Chapter Text
Clark yawned, lazily rolling a shoulder as the ancient coffee maker spat and gurgled out a new pot.
A quick check revealed that nobody was approaching the break room, but Clark still resisted the urge to drink right out of the coffee pot. He'd learnt that lesson the hard way, and poured out his third cup instead.
It had been an unusually cloudy series of days in Metropolis, and the coffee barely made a dent in Clark's fatigue. He'd been running himself ragged responding to accidents from the weather and other non-stop crises this past week.
And he had that story due, Clark remembered, shaking his head as he headed back toward his desk.
"-no, Lane, you cannot write two more articles on this. Find me a new story, or, do your damn job and find a better angle."
Clark instinctively ducked back into the break room, stuffing himself into a corner as he heard his boss's voice.
Lois' voice was the next one to make itself known, exasperated and annoyed. "Perry come on, you know this is the biggest-"
"I said no Lane. Why don't you cover the Mayoral elections-"
"You could put a hundred braindead interns on that. This new-"
"Lane." Perry said abruptly, voice tight in a way that made Clark wince. "Unless you find out who the Man-Bat-"
"-Batman, sir-" Lois interrupted, as only she could.
"-Unless you find out who Batman is," Perry agreed past gritted teeth. "Or if he dies, or Gotham sinks into the sea, or something else interesting happens, move on. Is that understood?"
There were a few tense moments before Lois grumbled something unconvincing back.
"And where the hell is Kent? Find him, Lane. I want his story on my desk in an hour." After that pronouncement, mercifully, Mr. White stormed back to his office.
Clark sighed with relief, sinking into the corner he'd stuffed himself into.
"Clark?" Lois stared at him as she entered the room. Clark frantically shook his head, flapping a hand at her.
"He might hear you!" Clark hissed, craning his neck out of the break room to see the closed door of Mr. White's office.
"Relax, he'd have to have your hearing." Lois rolled her eyes, dropping into a chair.
Clark eyed the tired look on her face and poured out another coffee cup. He slid it her way, smiling at the grateful sound she made.
"I love you." Lois declared, adding sugar and cream to it.
Clark scoffed incredulously, setting his own mug in the sink. "What was that about?"
Lois almost choked on the coffee in her haste to respond, clearly still irritated. "Perry wants me to change my story. He thinks I'm getting too wrapped up in what's going down in Gotham."
"What's going on in Gotham?" Clark raised an eyebrow, intrigued now. He knew Gotham mostly by reputation. A city of perpetually bloody streets, run by hardened criminals, with the worst divide between rich and poor in the entire country.
The few times Superman had visited had been as part of disaster response. He'd tried to keep helping, but disaster was so routine in Gotham, that Clark really didn't think his visits had changed that much.
Lois shot him a look and Clark shrugged. "Been just a little busy this week, Lo."
"You literally have super everything, how do you even miss- never mind. There's this crazy new, high-powered villain in Gotham." Lois said, her tone going into that effortlessly professional, clinical journalist voice she had. "Batman, Gotham's vigilante-"
"Hero." Clark corrected, but Lois plowed on.
"-has been battling it out with the villain for days. The attacks are supposedly random, but they're hellishly destructive." By the way Lois said the last part it was clear she had theories.
Clark narrowed his eyes, surprised that he hadn't heard about any of this. "This sounds serious. Any casualties?"
"I mean, the official estimates vary but there are at least twenty people dead and a hundred injured." Lois steepled her fingers under her nose. "Perry thinks the story's not worth competing with the Gazette for, at least not until Batman wins, loses, dies."
Clark rubbed his eyes, sighing. "What's this villain like?" Twenty innocent lives... in Metropolis, that would be an unthinkable loss. In Gotham, that was practically another Tuesday, but Clark couldn't ignore a super-powered villain anywhere.
He also didn't particularly approve of Gotham's new hero, vigilante solidarity aside. There was a warrant out for Batman's arrest, and Superman had been asked a few times to help with catching the vigilante.
If he went to Gotham now... he might get to solve a few problems for the city. And decide if Batman was a potential friend or enemy.
"Tech-based powers, mostly electrical." Lois consulted her notepad, flipping through it. "So far he's used them to blow up buildings, black out city blocks. Apparently even some pacemakers have gone out in his presence, hard drives and computers get wiped too." Lois gave Clark a meaningful look. "He has some special grudge against wealthy Gotham-based companies, but doesn't seem to care at all about collateral damage."
The Man of Steel stared into the grain of the table. This had all the makings of an extremely dangerous crisis, and if this new hero wasn't up to it...
"What are you thinking?" Lois asked, leaning forward.
"That I should go to Gotham," Clark admitted, looking up at her. "But-"
"So go," Lois replied, gulping down coffee, expression satisfied. "I have a bunch of research I can give you."
Clark nodded vaguely, returning to his main concern. "Normally I would already be there, but there's this new guy-"
"It's not his city." Lois rolled her eyes, and Clark crossed his arms.
"I mean, I wouldn't like it if some random hero-"
"-vigilante." Lois interrupted and raised her hands when Clark frowned. "Sorry, you're a hero, but Batman is violent, dark, and not particularly heroic."
"Lois." Clark pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Sorry, sorry, continue," Lois prompted, raising her cup back to her mouth.
Clark swallowed back the explanation. That once you donned a cape to watch over a city, it became yours. In a way no other city, no other world could be. "You're right, I should go. I can't keep ignoring Gotham."
"Ooh, exciting!" Lois grinned, the dangerous look she got around active war zones and destruction returning. "Okay, I'll book a hotel room-"
Clark inclined his head at her, knowing her too well. "Whoa, whoa, who said you were coming?"
"There's no way Perry lets your delinquent ass take time off work." Lois scoffed. "Unless you're coming with me to cover breaking news."
"Perry said-"
"I heard him, and all he said was I needed a new angle. You think I won't get one, in the middle of all that?" Lois demanded.
She could take care of herself, but this was Gotham. Clark shook his head. "No, Lois, come on, Metropolis is full of stories-"
"Is the Sheraton okay?" Lois looked up from her phone, smiling at him. "I'm thinking one bed. Or how about this new honeymoon suite they've got? Bullet proof door and roses included."
"Lois." Clark crossed his arms sternly.
"Fine, fine, you win, we'll get a suite with two beds. Full three-star experience."
"Tell me again, why you couldn't just fly us here?" Lois asked, when they finally emerged out of the domestic terminal of Gotham's largest airport.
"It was a four-hour flight." Clark reminded her again, pretending to struggle with putting their bags onto a trolley. "And I don't know, maybe there should be a record of how Clark Kent and the reporter who's always with Superman got to Gotham. But hey, that's just me, being silly about my secret identity."
"Because cars don't exist?" Lois challenged, rolling her eyes. "What if we drove here, Kent?"
"We somehow drove for five days and got here in the same afternoon?" Clark widened his eyes, raising one hand to his mouth. "There's absolutely no chance a really good reporter would have a problem with that story."
Lois laughed and elbowed him. "Fine. You win, dork." She grimaced, staring down at her buzzing phone. "Okay, you want the good news or the bad news first?"
"There's bad news already?" Clark stared at her, aghast. "Go for it."
"Good news is that Batman and Ultrawave had another showdown today, but no casualties-" Lois said as Clark winced, immediately regretting being trapped in the plane. "Batman won this one."
Clark sighed in relief. Maybe this trip was unnecessary after all. "Okay good. Wait, what's the bad news?"
"Perry wants you to know you're fired if you don't get your story in by the end of the day." Lois read from her phone, smiling forcedly.
Shaking his head, Clark groaned. "It's sort of done..."
"Sort of?" Lois gave him a look. "Weren't you working on it on the plane?"
"And all I've got is a title and some sentences somewhere." Clark breathed out heavily, tilting up his chin.
Lois patted him on the back. "I'm gonna grab us a cab, and you, please write some more sentences. And possibly a new resume."
Clark huffed, tuning out the clamour of the airport while he pieced his disjointed paragraphs together, merging research and quotes about the new stadium into halfway meaningful points. He looked up when he heard the sound of heels coming his way. "What happened to you?"
"Forgot I checked in another bag." Lois sighed, gathering up her things. "Cab's here by the way."
Clark snapped his laptop shut a little too gratefully. He really needed to get better at balancing his two full-time jobs.
Lois wheeled their cart out, and a man that smelled strongly of cigarettes helped them load everything into his dilapidated cab. The taxi sign on top feebly flickered on and off, and Clark carefully ducked into the car, narrowly avoiding creating a dent with his head.
"Funny time to visit Gotham." The man rasped, expertly jostling the cab into the chaotic street. "But with this city, only funny times."
Lois laughed. "We're journalists, we kind of only show up at funny times." She craned her neck to peer at the traffic. "Wow, is it...always like this?"
"You two from Metropolis?" The cab driver asked and Clark smiled.
"Is it that obvious?" He asked, frowning a little at a plume of smoke rising up behind some skyscrapers.
"Metropolis people are always surprised by Gotham-" The cab driver honked at someone that swerved ahead of him. "-but, don't worry, your hotel is in a nice part of the city."
Lois hummed in reply and Clark stared at the shining skyscrapers, impossibly at odds with the filth and havoc of the streets. He felt a surge of respect for Gotham's new vigilante.
It would take a special kind of crazy to even try and sort out this mess.
"What's that building there?" Lois asked suddenly and Clark turned away, looking up at it too. Complete with pointed towers at the top, gothic and starkly dark. Like the perch of some monstrous bird, looming over much of the city.
"Wayne Tower." The cabbie rasped, huffing hoarsely. "Prince of the city lives there."
Clark raised an eyebrow and Lois chuckled. "Bruce Wayne." She supplied.
"Sure." Clark cleared his throat. "And, uh, what about, well we've heard some stories about a vigilante," He asked casually and caught Lois's eye roll.
Real smooth, she mouthed at him and he ignored her.
"Not stories, he's as real as I am." The cabbie declared. "Dark, bat-like. I saw him one night, beating up on the gang that used to charge me protection money. Now they need protection." The cabbie cackled as he made a sharp turn. "Broke all their bones."
"Is he human or a meta?" Clark asked and the cabbie frowned into the rear view. "Like Superman." Clark explained.
"Not human, no. Fast and bulletproof. Strong as anything, ten men couldn't put a scratch on 'im." The cabbie drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "This city breeds monsters," The cab driver grinned as he turned around. "Something weird in our water, I guess."
Lois laughed nervously and Clark smiled, a little lost in thought.
A city of monsters. Clark slumped back against his seat, hearing the ever-present shrieking of sirens. The blaring of fire trucks. The sounds of life in a crumbling city fighting to stay alive.
He wondered if he'd come right on time, or too late.