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.In Smallville, Kansas, we're raised to think that family takes priority."Lois's expression softened as she looked sincerely at him."Of course, Clark.It's just…well, you always seem to be gone every time something exciting happens around here.""Something exciting is always happening in Metropolis, Lois.And the Luthor scandal is going to last for quite a while."Luthor faced a mountain of charges, thanks in large part to Lois's investigative journalism and all the information she had discovered about his secret island base, his energy-beam controls, the murders of many LuthorCorp employees, and his plans to dupe the human race.More than a hundred people had been killed during the attack of the fake alien battleships on Metropolis, including five fighter pilots, and Luthor would be held responsible for those murders.But the crimes did not stop there.He had also been implicated in secret dealings with the Soviets, and thelaunch of the three nuclear missiles had his fingerprints all over it as well.Though the Soviet premier denied all knowledge of a general named Ceridov or the existence of any gulag in the Siberian wasteland, the computer tapes recovered in Luthor's control center told a different story.Once his plan was revealed, Luthor didn't even bother to deny his involvement.Instead, he wanted to receive credit for his genius in developing the "alien" propulsion system, the invasion battleships, and the flying-saucer prototype that had crashed in Arizona.Luthor even admitted to using his high-powered energy beams to blast Sputnik out of orbit, which elicited furious demands from the Soviets to have him extradited to face trial in Moscow as well.All together, there was more than enough evidence.Luthor wasn't going to worm his way out of this one."So, Mr.Kent, maybe there aren't aliens out there after all." Jimmy sounded glum."I'm glad the invasion turned out to be a fake, but still…all those movies can't be wrong, can they?"Clark sighed."Just because one or two stories are hoaxes doesn't mean that all the rest are untrue." He squeezed the young photographer's shoulder in a gesture of friendship."After all, it only takes one."Jimmy grinned at him."And we know Superman's an alien—there's no denying that.""See? There's always hope." In the back of his mind, Clark was trying to convince himself, too.He longed to know that he wasn't alone.Perry White stood at the door of his office, impatiently tapping his fingers on the jamb."Is this a newfangled journalism technique they teach in school? Wait for the news to come to you? Come on, people—stories don't report themselves.Get out there, hit the streets, find some leads.Is it asking too much for a newspaper to have a headline every single day?"Clark took up his hat and notepad, Jimmy grabbed his camera, and Lois got a brand-new pen to replace the one that had been ruined during her escape from Luthor's base.The smiling trio left the Daily Planet together to see what Metropolis had to offer them today.CHAPTER 62THE CAVEHE KNEW THE WORLD WOULD NEVER BE TRULY SAFE-NOT from petty thieves who were willing to murder, not from corrupt industrialists who wanted to take over the planet…perhaps not even from the threat of alien invasion.But Earth was secure enough, for now.Bruce sat in the Cave, still clad in his dark armored suit, the black scalloped cape tucked behind him; he had removed his cowl and it sat like a demonic mask on the corner of the laboratory table.At the moment he was deep in thought, balanced between being millionaire Bruce Wayne and vigilante Batman, half in and half out of costume, both a corporate head and a hero.It didn't really matter which outfit he wore.With Lex Luthor in disgrace, the future of LuthorCorp was in limbo.The man had been too narcissistic to believe his company could possibly function without him, so—unlike Thomas Wayne—he had failed to create detailed contingency plans for his demise.He had established basic guidelines for the company to continue, and it would limp along for a time, but it was obvious that Luthor had designated no heir.He did not trust anyone enough.Many of LuthorCorp's pending RD contracts had been transferred to Wayne Enterprises.Bruce's best researchers would continue to develop sophisticated ways to defend America, and with those profits he could devote more resources to medical research and the construction of new hospitals, which would have made his father proud.Alfred had brought him a club sandwich and small bowl of canned peaches in syrup, a treat he had particularly enjoyed as a boy.Bruce hadn't touched either.He regarded the empty cowl on the desktop next to him—the black pointed ears, the empty eyeholes of the mask.But the focus of his current study was the faintly glowing green rock sitting in a lab tray, the mineral sample he had taken from Luthor's mansion.Superman's Achilles heel.If the story of Kal-El's origin was true—and Bruce had no reason to doubt it anymore—this might indeed be a fragment of the exploded planet Krypton.And through some sympathetic connection, a kind of radiation that primarily targeted someone tied to that planet, even in small doses this "kryptonite"weakened Superman.Because of the gulag's reactor explosion, the entire meteor crater at the Ariguska impact site was gone.All traces of the Siberian kryptonite were almost certainly destroyed.He wondered if the piece here was the only sample Luthor had possessed, and now Bruce had it.Nobody else needed to know its power over Superman.He looked at the rock one last time, then sealed it in a new lead-lined case he'd had specially constructed.He locked the case in a vault carved in the Cave's solid rock.For safekeeping.He hoped he would never have any reason to use it.CHAPTER 63ABOVE THE EARTHKAL-EL WANTED TO MEASURE HIS LIMITS.HE NEEDED TO know how far he could go.As he shot straight up into the sky, the details of the terrain below shifted from individual houses and buildings to intersecting patterns of roads and the checkerboards of crop fields, then to a blur of generalized landscape, and finally the outlines of the continents themselves, swiftly masked by thick white clouds.The atmosphere grew thinner and colder as he flew higher, higher, straining toward the very edge of Earth's atmosphere and beyond.He had never tested himself like this before, never pushed so high.The air became vanishingly thin until he just kissed space, where raw and unfiltered sunlight continued to give him strength.He felt as though his every skin cell was charging, like a minute battery.He felt no shortness of breath even here.He was an alien, after all.No one had been here to teach him.He had no comrade to give him advice, no other Kryptonian to tell him about his heritage, his strengths and weaknesses.Kal-El simply drifted over Earth, gazing out toward the infinite universe.So many stars…so many planets.So many questions.He focused his telescopic vision, pushing outward into deep space with a resolution greater than that of the best Earth-based telescope.From here, he could see the moon with its artistry of distant mountain ridges and round craters, the stark and lifeless terrain drawn in sharp relief by slanted sunlight.He tried to discern any signs of activity—lost cities or alien bases, domed settlements, silver rocket ships, the barest hint of an extraterrestrial civilization.But he saw nothing [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]