The rooftop of the Daily Planet was quiet except for the sound of wind moving between the buildings of Metropolis.
Lois Lane stood near the edge with a cameraman behind her adjusting equipment while occasionally looking around the sky with growing doubt.
"Miss Lane," he said carefully, "are we absolutely sure he's coming?"
Lois didn't look worried at all.
"He'll come," she replied confidently.
Technically, Superman had never actually promised her an interview. Clark mostly looked terrified every time she brought it up.
But Lois trusted her instincts.
And something told her Superman wouldn't ignore this.
Then the wind shifted.
The cameraman suddenly looked upward as a red cape appeared against the night sky.
His eyes widened immediately.
Superman descended slowly onto the rooftop, boots touching the concrete with barely a sound while the cape settled behind him in the wind.
The cameraman looked completely stunned that this was actually happening.
Lois, meanwhile, just smiled slightly.
"Superman," she said, "you came."
Clark looked at her for a moment like the outcome should have been obvious.
"You didn't really leave me much choice," he admitted.
Lois almost smiled wider hearing that.
Even dressed like this, Clark still sounded too honest sometimes.
The cameraman hurried to position the equipment while Lois stepped forward slightly, her expression becoming more professional now.
"Alright then," she said. "Let's start simple."
Superman nodded once.
Lois studied him carefully for a second before asking the question the entire world wanted answered.
"Who are you?"
Superman stayed silent briefly, the wind moving the cape behind him while the lights of Metropolis stretched below.
"I'm someone trying to help," he said finally.
Lois narrowed her eyes slightly. "That's not exactly an answer."
A faint smile touched his face. "It's the only one I can give right now."
"Then where did you come from?"
Clark looked away toward the city for a second before answering more quietly.
"Far away."
Lois could tell immediately he was avoiding specifics on purpose.
"People are afraid of you," she said. "After what happened in Metropolis, they don't know what you are."
Superman nodded once. "I understand that."
"So why reveal yourself at all?"
His expression became more serious after that question.
"Because hiding while people died didn't feel right."
The answer came naturally, without sounding rehearsed.
"Are you going to stay?" she asked eventually.
"As long as people need help."
Lois studied him carefully for another moment before continuing. She had been waiting to ask this question the entire interview.
"Then what about the other one?" she asked. "The entire world is talking about him too."
Superman's expression shifted slightly. He already knew who she meant before she said the name.
"Reaper," Lois continued seriously. "During the invasion he practically ripped through Kryptonian machines like they were nothing, and after that he just disappeared."
Her eyes narrowed slightly with curiosity.
"People are wondering if he's another alien like you. Is he from your planet too?"
For the first time since arriving on the rooftop, Superman genuinely hesitated before answering.
"Honestly… I don't know," he admitted.
Lois looked surprised by the answer because she clearly expected Superman to know more than anyone else.
"You don't?" she repeated.
Clark shook his head slowly while looking out across the city again. "He's mysterious. He appeared during the invasion, helped stop it, and disappeared afterward."
"Even I'm not completely sure what he is," Superman admitted quietly.
Lois immediately wanted to ask more questions after hearing that answer, but Clark could already tell where the conversation was going.
A faint smile appeared on his face before he stepped backward toward the edge of the rooftop.
"That's enough questions for today, Miss Lane."
"Wait, Superman—"
Before she could continue, he launched into the sky, vanishing into the clouds above Metropolis in seconds while the cameraman stared upward in disbelief at what had just become the biggest interview in modern history.
Lois crossed her arms afterward while still looking at the empty sky.
"He absolutely does that intentionally," she muttered under her breath.
***
At the same time, deep beneath a hidden LexCorp research facility, Lex Luthor stood in front of several holographic displays showing footage of Superman during the Metropolis invasion.
Engineers and scientists moved around him while assembling a massive mechanized combat suit suspended in the center of the laboratory. Every screen showed analysis reports, energy readings, and combat projections related to Kryptonian physiology.
Lex watched the footage silently with his hands behind his back.
"To defeat an enemy," he said calmly, "you first need to understand them."
That was the problem currently frustrating him.
Superman's existence gave him almost nothing concrete to study. Every Kryptonian corpse from the invasion had disappeared before LexCorp could secure samples for research.
There were no bodies, no tissue, no blood, not even damaged armor fragments left behind in Metropolis.
Someone had cleaned the battlefield thoroughly.
Of course, if Daniel heard this conversation, he would immediately call Lex an idiot for expecting otherwise.
There was no chance Daniel would leave Kryptonian remains lying around in a universe where mad scientists could create monsters like Doomsday using alien DNA.
Absolutely not.
"If direct research isn't possible," he continued calmly, "then public pressure becomes the next best weapon."
Fear was easy to create. Humanity already feared things stronger than themselves naturally. Lex simply needed to guide that fear properly while creating opportunities to study Superman more closely.
And eventually…
Obtain Kryptonian DNA personally.
*****
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