Moondance

Moondance by BillA1

Disclaimer: The characters Batman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Superman & Flash and their respective secret identities are all owned by DC Comics. This story is intended for my own pleasure and is not for profit. It has been posted to this site for others to read. Places and characters not own by DC Comics are my own creation. This story is based on characters from The Justice League story: "Destroyer" written by Dwayne McDuffie. Thanks to Merlin Missy for her beta on this story. For the JLA Universe Revenge of the DCAU Ficathon. From Kasuchi: Lois and Clark observe the rebuilding of Metropolis with plenty of banter and THE reveal.

Moondance

Rating: (PG)

Synopsis: Lois and Clark have a serious discussion after the events of Destroyer.

Superman - "If I can't trust myself, how can I win back the trust of an entire planet?"

Lois Lane - "One person at a time." - Legacy

(Twelve hours after the Justice League and the Legion of Doom defeated Darkseid)

"The electronic age makes the world a smaller place," Marcus Delacroix remarked to no one in particular, as he and his staff watched the repeated TV coverage of the Justice League battling aliens from space. Delacroix didn't know or really care where the aliens came from. He just knew that if the League was fighting them, they must be bad.

Delacroix owned a large international realty company headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was easy to be international in Switzerland, considering the landlocked country was surrounded by some of Europe's most industrial nations. Just step across the border, buy a piece of property and plaster the claim of "international" on your advertising. That's how it started ten years ago for Delacroix, a Swiss by birth. Now his company was in the top thirty firms in terms of realty-holding companies world-wide.

Delacroix got up from his desk and turned off the TV, as the coverage started to show emergency crews removing bodies from the Daily Planet newspaper building. He stood in front of his senior advisors seated on the couch in his office. "This," he said as he tapped the TV monitor, "also presents us with opportunities." He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the TV console.

"The American city of Metropolis seems to be the epicenter of the destruction," Delacroix said. He took his glasses off, folded them up and used them as a pointer as he added, "There's a lot of damage in the city including the loss of their premier newspaper." He straightened up and looked at his staff. His eyes narrowed.

"Monique," he said turning his attention to his personal assistant who was seated in the chair next to his desk. "What warehouse properties do we own within a fifty mile radius of Metropolis? What can we buy within that distance?" Monique nodded in understanding and started entering data on her handheld computer.

Delacroix turned to his chief financial officer, seated on the couch, and said, "Jean, find out who owns the newspaper. Make them an offer to lease any property we already have for three years ... with the first two years at seventy-five percent of the going rate."

Jean pursed his lips and shook his head, "Marcus, it's your company and you can run it into the dirt if you want and we'll all be beside you when you do, but Boss, you've got to explain this. Why would we set ourselves up to lose money like that for so long?"

Delacroix smiled and walked back to his desk. "Someone is going to rebuild in Metropolis and I want us to be part of it. The newspaper that was destroyed was more than two hundred years old. If we can be the ones who make it possible for that paper or other businesses to keep going, just think of all the goodwill that will buy us."

Jean nodded. "And maybe some advertising at a deep discount rate?"

Delacroix grinned slightly as he added, "Maybe for two years, you think?"

Monique looked up. Her smile told Marcus she was going to make him happy. "Sir, we can get the Mir-Ano Building which is about fifteen kilometers from the destroyed newspaper." Her smile broadened as she added, "It only has a ten percent occupancy rate."

Delacroix matched her smile with one of his own. "Excellent," he said. "Get it done. Then let's find the newspaper's owners. Let them know we're ready to help."

He turned back to Jean and added, "I want a small office for us in that building. A lot of property in downtown Metropolis was destroyed today. That means a lot of owners will want to cut their losses before they run into cash flow problems and as the Americans say, 'Have to get out of Dodge.'"

Delacroix sat down behind his desk and moved aside the framed photograph of himself and his brother Cleavon as kids. He put his feet up on the desk and smirked, "And when they do have to get out of Dodge, we'll be right there to take the property off their hands at a discount as they leave and we'll make a nice profit doing it."

He clapped his hands together. "Let's go people. Let's get rich."

(Two months later - Metropolis)

Clark Kent looked out the fifth floor window of the Mir-Ano building and stared at the site of the destroyed Daily Planet building, nine miles away. He sighed loudly. The last few months had been tough in many ways. Sixty percent of the newspaper's staff had been killed when the Planet building collapsed under Darkseid's assault. All of the press equipment had been destroyed and there had been immediate and serious discussions at Wayne Enterprises, the paper's owner, about suspending operations indefinitely.

But, almost as if in answer to their prayers, a Swiss real estate company offered office and warehouse spaces in the area, at an attractive enough price that the Board of Directors at Wayne Enterprises decided to continue operations. For three weeks, the Daily Planet existed only on the internet as an e-newspaper. Finally, contracts were consummated to buy printing press time on the other local newspaper, the Metropolis Daily Star. This deal reduced the Daily Planet to being printed once a day, but everyone on the surviving staff cheered when the first edition of the daily paper hit the streets again on a bright Wednesday morning, thirty days after the Planet building was destroyed.

Clark watched in the distance as heavy equipment moved briskly around the former site of the newspaper, leveling and compacting the earth. Rescue operations had ceased within twenty-four hours of the building collapse and recovery operations had stopped two weeks later when the body of the last known victim, Perry White's secretary Grace Sheldon, was recovered.

During his fight with Darkseid, Clark didn't have time to consider the devastation around him, but he did hear the calls for help from those trapped in the rubbled building; pleas for God or for Mother to end the suffering. After Darkseid and Luthor disappeared together, Clark had rushed back to the destroyed site and rescued as many people as he could until the emergency crews arrived and took over. But the cries he heard from friends and colleagues immediately after the building collapsed would stay with him for as long as he lived.

Clark reflected, once again, that Darkseid had hurt him in ways that other enemies had not been able to. Darkseid understood better than any villain he battled before that the best way to torment Superman was simply to kill and maim humans. And this time, Darkseid had killed his friends and co-workers on a scale that made Clark question the price those close to him paid for his protection, protection he wasn't always able to provide.

He continued to look out the window, but he heard her coming down hall. Truth be known, he'd heard her step out of the elevator. The distinctive 'clip-clop' she made when she walked in heels on hard surfaced floors was music to his ears. She'd been on medical leave along with most of the other injured survivors. Her injuries had been severe, but not as extensive as Perry's or Jimmy's.

He turned around just as Lois Lane sat down at her desk, opened the bottom drawer and put her purse away. Clark didn't try to hide his smile as she looked at him. He moved briskly from the window to her desk and stood over her. "Good morning," he said as he handed her a copy of today's Daily Planet, with a three column headline announcing that the award winning reporter had returned to work.

Clark's smile broadened as he said, "Welcome back. How are you doing?"

Lois stretched both of her arms out in front of her and flexed her shoulders making a popping sound that Clark's ears picked up. She smirked as Clark sat on the corner of her desk.

"What do the doctors call it?" she said nonchalantly. "Oh, yes. I'm managing my pain." She suddenly frowned. "Actually, everything aches a little, but I guess I'm lucky. I mean, after suffering two broken arms, a dislocated hip, a broken ankle, a concussion and a sprained back, I guess I should be happy if I'm able to ski this time next year. "

Clark got up from her desk and frowned. There was sorrow in his voice as he said, "I didn't know you skied."

Lois stood. "I don't, Smallville. It was a joke. I feel good for someone who had a building fall on her. Believe me, a lot of building." She paused. "The most irritating thing about this was being stuck in my apartment for seven weeks, not being able to work and us not getting setup for telecommuting until last week. I tell you, Kent, I was going nuts in my place. And I kept thinking how lucky you were to have taken that day off."

Clark sighed as she glanced around the room, as if noting the large number of empty desks, then picked up the newspaper and pointed at the headline announcing her return. "There was a time," she said, "when Perry wouldn't have allowed something like this, one of his reporters being cleared by doctors to return to work, to be in the paper, much less on page one."

Clark nodded. She was right. Headlines like these were not the mark of a professional press, but it was the best the decimated staff could manage as they struggled to put out a quality paper. In the early days following the Board of Directors' decision to resume operations, the paper was filled with wire service stories and syndicated news as the surviving staff filled in where they could, often doing multiple jobs in order to get a paper on the street. Gene Washington, the photo editor, was temporarily named Editor-in-Chief. Other staff writers, like the food editor and the gossip/entertainment columnists, wrote local news stories as the once-proud paper struggled to recapture its identity, its heritage and its readers.

"Well, Perry's still not back yet," Clark offered trying to put the best spin on the situation. "And Gene thought it was a good idea. I mean it lets people know we're getting back to business as usual."

Lois looked toward the window, in the general direction of the old Planet building and frowned. "Back to the way it was before Superman and Darkseid destroyed ...."

She didn't finish her thought, but Clark didn't need to be a Martian to read the sadness in her voice, in her body language.

"Lois," he started, but she interrupted him in typical Lois Lane fashion.

"Well, now that I'm back," she grinned, "I can give you some competition for the bylines." She pointed to the newspaper on her desk. "Does no good to announce above the fold that I'm back if I don't write something soon."

Clark's mood immediately brightened. "Looking forward to the competition. Can I get you something?"

Lois' eyes widened. "What's this?" she asked as she plopped down in her chair. "Are you volunteering to get me something? What's going on? Guilty conscience? Survivor's remorse?"

She paused as Clark flinched, then shook her head. "Doesn't matter. I'll take a coffee and a copy of the Metropolis Star. Got to see what Toby Raines wrote."

Clark took a copy of the Metropolis Star from his desk and dropped it on hers. "Coffee. Black. Two sugars."

Lois nodded as she picked up the Star newspaper. "Thanks."

As Clark walked off to get the coffee, he thought about how much he'd missed her presence in the office. He'd visited her in the hospital, once as Superman and twice as himself. But there was something right in the world when she was at a desk across from his.

Lois watched Smallville walk away and wondered to herself how long Kent was prepared to be this nice to her. It dawned on her that Kent had always tried to be nice to her, though in a competitive manner. This was the first time she'd really noticed.

She briefly glanced at the front page of the Metropolis Star, then dropped it back on her desk. She picked up the copy of the Daily Planet, noting how thin the paper seemed in comparison to the last edition printed before the old building was destroyed. Her eyes drifted to Catherine Grant's article on the money to rebuild Metropolis and other cities; everything was still being held up in Congress. The recap of the town's devastation was neatly laid out in a highlighted box: Six high rise office buildings were severely damaged and condemned, including the Daily Planet which was completely destroyed. The final death toll for Metropolis was eight hundred fifty two people. The highlighted box said there was one point two billion dollars in property damage, and six thousand people unemployed as a result of the Justice League fight in Metropolis alone.

Other American cities had experienced similar damage on a smaller scale and foreign nations were clamoring for money to repair the damage caused by the "American Justice League." Lois cringed at the article labeling the resultant destruction a "Justice League fight," but she couldn't think of anything else to call it, either.

Lois reminded herself, as she reached into her purse to retrieve a tissue to wipe her eyes, that she was the finest reporter to ever work on any metropolitan newspaper. This was her town and her town was hurting. As she threw the tissue away, she figured it was up to her alone to get help for her city. Maybe an interview with the local Congressmen by the famous Lois Lane would help put pressure on them to send money Metropolis' way, she reasoned. At a minimum, she'd get a wire service feed out of it. Cat Grant had written a good article for a gossip columnist, Lois reminded herself, but now the famous Lois Lane was back and on a mission.

She looked up in time to see Kent coming back with her coffee. He placed the hot cup on her desk, but she didn't touch it. Instead, she smiled and said, "Hey, Smallville, want to take a ride?"

Kent's eyes widened.

Lois pretended not to notice his bewildered look as she continued, "You've read Grant's story about Congress holding up money, right?"

Kent nodded.

Lois stood and held her arms straight out in front of her and rapidly wiggled her fingers. "I was thinking about writing a companion piece," she continued, "that talks about all the things not being done because of the lack of funding."

Kent frowned. "I dunno, Lois. Sounds to me like you're trying to steal Cat's story."

Lois shook her head and reached into her desk, she took out her purse and slung it over her shoulder, wincing as she did. "Not stealing, just adding to it from the more local viewpoint. You know, a couple of man in the street interviews in light of the recent news. Like you did the day after the building was destroyed." She noted Kent visibly flinch again, but ignored him. "I need to see what's been happening for the last couple of months. Figured I'd go back to some of the people you interviewed."

Kent lifted his eyebrows and said casually, "So you're not stealing Cat's story, you're stealing mine."

Lois turned and walked toward the elevator. "Not stealing. Just updating," she said over her shoulder. "You gonna go with me or not?"

Kent rushed to catch up with her. "Guess I'd better go if I'm going to share the byline," he said when he was abreast of her.

Lois stopped and faced him. "Who said anything about sharing a byline?"

"You did when you decided to 'update' my story."

Lois flashed a quick smile before walking toward the elevator again. "My, you did learn some things on the farm, didn't you?"

Kent smiled as he walked beside her. "I didn't learn that on the farm. I learned that here from you."

Clark thought to himself that the last three hours had been some of the longest of his life. Lois had insisted they take her car. Clark had tried to make light conversation during the drive, but Lois was unusually reserved. Every so often, she'd nod or mumble an "okay," in response to something he'd said, but most of the time when she wasn't asking interview questions, she was quiet. Eerily so, Clark thought.

Clark glanced down at his notebook at the quotes he'd written down. This was a bad idea and he wasn't sure why he hadn't known that earlier. Everyone, it seemed, blamed the Justice League, and Superman specifically, for this catastrophe.

"This is the Justice League's fault," said one heavy equipment operator. "If they hadn't built their embassy here, none of this would have happened. Those costumed freaks just attract more costumed freaks. We oughta just get rid of all of them. Just put them in a big rocket ship and shoot them to the moon or Mars, maybe."

"Every time one of them so-called superheroes fights somebody, us little guys get hurt," said a store owner whose place of business was across the street from one of the condemned high-rise office buildings. "And I heard on talk radio that Congress will have to raise my taxes to pay for this mess. Tell me, is that fair? You pay taxes, right? Does that sound fair to you?"

"They just canceled my property insurance, because my store is too near the Justice League embassy," another businessman complained. "What's 'too near'? My store is all the way across town!"

"Superman's my pal and he did what he had to do to save us. By the way, you got a dollar, Miss Lane, so I can get me a soda pop?" Bibbo Bobbowski offered. Clark reflected that he probably wouldn't use that quote.

Clark had been lost in thought when he looked up and realized that Lois had stopped, parked the car and was staring at him.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

She shook her head and got out of the car. They were on a little highway turnoff about thirty feet from a stretch of mountain road that led to S.T.A.R. Labs. She walked over to the railing edge, looked down and then across the field to the skyline of Metropolis in the distance. Clark exited the car and stood next to her.

"What are we doing out here?" Clark asked.

Lois looked over the side of the railing and then back to Clark. "I come out here a lot when I want to think."

"Out here? To think about what?"

Lois smiled and for a moment, Clark thought it was a genuine smile of affection. "It was on this spot that I did my first one-on-one interview with Superman."

Clark knew that. He remembered lifting her car off the West River Bridge and bringing her out here. He looked across to the cityscape in the distance and then back at her. "Nice view of the city," he said softly.

Lois nodded. "You know," she said, "Superman thought I didn't believe him when he told me about himself, so you know what he said?"

Clark sighed. "I read your interview, Lois."

Lois turned, grabbed the hand railings and stared toward Metropolis. "Superman said he only wanted one thing from me: that I tell the truth about him, that I tell people he's not here to scare anyone and that he's tried to help people when possible."

Clark took a deep breath. He remembered those words that now seemed like they were spoken a lifetime ago. "Like I said, I read the interview," he offered again sensing that she was about to say some things he didn't want to hear from her. Not now. "It was some of your best work," he said hoping to change the subject.

Lois brightened for a moment. "Yes it was, wasn't it?" Then she sighed loudly and frowned. "You know the reason the federal funding hasn't come is because they still haven't forgiven Superman for the damage he caused when he was under Darkseid's control the last time, or from the damage in New Mexico caused by the League's space gun. Now with almost a thousand people dead in Metropolis alone and more than a billion dollars in damages, there are some who wonder if they can afford Superman's help."

Clark shook his head. Her conversation was headed where he didn't want it to go. "Lois," he said slowly trying to keep the anger out of his voice. "We both know Superman had to protect the planet from Darkseid. He didn't have a choice in the fight or its location. Darkseid was going to destroy the Earth ... was going to kill everyone."

Lois turned and glared sharply at Clark. "So instead, a thousand people had to die to save the planet." She stopped and looked down at her feet, then back at Clark. There was sadness in her eyes. "Look, I know on a planetary scale, it's a small price to pay, unless you're one of the thousand who died. The problem is, there have been a lot of small payments like these over the years. That adds up to one pretty big payment."

Clark didn't try to hide his frustration. He walked back to her car and opened the door. "Shouldn't you be having this conversation with Superman?"

Lois arched an eyebrow and frowned. "I am. Aren't I, Clark?"

A part of Lois wanted to laugh at the stunned look on Kent's face, but she forced her expression to remain flat.

Kent closed the car door and walked back toward her, adjusting his glasses as he did.

"Um ... Lois, I'm not sure I'm following you here."

She could see his brow furrow as his mind was working overtime in an effort to think of something he could say that would convince her that she was mistaken. She thought she'd save him some brain cells. "You know," she smirked. "I broke both arms in the building collapse, but not my head, so don't act surprised. I've known for a while now, but I also know how to keep a secret."

The furrowed brow suddenly disappeared as if he had thought of a ruse he could use or maybe.....

"Lois, I ... um," he began. Then Kent sighed, his shoulders sagged as he lifted his glasses from his face, rubbed the bridge of his nose and then repositioned his glasses. "What gave me away?" he said with resignation in his voice.

Lois secretly smiled at this confirmation before answering, "You mean besides the time I dropped that tiny piece of Kryptonite from Luthor's Museum of Natural History in your hand and you yelped like I'd hit you with a hot poker and started sweating in front of me? Or your mother looking at Superman and yelling for Clark to be careful? Or when Eddie Lytener tried to kill me at the Excalibur Awards and Superman saved me, but when I looked at our table for Clark Kent, you weren't there? Or maybe you mean the fact that I've kissed Superman and I'm not fooled by the glasses or the change of hairstyle." Anymore, she added silently.

"Oh."

Since her injuries, she'd spent weeks considering if she should tell him that she knew about him and his dual life. It was only after he came to visit her as Superman did she realize how close she actually came to dying without ever telling him what she knew and how she truly felt about him. She knew first-hand, because of Professor Hamilton's inter-dimensional ray, what would ... no, what could happen to Superman and Metropolis if he thought he was the cause of her death. In telling him what she knew, she wanted him to know that she understood the risk of this knowledge and wanted him to have no regrets concerning 'roads not taken' relative to her.

Kent looked crestfallen as if she'd broken his favorite toy. She was sure anyone else would have stopped there, but since Lois Lane wasn't just anyone, she had to make sure he knew she wasn't fooled or at least make him think she hadn't been fooled long. "Or the fact that you're just not very good in disguising your voice the way others do."

Kent nodded and pursed his lips together. "Yeah, there are others who are very good at that." He took a deep breath and said, "So, if you've known for so long, why tell me now?"

Lois turned back and looked at the city in the distance. "Because of something we talked about when we had lunch on top of the bridge over there," she said pointing toward the Hobbs Bay Bridge. "Remember? Before the League fought the Luthor-Brainiac thing?" She lowered her head for a moment, then looked back into his eyes. "We talked about trust."

Kent was silent as she continued, "I told you then that I wasn't your publicist and I can't be your apologist now. But people are tired of hearing it's not your fault. They want to know why, when you had some of the world's worst criminals and murderers within your grasp, you let them go?"

Kent hung his head as he softly said, "We didn't let them go. We gave them a ... five minute head-start."

"Like it was some sort of a game," Lois snapped back. "And who in the League will say they're sorry to the families of the four people Killer Frost murdered before she was captured the next day?"

Kent looked out toward the city and held on to the hand railing. Lois glanced down at his hands hoping he wouldn't crush the railing in them. Long moments past before Kent finally said softly, "In hindsight, it was stupid, I agree."

Lois nodded and timidly placed her hand on top of his on the railing. She stared straight ahead not wanting to know if he looked down at her hand on his as she added, "That's why I told you what I know. The Justice League is important to this planet and any city that hosts the League shouldn't be penalized for it. I intend to write some very blunt articles about the League and its members, you included. That's why I came here, to this spot, to tell you that I intend to tell the truth about you and the League and what you represent. And I intend to remind people there is a price for help and we need to be willing to pay that price when it comes due."

She ventured a glance in Kent's direction only to see him looking at the city in the distance. He was silent and at that moment she feared she might have gone too far, might have taken too much for granted. Finally, she heard him take a deep breath as he prepared to say something.

"Lois, I'm glad you ...." He suddenly stopped talking, removed his hand from underneath hers and stuck a finger in his ear. "Not now," he snapped. "I'm busy."

Lois' eyes widened as Kent's narrowed. "Where?" he continued. He paused and this time his tone was much more measured as he said, "I'm on my way."

He turned to Lois. His expression was almost apologetic. "I'm sorry, Lois, but there was a six point one earthquake in Vietnam. I have to go, but we're not finished." He removed his glasses, loosened his tie and opened his shirt revealing his costume underneath. He flashed a small grin at her as he said, "I have really wanted to do this in front of you for a long time."

Lois thought that if she lived to be a hundred, she'd never be able to adequately describe her feelings and thoughts as she watched the man she'd referred to as "Smallville" several hours ago change into Superman in front of her now.

She tried to keep her voice flat, but it cracked anyway as she said, "No, we're not finished, but go. Go help." She waved at him dismissively. He folded his clothes and placed them on the passenger seat of her car. "I'll get these from you later," he said. "I'll call you when I get back."

Lois smiled as he leaped in the air, hovered in front of her for a moment and then turned and sped away without looking back. She thought about waving at him, but decided not to give in to the fangirl impulse. She reflected that by telling him what she knew, she'd changed their relationship dynamic forever.

Lois went back to her car and started it. She looked at the clothes on the car seat, but resisted the temptation to touch them and instead turned her car around on the dirt road and headed back to the highway.

She nodded to herself as she pulled out onto the roadway and headed for Metropolis with his parting words still ringing in her head.

"And I'll be waiting, Smallville," she said softly to herself.

End