001 - First Article - Video (post-sirens)
[The brunette on the video sports quite a few cuts and bruises; it looks like someone didn’t take her first night out seriously enough. From the scene behind her, she’s in the shelter-dugout, for those who would recognize it.] Okay, newsflash of the hour: humans totally have parental instincts coded into them, and it sucks
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However, then the door opens, the lights flick off--and before her brain entirely processes that familiar rush of air, she shrieks slightly and jumps, dropping her NV as she does. It means there's still faint light, but not much, as she whirls around and blinks, trying to peer into the gloom.]
OKAY, new rule, whatever the hell you are you freaking say something before opening the door that isn't supposed to just open on its own like some sort of--
[And then her brain catches up--because, really her mouth just sometimes operates before the rest of her. And Lois just stops, staring, trying desperately to make out... something. Some feature of his face, the symbol on his chest--but unlike the Blur's latest ( ... )
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I introduced myself to Snow on July 4th. She was insistent about knowing my name, so I indulged her. And uh... Yeah, Bruce.
[An awkward laugh.]
I'm going to have to save the Bruce explanation for another day--or he can explain it. Actually it would probably be better if he explained it.
Kara is different here. She's not the same as the Kara that we know, but she's also not that different, if that makes sense. I guess it's a bit like me. To all intents and purposes I'm the same as her Kal, I'm just different because all of my experiences are different. Like how in those 'Choose Your Own Adventures' books you always end up dying the exact same way, no matter the different path you take.
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And-- hold up. Batman? You mean those rumors of a vigilante in Gotham we've been hearing? [She leans forward, eagerly. Oh look, someone's got a scent.] Superpowered, or just damn good at scaring the crap out of mooks?
[Lois listens as he explains the alternate universes, and then nods slowly. It makes a little sense to her, but then, on the one hand she has some info from before, and on the other...
She spoke to Bruce.]
Same Choose Your Own History path as Bruce, or is there another one on top of that? And don't think you're avoiding that topic forever.
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I think Kara's from the same world. A lot of their story seems to match, and they know all the same people. Actually...we know a lot of the same people, just under different circumstances. But don't ask about Chloe, she doesn't exist.
[The slightest, puzzled shrug. How could someone so important to him just not exist?]
What else? Uh... The Joker, and a guy named Black Mask. Stay away from them. Especially the Joker, he knows who I am, and who you are. He's kidnapped you before.
[You know how he says that like it happens all the time, Lois? Yeah.]
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[It's said just to tease him. She doesn't even consider that he might have insecurities to play off of.]
No Chloe? That's... odd. Huh.
--Smallville, if I'm doing my job half right in this other world, everyone ought to know who I am. I've been kidnapped before. What makes Joker any worse?
[It'll take an experience or two for Lois to really take the Gotham City Rogues Gallery seriously.]
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Funny. I wouldn't know, he wears a cowl. With pointy ears.
[Well that one's a lie.]
It's not that funny.
[Serious. Serious business. The Joker was serious, and she had to know that. It had to be reenforced.]
Everything he does it just part of the joke, depending on how he'd feeling from one minute to the next. Don't think he's insane, he's not. He's a genius, and his only parallel is Batman himself.
He thinks dismembering people and feeding them to hyaenas is funny.
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[Unimpressed Lois is... highly unimpressed.
Her eyes widen at that description, and she bites her lip. Okay, wow then, Gotham's got some serious crazies. But his description leaves her... puzzled, to say the least.]
Lemme just... take a wild guess at something here, 'kay, 'cause this is what villains with a theme always do. He keeps challenging Batman, maybe sometimes actually gets somewhere, but mostly he loses and keeps trying expecting something to go differently.
Sorry, Smallville, but that with the feeding-people-to-laughing-dog-things? I'll accept he's a genius if you say so. He's also frickin' insane.
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[He grins.]
It's a bit more threatening than sunglasses and a hood, anyway.
The thing is, Lois, he doesn't mind losing. It's sort of the point. In his opinion the funniest thing would be to make a hero break their moral code, and kill him. And I--
[He'd seen Bruce's face, his anger when Carrie had been hurt, and he imagined how it would be if it had been Lois suspended like that--if Joker had almost killed her, and wondered whether he'd have been able to hold back.
He doubted himself enough to think that he might.]
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[She rolls her eyes.
But Lois is watching his face, and recognizes that look. It's the 'brooding-in-the-loft' expression that makes most people leave him alone, and she's done it before, too. Not this time, though.
And Lois trusts him. Trusts him more than anyone in the world, more than she thought possible. She swings her legs off the couch, walks up to him, laying her coffee on the counter as she does, and gently touches his face.
She knows he wouldn't ever fall like that.]
If you're trying to convince me he's a sane criminal genius, you're being pretty counterproductive.
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The noisy world outside pinpoints down to just her, just her heartbeat, and he visibly relaxes, closing his eyes, turning his head toward her palm.
It's been so hard, Lois, and he's been so, so lost sometimes. He suddenly feels tired, like he's allowed to be, finally, and he knows he shouldn't, that he has to be strong for her, but it's such a relief. He opens his eyes again, looking back up at her.]
You're really here, aren't you? It's not my imagination?
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Of all things, this is the last Lois expected. And for a moment, she's at a loss for what to do. She's never been good at comfort, but clearly he needs it--and she wonders, suddenly, if he's got anyone he can just relax and be nothing but Clark around.
Her hand slides up into his hair as she wraps her other arm around his neck and buries her face in his shoulder. Her voice is soft, as reassuring as she can manage. She's not sure she's supposed to be the reassuring one here--she just got here, she has no idea what's going on--but... he needs her. Frankly, nothing else matters right now except to be there, to hold him, and try to be whatever it is he needs her to be.]
I'm here, Clark. I'm here.
[She won't lie and say it'll be okay. How the hell should she know if it'll be okay or not?]
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The smell of her, and her warmth, her breath on his neck, her hand in his hair.
Lois.
He hoped that somehow he was supporting her to, that she needed this as much as he did. He closed his eyes tightly, holding her just a little closer.]
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