CHAPTER 8

Clark's POV

"I missed her too…"

My words lingered in the air as I pressed into the center of my chest. The 's' in the center of my chest began to glow. Pulsating outward from my glowing sigil a warming tingle set my body on fire. Swiftly, my nano-tech armor spread outward across my chest. Piece by piece a metallic blue shell formed over my flesh. The sensation of a trillion microscopic hairs crawled all over me. A rarity since my flesh was so dense. Over the past decade, I'd almost forgotten what it was like to feel anything against my skin. Save for the memory of Diana's touch. Strong yet soft.

"Still fits like a glove, Big Blue," Flash muttered as he poked me in my side.

Crawling up my spine, I felt my collar finally wrap itself around my neck. Covered in my armor, I flexed my muscles. It bulged outward against my powerful frame.

Batman scoffed.

"Don't be an ass Bats," Green Lantern replied as he leaned over to me. "He's just mad he'll never have buns of steel like…"

"You both know we are about to walk into a level 2 threat situation," Batman added. "Such foolishness isn't needed."

"Loosen up Bats," Flash replied. "You know Jordan was just joking…"

"Right…" Lantern replied as he rolled his eyes.

The faint sound of Diana's laughter filled the teleporter room. Batman's heart started racing as his frustration grew.

"Just send us down there J'onzz," he grumbled.

"Beam us down Scotty…." both Flash and Lantern said in unison.

Batman's head fell into the palm of his hand as J'onzz started up the teleporter.

"They were less of a pain without you here Clark," Batman added as we started to dematerialize.

I couldn't help but laugh at Batman's words. A part of me knew there was some truth to his words. Without me, the rest of the team had to grow up. Even with their childish behavior, I'd noticed a difference in them the moment we rematerialized in front of the Daily Planet. There was visible smoke from one of the upper levels with people scattering away from the building. Immediately Flash and Lantern moved into action surveying the area, from both the land and skies. Batman made his way over to the police chief. While they moved into action, I scanned the building for Lex's drone.

Scanning through the building I found the inside was in shambles. It looked like the drone had bored into it from underground. Through the debris, I could see a trail of destruction that lead up to Perry's old office.

"Gotcha ya you little piece of shit…" I muttered under my breath.

I know I needed to get inside without causing too much damage to the building. From what I could see, the drone had hit several load-barring pillars underneath the Planet. Lost in my prep for flight, I barely noticed the swarm of people moving toward me.

"It's Superman…"

"He's back…."

"...Superman's back!"

The sound of the encroaching voices made me lose my concentration. There was too much noise, too close. My senses heard hundreds of heartbeats, breaths, and voices. The world about me suddenly shrunk. I closed my eyes and tried to gather myself.

"Superman,"

Through the growing sea of noises, I heard Diana's sweet voice.

"Focus on that," I told myself.

Suddenly the sea of voices vanished. I had my anchor beside me, Diana. As she approached me I latched onto the calm thumping of her heartbeat. I reached back and grabbed hold of her hand the moment I felt her right behind me.

"Fly with me," I said as I felt her hand grab hold of mine.

Swiftly, we took to the skies.

"Are you alright, Superman?" she asked as she flew up beside me.

Her eyes were filled with worry.

"Just a bit rusty," I replied. "Let's go get us a Luthor Corp bug."

She nodded. I flew towards the Planet while she followed behind me. We burst through a window on the 65 floors. Landing on the ground, we both took off running towards Perry's old office.

"Superman…"

I heard a familiar voice call out to me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Jimmy Olsen hiding in one of the cubicles.

"Mr. Olsen?" I asked.

Jimmy poked his head up from under a desk. He had aged so much in my time gone. The young boy I used to know had grown into a man with a full red beard. As I called his name, Jimmy rushed up from under the desk and ran towards me. He wrapped his arms around me and give me a big hug.

"It's you…" he said almost in tears. "You came back…"

I sighed as I returned Jimmy's embrace.

"Yeah, I'm back," I replied.

…. BOOM….

A loud explosion shook the Planet. Wonder Woman came up beside us.

"Superman we need to go," she said.

Immediately Jimmy released me and bowed his head to Wonder Woman.

"I'm sorry Miss…"

Wonder Woman smiled.

"You can call me Diana," she replied as she took off towards the explosion.

"Wow, she's…" Jimmy said, studdering his words.

"I've got to go, Jimmy," I said as I took flight. "I'll have Flash and Lantern help you and anyone else still up here get down."

"Will do Superman," he replied.

I barely heard him wish me luck as I took flight behind Wonder Woman. The closer to Perry's old I came the smokier my path became. Using my super-vision I scanned for the drone. Through the smoke, I saw a bright red laser blast hurdling toward me. I darted out of its path. Rolling out of its way, I heard Wonder Woman yell.

"Wonder Woman!" I shouted as I rushed towards the sound of her voice.

The smell of blood filled the air and I felt myself fill with rage. I broke through several walls until I found the drone hovering over Wonder Woman's body with her blade sticking out of its eye. Wonder Woman spat at the drone, cursing in at it in her native tongue as it aimed its guns at her head. Click… click… I rushed towards it, tackling it to the outside. As we crashed through the building Wonder Woman's blade fell from the drone's eyes. Floating several feet off the ground I held the drone firmly between my arms.

"Hello, Clark…"

"Lex…" I hissed.

"I see Lois let you out of the house," Lex said through the drone. "Wonder how she'll take you spending time with Wonder Woman. You know she doesn't like you hanging with whores…"

My blood boiled as I heard Lex demean Wonder Woman. My grip on the drone tightened with every word until the drone gradually began to crack.

"What is the meaning of this?" I asked through my teeth.

Lex laughed.

"Why does a man do anything?" Lex asked back. "Because he can, Clark. I attacked the building that your wife works in because I could. Nothing more nothing less. I was testing something and this building was a good enough place to test it. Sadly your wife wasn't in the building just yet…"

I flexed my muscles and crushed the drone into tiny pieces. I couldn't take any more of Lex's nonsense. As I let the pieces of the drone fall out of my grasp, I turned my attention back to Wonder Woman. I flew back into the building to find her struggling to get to her feet. I rushed over towards her a caught her.

"I've got you," I said softly.

She felt almost weightless in my arms as she rested up against my body.

"Nothing like an up-close laser shot to ruin your day," she joked as she body modeled against me.

Swiftly I brought her up into my arms.

"I can still walk Clark," she protested.

"Or you can just let me look after you," I replied as I began to head back down to the ground.

Wonder Woman began to protest but I shook my head.

"I know you don't need me to look after you but I want to," I continued. "Let me take care of you, can you let me do that?"

She sat in my arms for a moment in silence before she let her head relax against my chest.

"You win, this time…" she said. "But you will put me down before we head outside this building."

I shook my head.

"Stop being stubborn Diana," I replied as I floated us back to the ground floor of the Planet. "I will carry out of this building and back to the Watchtower. You won't be leaving my arms until I place you in the med-bay."

"But they'll see us," she said softly as we reached the ground floor of the Planet.

"And…" I replied as I walked us to the entrance of the Daily Planet. "I'm done hiding from them…"

I took a pause. Taking in a few deep breaths I held my head high.

"And I'm not going to be ashamed about this" I added.

I kicked the door the revolving door of the Planet opened to a barrage of camera flashes. Wonder Woman shielded her face with her hands.

"Superman, Superman care to give the world a statement…"

Through the crowd gathered in front of the Planet I heard Lois's voice rise above the crowd.

"No," I replied as I made my way down the steps of the Planet.

Wonder Woman buried her face into my chest as I carried through the crowd. Lois rushed up to me with her recorder in hand. She shoved it into my face.

"Come now, Superman," she hissed as st stood between me and the rest of the League behind her.

"Wonder Woman is injured and requires medical attention," I replied as I tried to walk around her. "Now if you don't mind…"

"Oh, I do mind Superman," she said as she held up her hand with her wedding ring.

"Threats won't work this time Lois," I whispered as I rushed past her.

Lois cursed as I called for J'onzz to teleport us back to the Watchtower. She vowed to ruin me. I almost laughed in her face as I dematerialized in front of her.

"You already ruined a decade of my life," I said before I vanished. "Do your worst…"