"Found it."
Watching Gideon's display resolve into a map with a marked location, Jack Kadere rolled off Lois Lane's lap and sat up.
"Keep working on your article. I'm stepping out."
"That's... the Indian Ocean? How are you going to get somewhere that far?" Lois had traveled extensively, and even from a brief glance she recognized the coordinates.
"Run."
"Run there?"
Lois thought he was joking—until yellow lightning crackled around him and he vanished. Her mouth fell open.
Jack followed Gideon's map across the ocean surface, lightning trailing behind him, kicking up spray and whitecaps in his wake.
"Right here."
He stopped abruptly, tapped his wristband to deploy his Iron-Man suit, and dove straight down.
The surface was clear, but as he descended the water darkened around him. Schools of fish drifted past in the gloom, the whole descent feeling like sinking through some vast aquarium.
On the ocean floor, half-buried stones jutted from silt and sand. Jack brushed one clean. An eerie green glow pulsed from within.
Kryptonite.
"Substantial." He chuckled and dismissed the suit. Instantly, crushing pressure closed in from all sides.
He activated elemental control. The seawater recoiled, churning away to form a vacuum pocket around him. Then he triggered a shockwave beneath the Kryptonite. A wormhole spiraled open like storm clouds and swallowed the glowing stone, depositing it directly into the villa in Central City.
"Gideon, have them store these properly."
"Understood."
Jack walked the ocean floor. Wherever he moved, the water pulled back. Piece by piece, Kryptonite that had been buried vanished into wormholes.
After half an hour of work, he'd cleared the deposit entirely. He reactivated the battle suit and rocketed upward.
Boom!
He burst through the surface, got his bearings, and accelerated into the sky.
About an hour later, Jack touched down outside Lois Lane's apartment. The moment his suit retracted, he engaged the Speed Force and phased through the wall.
Inside, Lois had just posted her finished article—and signed her name to it.
She knew the consequences. But if even half of this was true, Superman would come looking for her. Then she'd know for certain whether aliens existed.
"Sent it?" Jack appeared behind her.
Lois jumped, clutching her chest. "You—you're back already?"
He nodded, leaned over her shoulder, and scanned the article on her screen. He had to admit, Lois Lane earned her reputation. She'd taken dry intelligence and turned it into something that read like a thriller.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" she asked.
"Of course."
Whether more Kryptonite would surface eventually remained uncertain, but for now the vast majority of it was in his possession.
Jack walked over and dropped onto the sofa. Now he just had to wait for the show to start.
"Wait—the article's gone."
Lois stared at her screen. The post that had been live moments ago had vanished. She refreshed. The entire website was down.
"A.R.G.U.S., probably." Jack smirked.
Only A.R.G.U.S. monitored alien-related matters this closely. Given the level of detail Lois had published, they'd have flagged it immediately. Deleting and blocking was standard procedure.
Sure enough, Jack's phone rang moments later.
Amanda Waller.
"Was it you who fed Lois Lane information about the Kryptonian?" She didn't waste time on pleasantries.
"That's right."
"How could you leak intelligence this sensitive to a reporter instead of—"
"Shh." Jack cut her off. "Unlock the article. Put it back up."
"Do you have any idea how much panic this will cause?" Waller's voice rose.
"I'm waiting for him to come."
Silence on the other end. Then: "You're certain?"
Click.
Jack hung up.
Waller stared at the dead line for a long moment. Finally she spoke, her voice low: "Restore the article. Find Lois Lane's address. Initiate top-level response protocols."
---
The website came back online. The article reappeared.
Within minutes, clicks and comments multiplied. Lois Lane carried enough name recognition that reposts spread across every platform. Before long, the entire internet was buzzing about aliens, Kryptonians, Superman.
Lois set her laptop on the gold coffee table, scrolling through reactions while chatting with Jack. With nothing better to do, he stretched out and laid his head in her lap again, offering occasional responses between long silences.
His conversational skills were terrible, but Lois tolerated it. She wanted more of the story. And at least he was behaving himself, just lying there...
"What do you think you're doing?" She shoved her hands against her chest and glared down at him.
"Bored." Jack shrugged—and pushed a thread of mental control into her mind.
Lois's expression flickered. Then, moving with calm precision, she reached behind her back and unhooked her bra, slipped it out through her sleeve the way women do, and tossed it aside. She sat perfectly still, hands folded in her lap.
Jack slid his hand under her blouse and groped her freely.
Having something to occupy his attention made the time pass faster. He watched night settle over the city, watched lights flicker on in distant towers—then sat up abruptly.
"He's here."
He released the mental control. Lois snapped back to herself instantly, fury flashing across her face, but Jack was already walking toward the window.
Outside.
Beneath the night sky.
A figure hovered in midair.
Blue suit stretched tight over the Man of Steel. Red cape rippling in the wind.
Superman.
"That's—that's him?" Lois moved to the window, staring. "That's Superman?"
"Yeah." Jack frowned, studying the figure. "But something's off." He locked eyes with Superman through the glass. "Ah. The red briefs are missing."
"What kind of Superman doesn't wear his underwear on the outside?"
---