed fiercely all over again.

She cleared her throat and, clearing her disorganised mess up a bit, digging her workstation's keyboard out from under the onslaught of requests for files from The Morgue-- the paper's old hardcopy records, not the fridge where corpses are kept --Jessi set fingers to home row and regarded Clark with bewilderment.

"There's more to you than meets the eye, isn't there?" she murmured softly. "Bart would probably call this 'channeling your inner criminal.' (I'm not going to get fired for this, am I?)"

She glanced back at the screen, momentarily torn asunder.

"D'you know what e-mail service Ullrich had before she passed?" she wondered, in for a penny, in for a pound.

 

[Varshanka]

April 11th, 2014

"I gave up coffee, this is cocoa. Makes me less hyper, and not nearly as irritable as coffee." Lois informed Oliver. She had to admit even older he still made butterflies in her stomach, and he was still dang hot and sexy looking. "So, what can I do for you?" she asked.

GRabbing a passing intern she pulled her down to meet Lois' eyes. "Vase.. with water... NOW." Although she didn't yell. Or scream. and get ugly, her words had a deadly impact on the young, and attractive, intern. Squeeking she bolted off, presumably to get the aforementioned vase and water.