Lois Lane

Superman saving my life changed everything. First off, I knew he was real now and not just a figment of Ron Troupe’s imagination, but I also knew he was here to help. I could see it in his eyes. I only wished I knew how to get ahold of him, there was so much that I wanted to still ask him. Thankfully, I would get the chance sooner than I thought.

After leaving my dinner with Clark, the night of my article on Superman, I took a cab back home. I went out to my porch where I often go to think and reflect. However, my porch was not quite as empty as I would have thought, Superman was there waiting for me.

“Sorry, Miss Lane I don’t mean to intrude but I figured that you would have questions and I would like to answer them.” He said it with a posture that showed respect but demanded attention. He certainly was taller than Clark was, at least a few inches taller.

“Oh, its…”, I was still shocked he was here, “its fine, no apology necessary. You are correct, I do have lots of questions. But I was hoping I could get them answered on a live broadcast, if that’s not too much to ask. ”

“Of course, Miss Lane. I have nothing to hide, when would like to do it?”

“I can schedule a segment for tomorrow morning, that way we can air it tomorrow night.”

“That sounds great, Miss Lane. I’ll be off then,” he said as he started to lift off the ground, “Buh-bye now.”

The next morning was a flurry of activity as everyone at the Planet raced to get ready. The chief had called this interview, “the greatest interview since God talked to Moses.” I was already to go, but I was looking for Clark, because I wanted him to be in there with him, but he was nowhere to be found, he must be out on a story.

Superman arrived shortly and informed us that he would stay as long as he could, but if he was needed elsewhere, he would need to leave. I agreed and then we opened the interview with a welcome viewers and got right into it.

“Superman, thanks for joining us today.”

“I’m happy to be here”, he said smiling with that contagious smile of his.

“As you know, rumors of your existence have been circulating since you first arrived, the earliest rumor going back 4 months. Why now have you chosen to make yourself known publicly?”

“Well, Ms. Lane you could say I was waiting for the right reporter. But my intention was never to obscure my identity, My first few months I just spent dealing with more low time stuff that didn’t require much of a direct presence”, he explained.

“Could you give us an example?”

“Well, the first thing I did in Metropolis was to help a young girl get her cat out of her tree. I heard that she had told her mother and friends but none of them believed her. Also, when I was quite new in Metropolis, I helped stop a bank robbery at First Metropolitan Bank at superspeed, so no one saw me but I’m sure the cops were confused. But when a beautiful reporter falls from her helicopter that had crashed, and she is stopped from falling people tend to notice.”

“Makes sense, well another question that is being asked is if you have spent your whole life here.”

“In Metropolis, only a short time, but I have spent my entire life here on Earth”, he said.

“So, you were born on Earth.”

“Actually no, I was born on a planet called Krypton. Shortly after my birth, the planet was destroyed by the planet’s core erupting. I was saved from the death of my people by way of a baby rocket, that landed me here on Earth. I was raised the same way as anyone on Earth is with loving parents who taught me good from bad, right from wrong, and truth from lies.”

“And where would it be that you crashed, the assumption is that it was in the United States.” I asked him, probing further into his backstory.

“I am not ready to reveal that just yet but don’t think because I speak English, I'm American, <Ahantu hose birashoboka>. That means anywhere is possible in Kinyarwanda. At a young age I wanted to learn more about the world, so I traveled the world and learned their languages.”

“So, is one of your powers, multi-lingual.”

“I do believe I learn and retain things better because of my abilities, but everything I can speak I learned from studying.”

“How many languages can you speak?” I asked skeptically.

“All of them, at least I think all of them that I know of.”

“Well, Superman having traveled to so many countries and different cultures, what guides you. What provides your moral compass?”

“I have always just wanted to do good and help where I am needed. To uphold truth and justice.”

“And the American Way?”

Superman chuckled, “I think someone wants me to admit I am from the States.”

Right then, my mic started to give off bad feedback, so we cut, and I went to get my mic fixed. Jimmy was standing on the sidelines watching while I was getting my mic fixed. “Gee Miss Lane, I think Superman’s into you. He keeps grinning at you like a boy with a schoolgirl crush. ”

“Jimmy, come on its Superman. That’s literally his whole schtick.” I said brushing it off.

“Just go for it, Lois. I mean there is some serious chem…”

I cut him off, “Jimmy.”

“Serious chemistry.”

“Jimmy. I can’t go after Superman because I like Clark. I mean Superman is super but he’s not Clark.”

“Uh Superman is looking at us right now,” Jimmy said, “he doesn’t happen to have super hearing, does he?”

“Oh no he does, he most certainly does.” I said my flushed red but given the okay to return back to the set.

I sat down next to Superman and before we started, “I’m sorry. That was unprofessional.”

“Don’t worry. He’s a lucky man.” He smiled like he knew the answer to a question that nobody else knew, as the camera rolled, and they called action.

“Circling back to how we started our conversation, about staying obscure or under the radar. As someone who was once viewed as an urban myth, what do you have to say about the mythic bat vigilante that is preying on criminals in Gotham?”

“I first off want to say that I understand staying under the radar. If you look hard, you can find reports all over the world that talk about a flying man saving them. At that moment, I wasn’t ready to show myself to the world. I still had to become the man I am today, but I came to Metropolis to help others and be a beacon for hope. It all comes down to a simple saying my father had, ‘Sunlight is the best disinfectant’ he would always say.”

Superman paused after that sentence like he was listening to something. Then suddenly he got up and excused himself. In a whoosh, he was gone, and I was left wondering what I was supposed to do with the 30 minutes of airtime we had left.