One Month Later...

The sunlight crept up from the window, slowly going over Clark’s eyes and causing him to stir in his sleep. Waking up in bed with a wince and snorting out a light cough, Clark rolled over to expect Lois by his side for him to drape his arm over affectionately, instead he found nothing there, the other side of the bed was cold and empty for quite some time now. Getting up, he rubbed the sore spots in his eyes and got up to get cleaned and dressed for the day, the alarm clock by the bed told him he had about 20 minutes before his shift began, and he couldn’t keep explaining why he was late for a third time for work. Then again if they knew what he was doing every OTHER hour of the day, they’d probably have given him some sick days to help him out.

It had been a month since Superman was saved by his wife at the kryptonite weapons facility, or more specifically what his wife was turning into. After regaining his strength from the kryptonite poisoning, he tried looking for her all over the state, but couldn’t find her. All he had to go on was the damage she left in her wake attacking Lexcorp tower and that Luthor himself was long gone, claiming a personal sabbatical for the press to report. He had no idea where she was… But he knew where she had been last. Turning on the television to show the global news, Clark brewed himself some coffee as he listened to the report in the living room.

“A string of burglaries captured the attention of those living in Northern Marseilles in France yesterday. three jewelry stores had been torn open as if by heavy machinery to get inside. Strangely, the only reported missing items were a pair of earrings, a wedding ring and a broach respectively from each store, their value as the shop keepers explained were almost negligible, leading to quite the mystery over the reason for such excessive property damage just to obtain…”

“It has been one week and the local authorities in the western prospect of Lanzhou China are still baffled at the destruction of an art collector’s home, the only item missing being a small red crystal called the star-rose which had stories of it falling from the sky some 300 years…”

Translators furiously tried to keep up with several witnesses from Chili, explaining a testimony of a monster with a woman’s face ransacking a uranium mine, despite the number of damages, there were no casualties. “It… Came from… The sky like… A black devil… Tearing apart… The mining equipment like toys… Roared out light and fire…” Eyewitnesses had provided sketches of the creature, showing what looked like some pitch-black dragon woman breathing green fire from her mouth.

Sipping from his coffee, Clark worried about her. When he found her last, she seemed… Delirious, ****, it made him wonder if consuming the radioactive material had more than just a physical effect on her. He needed to find her, to help her, but for now she seemed just as capable of being as fast as he was travelling the globe as he was. Checking the clock on the wall, he shook his head and put the empty mug on the counter before disappearing with a whoosh of air out the window of his apartment balcony to head to the Daily Planet.

A minute later, Clark fumbled through the door of the writer’s floor of where he worked, pretending to lose track of his footing as he adjusted his glasses and darted his way past one assistance after the other who marched past him with a bundle of papers in hand or a tray of drinks. Perry could be heard from his office at the far end of the floor barking orders and demanding another tray of doughnuts for the morning rat race. “Hey everyone, anything going on in Metropolis lately I’ve missed?”

“Morning Clark. Hey, you’re not late this morning.” Snarked Steve Lombard, combing his fingers through his feathered red hair. The Planet’s Sports editor leaned back in his chair to see the man stop at his own desk and carefully place his things near his monitor. “There’s a game between Metropolis and Phili later today, I’m gonna see if I can get some commentaries from the players… And the cheerleaders.”

Rolling his eyes, Clark sat at his desk and opened his computer to check for updates, casting a wistful look over to Lois’s empty desk across from his. “Well good luck to you Steve, just remember to keep your eye on the bat.”

“It’s ‘keep your eye on the BALL’ Clark, geez, no wonder you never got into sprots.”

“Come on Steve, go easy on the big lug.” Kat Grant spoke up as she made her way between the two desks with her laptop bag in hand as she made to her own desk. “He was probably too busy working the farm to toss a football back then.”

“Oh ha ha…” Smiling back at the woman winking back at him from her desk, Clark started going over his emails, seeing more notes of a strange creature spotted across the globe stealing rare florescent stones. But Clark knew better. They weren’t just some random rocks, they were kryptonite. All the kryptonite Luthor had managed to get his hands on were gone now, likely all consumed by his wife, and now she was hunting for the last scrapes she could get her hands on. Checking the dates of each event and supposed attack, he found the time between each one was getting longer. She was running out of ‘food’, which meant that sooner or later she was going to starve.

Leaning back in his chair, Clark crossed his arms and scratched at his chin in thought. “There has to be a way of saving her from herself before things became dire, but how?”

“Who you talking to Mr. Kent?”

Blinking and looking up from his seat, Clark found Jimmy juggling a couple of trays of coffee in his hands, paused where he was to offer coffee to Steve and Kat at their desks. “Oh, good morning, Jimmy. On a coffee run again?”

“Yeah… I lost the coin toss from Steve.”

“Should have brought your own coin Jimmy!” Called out Steve, sipping from his coffee and sputtering when he realised it was too hot.

“Any word from Mrs. Lane Mr. Kent?”

Looking away and drumming his fingers at the desk, Clark tried to be tactful to the young man as he came up with an answer. “Well… Last I checked, her paid leave is about done, but she’s had some things she needed to take care of first.”

Accepting the answer, Jimmy shrugged and made a face of thought before making his way to the next office desk ahead of him. “Well, tell her we miss her, hope she’s doing well.”

“Yes… Thanks Jimmy, I’ll let her…”

An explosion of glass bursting inward onto the floor and causing everyone to duck and scatter when a massive object crashed through, bulldozing through desks and furniture, and stopped at the center of the editing room, ceasing its momentum by raking its talons against the tiled floor and leaving deep gouges in its wake. A huge saurian tail swiped and unhinged an office cubicle wall off its moorings to either side of the monster and caused several editors to cry out and flee or be caught in its strike range. Standing to its full height and tossing a destroyed desk out of its way, everyone screamed and panicked when it stood so tall its horned head bumped the ceiling and growled in frustration, punching the ceiling, and causing plaster and brickwork to rain down over its shoulders and back. The act causing the light fixtures to spark and sputter, leaving the only source of light being the sunlight from the shattered windows and the sickly green glow from the creature’s body. Like fine cracks in its smooth scaled skin, streaks of florescent green could be seen accentuating its powerful frame and muscles.

A low growl like that of a crocodile or bear made everyone shiver when it darted its horned head to look over across the editor’s floor and back the other way. It’s green glowing eyes scanning the entire area while sniffing the air like a predator. Looking up from his hiding place behind his upturned desk, Clark looked up to the black scaled giantess who finally turned her attention down to him and smiled a fanged grin, where more green light shone from her mouth. Her green glowing eyes were wild with hunger and delirium, licking her fanged lips as she took on a sultrier pose by tilting her hip and resting a claw at her thigh, while her other claw idly traced down the cleavage of her breasts.

“Well now, I FOUND you… My tasty little morsel…