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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:08:57 GMT -5
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:10:15 GMT -5
Batman
Issue 2: "World's Finest?"
Written by Charles HoM
Cover by Ramon Villalobos
Edited by David Charlton |
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:33:40 GMT -5
“Alfred. I have something I want delivered from my private collection in Gotham.” Bruce slowly taps his fingers, impatient.
“And what would that be, Master Bruce?”
“The experimental night fighting equipment R + D were developing… I was planning on field testing it in Gotham… But I think I might be needing it sooner.”
“A courier can have it over here in two hours, if we hurry, but Master Bruce, before I forget…” Alfred rolls his eyes. “You have someone at the desk asking about an interview.” Alfred shakes his head. “Shall I get security to escort the man out the building?”
“No, no, Alfred. I organised this. Need to get myself out a bit, yeah? Make myself more of a public presence.” He laughs quietly. “This’ll help!”
“If you insist, sir. I’ll call reception, tell them to let Mr Cant up right away.”
“Kent, Alfred… It’s Clark Kent…”
“Right. I’ll call reception and tell them to allow Mr Kent up. Then I shall get onto your equipment query…”
“Do so, do so…” Bruce smiles and stretches his arms over his head, and then sits down at a table, awaiting the reporter. Minutes later, Clark Kent is at the door, fiddling with his tie, and smiling like a giddy schoolgirl. Bruce smiles as he enters, shakes his hand, and gets down to business.
“So what do you want to know, Mr Kent?”
“Who is Bruce Wayne?”
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:34:20 GMT -5
He can’t hold his form as well as he’d like. His skin is like the sea, always moving, waves rippling over him. He can’t touch metal, else it sinks into him, gets devoured by whatever his body is made up off. His thinking is fractured, broken. He can feel his brain floating around in waves of liquid metal, and he feels everything fading from existence.
His existence.
Fading.
So as his intelligence and soul slowly seeps away, dissolved by his new form, he replaces it with something tangible.
Rage.
Something floats into his mind as he trudges through the sewers of Metropolis, all he can think of apart from rage. He finds something he can direct his anger at.
Lex Luthor.
A bird whispers to him, whispers lies and secrets that no one else knows.
“Lex Luthor did this to you… And the only way to make it right… Is to punish him.”
He swats the words away, trudges onward, ignoring, absorbing.
He thinks he’s going to kill Lex Luthor.
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:34:43 GMT -5
Time passes, questions are answered, more questions are raised and some… Some Bruce Wayne can’t answer…
“What brings you to Metropolis?”
“The sights. The sounds… Oh, and I was forced…”
“Do you run Wayne Corp?”
“Well, I choose not to… yet. I have Lucius Fox to run it in my stead, and he does a damn fine job. Repeat: Damn fine.”
“Heh… You vanished for about eight years, where did you actually go?”
“I travelled the world. I hadn’t totally gotten over my parents death… And I don’t think I have yet…”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t see why not. My parents died when I was young. It scarred me. It would scar anyone really. After that… After the event… I just went numb, Y’know? I didn’t feel a thing. My parents… My world… It was gone. Everything was different, everything was the same, you get me? I think that parents shape a child’s future. Their destiny even. You’re parents… If you don’t mind me asking… Are they still alive?”
“Yes, they live in Smallville, Kansas.”
“Well, they’ve raised you well haven’t they? You aren’t a thief, aren’t a criminal (not that I know of, of course), so they’ve set a good example, no? It’s not the events that shape you; it’s the people who raise you. So there I was, trapped in the darkness, no one reaching me, and I snap. I go ga-ga. Alfred Pennyworth, my servant, guardian, and close family friend raised me from then on. Taught me ways to get rid of the rage I was trapped in… Self defense, martial arts, anything to fight off all these feelings I had. Anything to make me stop me being shipped off to the loony bin, right?”
“Interesting.”
“Not really. After completing my education, and getting all my degrees early, I travelled the world. Learnt all I could, so here I stand before you. The man I have become.”
“What did you learn, Mr Wayne?”
“Stuff.”
“Stuff?”
“Stuff that I’d prefer to keep to myself. No offense.”
“None taken”
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:35:18 GMT -5
Mockingbird, Mockingbird, what have you heard?
It clambers this way, it clambers this way, for the act that you must pay…
Mockingbird, Mockingbird, say it ain’t so.
That I cannot, that I cannot, for today is the day… Lex Luthor jerks up in bed and looks around. He had gotten a terrible headache earlier in the day, and decided to rest for a while, but by the look of the sky, it was getting late, and he had things to do! |
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:35:37 GMT -5
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to end this interview Mr Kent! I have a date y’see… And I really don’t want to miss it.” Bruce smiles widely, and scratches his neck. “Alfred will show you the way out.”
Alfred Pennyworth, the old British gentleman butler shows Clark the door and bows slightly, then slams it abruptly in his face. Pennyworth had more important things to do than baby-sit aspiring reporters.
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:35:57 GMT -5
Lois Lane applies her mascara and fiddles with her bra strap, trying to get it as tight as possible. She had to look her best. Had to look like what Wayne usually saw, the rich, blonde, bimboish characters that adorn the gothic streets of Gotham. First off though, she wasn’t going to dye her hair. You wouldn’t be able to tell her or Lucy apart, and she had enough of that at college… And second, she may go to extremes to get her story, but acting like a slut wasn’t one…
Or was it? She’d find out tonight. She smiles as she puts on a deep red lipstick, and the blows a kiss to her reflection.
Smallville wasn’t gonna’ go this far to get under Bruce Wayne’s skin…
Or would he?
As Lois Lane imagined Clark Kent in a tight red dress she laughed, and didn’t hear the inhuman hand push open the door to her apartment.
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:36:21 GMT -5
Bruce packs his special attaché case and hides it in a secret compartment in the Rolls.
Alfred shakes his head, annoyed at his adopted son’s obsessive nature.
“You’re going out on a date, Bruce… Your first in about eight years, and you’re taking the other suit?”
“I have been on dates in the past eight years Alfred. Trust me. Just because they don’t speak English doesn’t make them any less a date!” Bruce shakes his head.
“Something doesn’t feel right, so just in case…”
“Something doesn’t feel right, Master Bruce? First. Date. Eight. Years.”
“Drive Alfred, else you’re fired!”
Alfred laughs at his words, and starts up the engine. “Heh, be doing be a favour…”
“Heard that!”
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:36:49 GMT -5
Clark Kent types up his story at super speed, and then relaxes after three minutes. Five drafts, and then he had the perfect story. This was the expose on Bruce Wayne’s life. Sure there were pot holes, little details that he couldn’t pry out of him, but this was the biggest story that he’d ever written.
He might get a Pulitzer.
Hmm. He considered dropping off the story straight away, but knew Lois was going to be out for a couple of hours getting her own story, leaving him time to do some patrol, then show her up in front of Mr. White.
This was going to be fun.
As he pops open his shirt and reveals the big S insignia on his chest, a strange tingling sensation rushes up his spine. Something was wrong.
Superman was needed. But where?
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:37:24 GMT -5
Bruce Wayne’s car pulled up to the extravagant restaurant and the owner sauntered out, smiling to himself. Now he just had to wait for Lois, and then he was in for a lovely night out.
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:37:41 GMT -5
Who the… What the hell are you?!” Lois Lane stumbles back in her high heels, falling over herself, and tripping behind her bed.
“METAL. OH” The monster seeps it way towards her, straining to keep some semblance of humanity, but the only guise it holds is that of a horrific monster, its face literally drooping over it chin.
“Metallo?! What the hell?! What do you want with me?!” Lois grabs her high heel, and swings it up like a weapon, awaiting a reply.
“I DETECT. I SMELL. LEX LUTHOR. IN THIS ROOM. PLACE. DWELLING.”
“Sensors malfunctioning metal man! Luthor has never… WILL never enter this room, so shove off and let me get ready for my big date!”
“THERE.” The creature tries to raise some kind of arm, but instead a tendril of liquid metal shoots against the wall, smashing through it, and pulling out a small sensor.
“CAMERA. HE. WATCHES. WATCHED.” Lois stumbles back, terror and surprise fighting across her face.
“He WHAT?” Lois shivers slightly, not from the cold, or her being on the floor in a short dress and the window being wide open, but from the sheer disgust of Lex Luthor having a camera… A… Whatever that was… In her wall… Watching her every movement. “That pig! I can’t… Oh my lord…”
“HELP. GIVEN. HELP NEEDED.”
“Wha… What do you want, Metallo?”
There’s a moments silence, and then the monster answers. “BODY.”
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:38:20 GMT -5
Lex Luthor scratches his chin and watches the monitor on his desk. “So THAT’S where my Metallo got to. It’s now a strange creature. I should really inform the authorities… But didn’t Lois say she was going to meet Bruce Wayne? Ooo this could turn out quite the exciting scenario…” Lex smiles and switches off the television. “Hmm. Delete file located at LL-Bedroom. Comply?” Lex looks at the monitor and sctaches his chin. There’s a buzzing noise, and then the computer begins to speak.
{Complying Mr Luthor. Have a nice day.}
“Thank you computer.”
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:38:40 GMT -5
Bruce Wayne sits at his table and orders a glass of water. He wonders where Lois could be, and when offered the menu, declines solemnly, and sips from his glass.
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:39:03 GMT -5
Superman floats on top of the globe. The globe of the Daily Planet that is. He surveys the land, looking through frequencies, and the sees something strange. A trail of some sort, by a glance it seems to be ionised air, floating in a trail leading through the city, in the sewers and through an apartment block. Holy heck. Lois Lane’s aparment block!
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:39:40 GMT -5
Bruce Wayne looks up and smiles as he sees someone he recognises approaching.
“Lois, there you are! Whoa… Are you ok?”
Lois stands half dressed, her clothing torn, her make up smeared across her face. Metallic flakes are scattered by the side of her mouth and eyes, and her pores have flecks off silver around them.
“Lois? Can you hear me? Are you ok?”
“… B… Bruce… Help.” She thrusts her hands forward, and grabs Bruce by the throat, jerking him out of his seat, and high above her head. “Can’t… Co… Control my… Myself…” Bruce gasps for air and reaches down to his belt, reaching for his special compartment, and grasping for a batarang. Lois proceeds to stammer and shake, and something erupts from her mouth, a mixture of bile and liquid metal, which forms into the shape of a man.
“YOU. WHERE LUTHOR. IS WHERE?”
“Do’n… Argh… Leggo!” Bruce kicks his leg up, going straight through the monsters arm. “Hell!” The arm hardens with him stuck inside, and Lois releases, collapsing to the floor. Bruce then swings around, hitting the creature’s chest hard. “What the hell do you want with me?”
“LUTHOOOR!”
“Luthor isn’t in this room, sir.” Superman floats through the door, and smiles. “Let go of the billionaire.”
“MAN. FLY. MAN?”
“I said, let him go.” Superman clenches his fists and his eyes begin to glow. The air surrounding him seems to flicker, and he unleashes twin beams of heat that remove the monsters arm from its shoulder. As the lump hits the ground it liquefies, and Bruce rolls backwards, rubbing his shin. The pool of Metallo shoots back at its owner, and reforms the arm, this time in the shape of a massive mace.
“I don’t think that will hurt-”
Metallo swings its mace arm at Superman, sending him flying out of the front wall of the restaurant. Bruce looks around quickly, and grabs his attaché case that was by his foot, and runs for the bathroom, making sure no one is around.
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:40:06 GMT -5
That actually hurt…” Superman wipes his lip and sees blood on his hand. “What the?” Metallo is on him once more, and dives at the hero, and instead of hitting him head on, he hits him with a wet splat, his form covering the hero. “Well… That was- Hrk!” Superman grabs his throat, and collapses to the ground, the strange Metallo seeping into his skin.
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:40:31 GMT -5
Got to hurry. Superman may have sorted that monster, but Lois needs medical attention… I attach my cowl and dive into the restaurant, checking the young reporters pulse. Hmm. Weak. But still there. Still a chance.
“A. get an ambulance to my location. Some meta possessed Lane, and she’s worse off for it.”
“Understood B.”
As Alfred closes the communication link I know what he is doing. By now he is rubbing the bridge of his nose, dreading what could happen to me next. But he knows I’ve trained. Knows what I can do. So he just goes ahead and dials the paramedics, hoping he is not too late. As I rush out I see Superman take another hit from the creature, and then be smashed against the pavement by its mass… I see the metallic liquid slowly vanish, and creep out.
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:40:49 GMT -5
“Superman?” Batman approaches slowly, wary at the missing villain. “Where is it?”
Superman struggles for breath, and slowly turns his head at the Dark Knight. His eyes glow brightly, and the same metal specks cover his face. “…It’s in me, Batman…”
“Holy!”
Superman spins round and releases all his powers at once. Heat vision, whipping up a whirlwind with one hand, and an icy chill that is emitted from his breath. Bruce wraps himself in his cape, and prays.
“Get… Get out of muh… muh… me!” Superman fights against the presence inside of him, but is beaten back by excruciating pain. Pain? Superman doesn’t normally feel pain… “LUTHOR! KILL. THIS BODY. WITH.” The voice is mechanical. Coarse and strained, the words it speaks muddled and pained. With a thought Superman lifts off the ground, and begins to fly through Metropolis, a sentinel of justice gone wrong.
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:41:19 GMT -5
I CANNOT believe this. Superman possessed? This is terrible! I unwrap myself from the protective shell of my cape and stretch my body. Alfred fixed up the suit. Reinforced it just in case. The uniform has an additional layer of nomex weave at no extra weight, and the cape was developed as a fabric to protect from any weather, be it intense heat or intense cold. I’ve faced both, and I know that you can never have enough weather proof material. I look in the sky and see Superman flying high, but going slow, the creature inside him obviously affecting his stability. I open my communication link with Alfred, and see what he has to say.
“You can see everything I see A. What do you think?”
My lens covering my eyes are top of the range spy ware. It beams back video with no delay to a special program on my laptop, normally to my computer back in the cave. This was the travel pack version.
“Did you see the way Superman glowed last night? As if absorbing something from the atmosphere?”
“Yeah, I did. I ran some tests… Checked other spectrums from the recording. It was ambient sun light. Sun energy. I theorise it feeds his powers…”
“Exactly sir. I checked the recordings, compared it with last night… The creature was drawing out the energy Superman had saved with physical contact. Every time it touched him, it was dragging out solar energy… And if your theory is correct…”
“If it’s inside him, it’ll kill him!”
“The car is in the alley behind the restaurant. Specially shipped from Gotham for your crime fighting needs.”
“The car!”
“We need to work on the name, but indeed Master Bruce.”
“Input Lex Towers to the GPS. Quickest route please.” I sprint behind the restaurant as the ambulances arrive, and see Lois already stirring, a note written by me next to her, explaining her condition.
“Done so. Get going sir.”
I hop into the driver seat and smile. “You’re on Alfred. Let’s see who gets there first… Big blue or me.”
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:41:53 GMT -5
“Mizzer Luthor! Superman is headed right here…”
“And you’ve located the Metallo…?”
“It’s… it’s…”
“Inside him. Yes I know. You’re fired Herren. Seriously. I’m Lex Luthor. I know everything goddammit! EVERYTHING! And here you are, coming to me with thirty five second old information! Shame on you! Shame on you!” Lex presses a button and his Amazonian body guards grab the chief of security by the arms. “Take him down to Happerson. It’ll be a fun experience for both of them.”
“Sir? SIR?! WHAT?!?! NO!” The screams vanish as the three of them vanish down a secret stairwell, leaving Lex to confront his nemesis.
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:43:05 GMT -5
The car handles like a dream! Better than any rally car, the speed extraordinary. In less than three minutes I’m at LexCorp, and Supes is still two minutes behind me!
“A, did you pack the device R+D had just developed? The night fight device?”
“Of course, In the fifth pouch. Use it well.”
“Will do. Signing off.”
I throw up a grapnel as high as I can, and reach a third of the way up the main tower.
“I better use my time advantage well…”
I look over to the car and clamber back in, thinking fast. “Oh he’s going to kill me…” I strap myself into the chair and grab a lever to my left. “Car. When engaged, return to the hanger.”
{confirmed.}
I release the ejection seat and spring higher than my grapnel reached. I look down at the panel beneath my right arm and pop it open, engaging a small booster beneath the seat, flinging me AWAY from the building. Sheesh. Why is everything a challenge? I undo my harness and spring back, just in time to collide with a possessed Superman, and then having time and pounce straight for Lex’s office window, shattering through it with a bang.
“Luthor! Get down!”
Lex shakes his head slightly. “No one orders me in my own office.”
“Hhn. Have it your way then.” I fling myself at him, and then roll him beneath his desk. “Stay here.”
I dive out and confront the possessed Man of Steel, trying to predict his next move. I’m pleasantly surprised at the out come. Superman falls to his knees, and collapses on his side. I creep over, wary at any new developments. “Superman… Are you alright?”
“NOT SUPERMAN. METALLO!”
An arm shoots out, grabbing my foot, slowly pressing through the reinforced boot and crushing my ankle.
“DIE BATMAN.”
I grab the small bauble from my belt and throw it down at the possessed hero, and a thick cloud of dark smoke covers him, and the solidifies around his body, sapping whatever solar energy he has stored left. The device works! R + D will have a field day! The Metallo screams, shoots out of Superman’s body and moves for Lex, who by now is sitting on his desk, watching smugly.
“KILL LUTHOR! BIRDY… ME TOLD WAS!”
I fall to the floor and spray Superman with a gas that removes the thick black casing, and then grab a grapnel from behind my back. I noticed something when Superman fought the creature… There was brain matter in the composition of its body… It seems to break down when possessing someone, and then reforms when it has its own body… And if I aim the grapnel well enough…
I fire the line, shooting it through the metallic monster and hitting something soft, then watch as it shoots out the other side, mushy pink matter following, and then piercing the wall next to Luthor. “LU- LU-LU-LU-” The mass looses all form, and splashes across the office. Lex smiles.
“Thanks Batman, for returning my property… Oh, and saving my life. Yes. That too.”
Lex presses a button on his desk and puts his hand in his pocket, drawing out a pistol.
“Not that I needed help.”
He cocks it and fires three rounds at Superman, and before I know it, I’m standing in front of the bullets, taking the pain for a man I barely know. Superman shoots his hand up and reaches for me, but as I fall backwards, I realise… I just made a terrible mistake?
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:43:39 GMT -5
“Hey. Bats. Wake the hell up.” I’m slapped awake by a strangely familiar face, and jerk up at the sight of Matches Malone, someone who I thought was… Argh, I look down at my chest and see bandages around my waste, and then look past my feet to see Superman standing in the corner, smiling. “I bought ya’ bat car round to Lex Towers, thought ya’ could use some help gettin’ home. Shame about the lack of seat though, no?”
It’s Alfred.
He’s disguised himself, and with Superman standing there, I realise he doesn’t know my identity. I nod.
“Superman, I’m sorry about what happened.”
“No apologies needed Batman. You saved me from Luthor… And if that creauture was on me any longer, who knows…”
“You would have died, or lost your powers. Solar powered as they are, it fed off them, as you do. I know…”
“Anyway, I need to recharge a bit. Go for a flight. It’s morning, so the sun is out, and if I hurry, I can head to the equator and get some full strength solar goodness.”
“Good luck. And if you ever need my assistance Superman… Don’t hesitate to call.”
“How will you know I’m calling?”
“Bat sense.”
“Right, thanks anyway.”
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:44:05 GMT -5
“Luthor! What have you done?”
He moves at superspeed, lowering the Batman’s body down to the ground, and disarming me with a blast of heat vision. I smile.
“I thought you were still possessed. You were trespassing. You and the Batman were trying to kill me. All manner of reasons.”
“You’re insane Lex!”
“Not really. Take your bat loving friend and get out of here.”
Superman looks me up and down, and picks up his comrade, and slowly floats down the side of building, to god knows where.
“Happerson! Glad you made it! Collect all the residue Metallo. I found it!”
I smile slightly and look out my shattered windows, across my city, my Metropolis.
“So now we know what happens when we mix parts of Superman’s DNA with specially irradiated metal. Genius. Sun sapping intelligent metal devouring metal! Get some tests run. I want Metallo fixed up and proper for future developments…”
“Uh, what about Herren?”
“Do away with him the same way as you did with Rhodes. Send him to the doctor.”
“Yes sir.”
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:44:51 GMT -5
I limp into the hospital ward, and watch as Lois sits in her bed, mumbling angrily to herself. Her eyes light up when she sees me, then darken when she thinks past the last couple of days.
“Missed our dinner then…”
“Not so… I saw some of you… Some of you I didn’t need to see on our first date…”
She blushes slightly, and shakes her head. “I can’t remember much. But I know this… That dolt Kent didn’t even get an interview with you, and I’m stuck in a hospital bed, moping!”
Kent didn’t interview me? So what happened at the hotel? Hmm.
“That’s why I’m here. You can conduct your interview. And I’m guessing your well enough to ask me some questions…”
I smile, and she returns the favour. She picks up a note book by her side and asks away, and I answer as honestly as I can, leaving out certain facts about my… Other life.
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:45:18 GMT -5
“Master Bruce, time to go.” Alfred smiles and nods to Captain Savage, who begins to start up the airplane. Bruce looks down at Clark and Lois, who stand in the front of the massive media crowd and waves slightly.
“I had fun Metropolis! I’ll come back soon!” The crowd cheers and he boards the new private jet, and as it rolls off the runway, Lois nudges Clark in the ribs.
“I’m possessed by a metal devouring creature, and yet I still get the story? Face it, Smallville… You should retire from journalism right now.”
“Yup, Lois, I just suck.”
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Post by Admin on Dec 6, 2005 21:46:25 GMT -5
Next Issue: Genesis of the Bat, Pt. 1
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Post by mockingbird on Jul 28, 2011 11:00:30 GMT -5
To let us know what you think of this issue, please visit the letters page here!
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