A Storm is Coming... [Tag: Superman]

[Pippin]

The cool breeze that gusted briefly down from the Metropolis skyline was refreshing, tousling Hal’s reddish-brown hair lightly as it passed. If he wasn’t here on business, he might have smiled. Unlike Coast City, which was fairly open and often received cool air off the water, Metropolis was cramped and crowded; it’s tall buildings laying a blanket over its lower levels that the moving air above rarely touched, except perhaps during a storm. What an oddly ironic metaphor, Hal thought to himself as he surveyed the city from his perch atop one of the lower buildings of the city. After all, he was a bit out of his element here, and he didn’t want to attract attention to himself just yet. A storm might indeed be coming to Metropolis, perhaps to the nation, if his information had been correct. Something was stirring, and though he couldn’t be sure of what, he suspected that Metropolis would be the start of it. That was why he was here. He had to find out, to gather more information, before any decisive move was made.

His intense gaze wandered over the cityscape, surveying the bustling streets below. All those people, blissfully unaware of the greater game that was being played above their heads. Of course, they weren’t completely unaware. Superman and the rest of the League were fairly common news in these parts; but somehow he doubted they really understood just what the actions of their ‘heroes’ meant, what they risked, what they sacrificed. Hal hoped for their sakes they never had to.

He sighed inwardly, shaking his head and running a gloved hand back through his hair. Now was not the time for such thoughts. He had a job to do, and if he didn’t get going soon, he’d have made the trip for nothing (although he had to admit it was nice to get out of Coast City for a while. He had even flown his own, personal jet here, just to shake things up a bit, and to avoid alerting the general populous to his presence just yet. It had been a long time since he had flown under the power of the familiar machine, and he had almost forgotten how exhilarating it could be. Almost.).

Stepping back from the edge of the building, he tried to plan where his next stop would be. The Daily Planet building loomed not far off, an iconic beacon standing over the city. He couldn’t visit there directly to talk to Clark, after all, that would call undue attention to his secret identity; and besides, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to bring this up to him or anyone else just yet. The only other person he had talked to about it was J'onn (always a good, objective sounding board, Hal found), and he didn’t want to go setting off any alarms just yet. It had been brought to his attention that whatever it was possibly involved something out of Earth’s normal scope, and something like that would likely be in the hands of someone powerful, or at least smart enough to keep it a secret for the time being. At any rate, he felt he was likely to get more answers by starting at the top of Metropolis’ food chain than at the bottom, for it was rare, he found, that general street rabble significantly contributed to something of the magnitude he was contemplating.

But where to start? From what Hal did know of Metropolis, the top of the top seemed to be business moguls (unless you were fortunate enough to have been left a lofty inheritance), and one of the biggest names in the game was LexCorp. Maybe that was the place to start.

[Superman]

Clark had hoped for a quick quiet day today, he was extremely tired by the time he had finished his last article and done a sweep of the city as the much beloved Superman. The man of steel had swept around the city keeping an eye out for anything that was different or suspicious whilst at the same time stopping the regular crimes also. Clark had gone to work looking like crap as Jimmy and the chief had told him and he lied and said he thought he was coming down with something and they left it alone. Clark was currently sitting drinking his coffee when he heard too other reporters talking.

"Did you hear about the guy on the roof?" one said "dressed all in green, it's like he is waiting for someone."

"Or considering which way to jump." the other said Clark's ears pricked up at this and slowly backed away from the room before going down in the lift. Once he got out of site of a security camera outside Clark stripped off his suit and glasses and placed them in a bag that he kept near the daily planet and flew off to look for the man. Reaching a high point in the sky Clark looked around and found the man that had been described easily. It was Hal, wondering what the other member of the justice league could have been doing in Metropolis Clark landed on the roof in his usual stance of both arms crossed over his chest looking passive and interested, a look he had many times as Clark and Superman.

"Hal," he said "you have collected a lot of attention up here, what can I do for you?"

[Pippin]

Usually when so consumed with his own thoughts it was difficult for Hal to notice much of the activity going on around him. In this case, however, it was rather hard to miss. The famed Superman did know how to make an entrance, after all. Though he had sincerely doubted his presence here would have gone unnoticed by the fellow leaguer for the duration of his visit, he had to admit he was slightly surprised to see Clark so soon. He must have been more conspicuous in his actions than he had thought.

His feelings were confirmed as Hal turned to face his companion, adopting a similar stance of his own. “That wasn’t my intention. If I’ve inconvenienced you, I’m sorry.” He spoke briskly, but sincerely. As much as he was hoping to carry out this investigation on his own (and was somewhat disappointed in himself for not being slightly more careful), he knew how frustrating it could be when someone else began meddling in your affairs, and he hoped Clark didn’t feel as though he had been put in that position.

His gaze returned to the horizon for a moment as the wind picked up slightly again, glancing at the LexCorp building and sighing. It appeared his plans would be changing. He returned his attention to the figure before him. Even the man of steel looked a bit tense, and Hal felt a little guilty for having come here unannounced. He must have been busier lately than Hal had guessed. Still, maybe it was best he knew. He would likely be able to help, after all.

He decided on being direct. He often found that was the easiest way to get things accomplished with the fewest headaches later. “Honestly I don’t know yet. I hadn’t planned on contacting you until I knew more. I know you’ve had your hands full out here lately.” He rubbed a hand absently along the back of his neck. “But there are rumors circulating that something’s stirring; something with the potential to cause problems for the League. I don’t know exactly what yet, or even if the rumors can be substantiated, but I’ve been getting some weird energy readings on and off lately. I figured it was worth checking out in person.”

[Superman]

Clark smiled calmly when Hal said he was sorry for inconveniencing him, Clark wasn’t bothered that he had to leave work to go and speak to a fellow league member after all they were a team and Clark was able to slip out of work claiming a fake story and than then rushing off to become the man of steel. Often or not Lois had covered for him and he suspected she knew that he was superman and simply didn't say anything.

“It’s fine Hal,” Clark said assuring the other man “work are very flexible with me so I can slip out if a situation arises that I need to leave.”

As Hal spoke of Clark having his hands full recently the Kryptonian nodded in agreement, there had been a lot more for Clark to do in recent months which had lead to him stepping up Kara’s training so that she could help with the saving of Metropolis, Clark was sure that Lex Luthor had something to do with the increase in crime but of course Clark couldn’t prove it so it was just an unfounded theory that he had. Clark hadn’t heard the rumour that his friend had heard, he hadn’t heard any rumour what so ever which worried Clark, did this mean that the league where usurping him and removing the Kryptonian or was this something that only Hal had heard, he didn't know which it was but it wouldn’t be good for Clark either way.

“I haven’t heard anything here.” Clark said truthfully “So I cannot help you there Hal.”

[Pippin]

Hal’s expression softened slightly and a smirk graced his lips briefly as the other man put him at ease as to his unexpected visit here. That was something he always admired in Clark; his ability to always make time for what mattered, really mattered. He wondered sometimes how he did it, balancing all those demands on his time. He was Superman, after all. But he guessed it wasn’t always as easy as he made it look. Hal knew it wasn’t for him.

The smile flickered away almost as quickly as it had come, however, as his mind was brought back to the matter at hand. So Clark didn’t know anything, and neither did he. Though he hadn’t expected it, he was slightly disappointed Clark hadn’t heard something. At least it could have confirmed his own insights into what might be going on.

He nodded as Clark relayed that information. Whatever or whoever was the source of the concern was keeping it well hidden then. “I’m going to try to find out as much as I can,” he started, “With your permission, of course. I was thinking of starting with the LexCorp building. What little information I have heard hasn’t been very telling, but if it’s on the scale where we should be concerned, I would imagine it would have to come from somewhere pretty big. Anything different been happening there lately?”

[Superman]

"Not that i have heard of," Clark said shaking his head "I can't really get into Lexcorp without attracting attention to myself as Clark or Superman, I would suggest not going alone, maybe taking Kara with you or one of the others."

Clark knew that there was something big moving now, he didn't know what but he didn't like it, plus it all seemed to be rooted to him which was never a good thing at all, after all even superman was killable.

"Now what exactly do you know?" he asked