Chapter 13 “Meetings”

Just her luck. Pouring rain. She had brought an umbrella but the paths were muddy and her brand new high heels were covered in brown muck. Well, anything for the story. She just wished this John Doe would hurry up. She was freezing.

“Miss Lane?”

Lois whipped around. She hadn’t heard him coming.

“John Doe?”

“Follow me.”

Lois looked at the man in front of her. He was small and a bit thin and gave Lois the impression that one blow would finish him off. The half-long greying brown hair under his sodden brown hat stuck to his cheeks because of the rain. His clothes were soaked. How long had he been standing here in the rain?

He led her out of the park and took shelter at a bus stop. Wiping the hair out of his face, the stuck out his hand.

“Miss Lane. My name is Earl Basinger and I am an employee for Stanford & Young Publishing.”

Lois took his hand.

“Stanford & Young? That was one –”

“One of the collapsed buildings, yes, I thought you’d remember.”

The man wrung his hands and scanned his surroundings carefully.

“In your story you mentioned two building that had collapsed outside the river-area.”

Lois nodded, wondering where this would go.

“Stanford & Young was one of those two buildings. The other was old and shabby, and probably had a poor construction to begin with, but not Stanford & Young. The building was brand new and very solid. Solid buildings don’t just come crashing down.”

Basinger looked around him again, obviously not comfortable with the situation.

“So, why did the building come down? Why are you telling me this? And why all this secrecy?”

“I’m telling you this because the building didn’t just come down, it was brought down.”

Lois stood a little straighter.

“Look, a couple of months ago I was working and I went to the copy machine and I noticed the previous user had forgotten to remove the original. I – I didn’t mean to pry, I just read the first couple of lines so I could return it to it’s owner, but it w–”

A sound of screeching tires sounded nearby. The car was nowhere to be seen, but it was enough to make Basinger loose courage.

“Look, Miss Lane. Things were going on in there that had nothing to do with publishing. They know I found out.”

The low rumble of a heavy engine sounded and Lois turned to see a bus approaching.

“Mr Basinger, I –”

“Earl.”

“Earl, I am a reporter. I need facts, solid proof. I can’t base a story on this.”

“I can’t tell you anymore. They’ll know you got it from me, they’ll come after me.”

The bus slowed.

“We’ll continue this talk some other time, Miss Lane.” Basinger stuck out his hand to flag down the bus.

“Wha – no, wait!” Lois posed herself between the man and the bus. “Can’t you at least tell me what the letter said?”

Basinger looked around carefully.

“I’ll call you for a next meeting. Good evening, Miss Lane.” He tapped his hat and stepped on to the bus, leaving Lois standing alone on the pavement.

“Damn!”

Lois pulled out a tape recorder from her pocket and played the last few lines again. Well, this meeting had been a complete waste of time. And a waste of shoes, Lois thought, bemoaning the state of her favourite pair of high heels The guy had given her nothing she could use. She didn’t know who had brought the building down, or why, and any possible evidence was probably buried under a huge pile of rubble.

“What was the point of wanting to meet me if there wasn’t anything you could say?” Lois muttered to herself.

“I think he was planning on telling you a lot, but he just lost courage.” A low deep voice behind her, and Lois whipped around.

“Superman!”

“I was in the neighbourhood, and I saw you standing in the rain…”

“Right.”

Lois fidgeted nervously with her handbag. Why was it that she lost her famous fiery attitude the second the spotted the man in blue tights?

“So, how are you? I haven’t seen you around since-” Since I caught you staring at Jason. Lois thought, but decided not to say it out loud.

“Just because you can’t see me, doesn’t mean I’m not there.”

A weak smile tugged at the corners of Lois mouth.

“Yeah, I know. You’re always around.”

Superman’s blue eyes twinkled, and Lois and to lean against a tree to stop her knees from trembling.

“But will we see you? Will I see you? Will Jason see you?”

“Lois, I-“

“We never really talked about it, did we? What it meant for Jason to be partly Kryptonian…”

“No, we didn’t, but –“

“I think we should. Will he be getting more superpowers? Does he –“

“Lois, I don’t think this is the right time or place to talk about it.”

Lois looked him in the eye boldly.

“Are you needed elsewhere?”

“Well, no…” Superman look uncomfortable, and – what was it? – anxious? When had Superman ever been anxious?

“Good, then we’ll talk.”

Lois took refuge under a large oak tree to shelter from the pounding drops of sleet and lowered her umbrella. Superman sighed, and followed her.

Lois immediately jumped into reporter-mode.

“Will Jason be getting all of your powers?”

‘I – I don’t know.” Superman answered, taken aback.

Lois looked at him hard. I’ve had enough vague answers for tonight.

Superman lifted his hands in surrender.

“Look, Jason is the first part Kryptonian to my knowledge. Really, I don’t know.”

“Great”

“I could ask my father, though…”

Lois looked up, startled.

“I thought you said you were the last son of –”

“It’s not really my father, just a recording…oh no…” Superman’s face fell. “No, I can’t do that either.”

“Why not?” Lois snapped, frustrated with having the prospect of a clear answer snatched away from her.

“Because my fathers image was captured in the crystals Luthor used to build that island. He stole all of them.”

“Damn! When I get my hand on that asshole, I’ll…” Lois took a few calming breaths to calm the sudden flare of fury inside her. Luthor even managed to mess up her life when he wasn’t trying. Alright, minor setback, get back to the questions, girl.”

“OK, so we don’t know how Kryptonian genes work… What about the powers he gets? Are they just there, or do we need to train them?”

“They’ll come naturally, but they’ll be uncontrolled and unpredictable in the beginning, so I think training would be a good idea.” Superman answered, looking relieved to be able to give her a proper answer.

“And can you help him?” Lois saw the briefest flicker of joyous hope flit across his face, and her heart ached. To be so grateful for the chance to be just a teacher to your own son.

“You mean, can I train him?”

Lois nodded.

“Yeah, I can do that.” Superman smiled.

“Good, so we’ll see a little more of you in the future.” As an afterthought she added; “Jason really cares for you, you know. You’re his greatest hero. You wouldn’t believe the number of drawings he’s made of you.”

Lois noticed a bittersweet smile on Superman’s face, and momentarily she felt bad for him again.

A silence fell, both of then occupied by their own thoughts.

“So, how are you holding up, Lois?” Superman’s low voice shook her out of her musings.

“Oh, I’m alright.” Lois said, evasively.

“Really?” Superman lifted an eyebrow.

No, not really, you blue goon. I feel like crap. I miss Richard. I want to break down right here and bawl my eyes out.

“Yeah, really.”

“Good. Well, I think I’ll take off again. Do you – do you want me to take you home?” Superman added cautiously.

Oh, how many women would die for Superman to ask them that.

“No, I think I’ll take the bus. Thanks for the offer though.”

“You sure? It’s no trouble…”

“I need to think.”

“OK, well.” Lois watched as Superman hovered a few feet into the air.

“Superman? Can you just drop by tomorrow evening? You know, for Jason?”

Superman smiled. “Sure."