"Okay, okay, okay." "So barring any further bouts of amnesia..." " Or shrinking." " Or cloning or kryptonite or time travel or voodoo, I say we get married sooner rather than later." "Me too." "I just have to wait long enough for my mother to recover from our last wedding." "Lois, I'd like to get married this century, okay?" "Here's the research on that subway project." "That was fast." "I just asked for it yesterday." " I stayed late." " Well, for that you deserve a doughnut." "Not the banana cream." "The Chief will kill me." "Okay." "But, here, you can have mine." " Jimmy." " I gotta go." "I know I'm sort of new here..." "Well, I'm not that new, I've been here for a month." "But do you take story suggestions from someone else?" " Yeah, if it's a good idea." " Well, I was thinking there's so much bad news, what if you did a series on people who make personal sacrifices for the good of society?" "Like astronauts." " Or medical missionaries." " Or Superman." "Exactly." "What really drives him or people like him." " I'd say it's something..." " All right, turn those things up." "They're about to christen the space station." "And in just five minutes, at 9:00 Eastern Standard Time we'll take you live to the opening ceremonies of the United Nations Space Station." "Home to over 100 orbiting scientists and astronauts the space station is led by Commander Bob Rosakas." "Rosakas by the way, is on his 11th space mission." "Joining him in the command module is veteran astronaut Captain Tim Lanier who last month sang "Happy Birthday" from space to his daughter Debbie Jo." "Just one moment, please." "I'm..." "Apparently there has been some kind of technical difficulty." "The space station's thrusters have misfired and are driving the space station towards the Earth's atmosphere where the space station will burn up if reentry cannot be prevented." "Mission Control is in contact with the station." "But so far they are unable to ascertain the reasons for the station's thrusters firing." "Hey, Jurgens, get me Binder in Houston." "Swan, I wanna talk to our stringer on the Cape now." "Lois, Clark?" " I'm already writing." " I'm gonna try to call my friend at NASA." "Oh, boy." "If only we had Superman's telephone number." "So far, the crew has not been able to shut down the engines." "Mission Control now estimates that the friction of the Earth's atmosphere will cause disintegration of this station to commence in approximately one minute." "Breaking news just in." "Mission Control is saying the space station has turned around." "Superman seized the ship and returned it to orbit." "The Man of Steel reportedly..." "Did I miss anything?" "I heard cheering." "Superman saved the space station." "Oh, man, he was like a fly on the windshield of a car." "Except this time, the fly stopped the car:" "Lois, Clark, I want everything you got on this story." "I wanna know exactly why a $64-billion space station tried to turn itself into a charcoal briquette." "I want it by 1 because that's when I got a car coming to pick Jimmy and me up and nobody is gonna interfere with my fishing trip." "You got it?" "Nobody." "See you." "You okay?" "That was one of the toughest things I've ever done." "I almost didn't stop it." "But you did, that's the important thing." "So STAR Labs?" "Absolutely." "Hey, I wanted to say, if you need any research for your story just let me know." " Thanks, Sarah." "We will." " Okay." "I think somebody has a crush on somebody." " But I'm an engaged man." " All the more tempting." " Somebody else isn't jealous, are they?" " Not in the least." "We're definitely gonna have to work on that." "Well, maybe I need some private instruction." "Well, you know, it could be rigorous and intensive." "No pain, no gain." "What do you say we start now?" "Seconds before the main thrusters ignited the station received a very brief tight-beam microwave transmission." "It sent in a computer code that overrode the automatic controls and fired the thrusters." "Do we know where the transmission came from?" "Don't touch that!" " Sorry." " I'm measuring the electron flow along the plasma wake as the laser passes through two different gases." "Plasma wake." "That's it!" " Dr. Klein?" " Caution." "Mad scientist at work." "No matter how brief it was, the microwave beam must have left a trail of agitated molecules along its path." "I'd say something was agitated." "Agitation means heat." "Therefore, by using the infrared detectors on some low-orbiting satellites we should be able to identify and backtrack down the column of heated molecules to its source." " Gotcha!" " I don't see anything." "I'm switching over to NIA spy satellite." "We'll get real-time photos now that I've locked in on the molecules." "A spy satellite?" "You can do that?" "The name is Klein, Bernard Klein." "You know, like James Bond." ""Bond, James Bond."" " Yeah." "Yeah, that's..." " We were just teasing." " That was really very good." " Yeah." "Here we go." "Let's see." "Eastern Seaboard." "Looks like New Troy." "There's the river." "Charlotte Drive." "Looks like it came from right here in Metropolis." "Of course." "Where else would it be?" "Every villain in the universe seems to operate out of Metropolis." "For once, I just wish we could have a villain in Maui or Aspen or Monte Carlo." " How accurate is this?" " Plus or minus six feet." "I'd say that's close enough." "Thanks, doc." " It's a nice little yard." " Yeah." "It's cute." "Nice little fence." "And I like the driveway too." "I like the latticework around the porch." "I've always sort of liked this style of a house." "Yeah, it's pretty great." "Definitely the kind of place I could go for." "Me too." "Let's try around back." "Okay." "Well, we know that this sent the signal." "But where's the device that the signal came from?" "Can I help you?" "Yes." "We were just looking at the house." "We saw the sign, thought we'd stop." "Well, you found a good one." "I'm Dave Miller." "Lois Lane." "This is my fiance, Clark Kent." " Is this something you'd be interested in?" " Yes." "Actually, it's sort of our dream house." "And we love the neighborhood but this morning around five to 9, we were driving by and we saw some..." " Strange people." " Yeah." "Sort of hanging around." " Wondered if you happened to see them?" " No, I've only seen my clients." "They're an elderly couple in their 60s." "This is a safe neighborhood." "I can give you the listing agent's name." " So you don't handle this house?" " No, I represent some buyers." " I'd be happy to show you my listings." " Oh, no." "We're really just getting started." "I understand." "Well, don't hesitate to call." "At Century 22, we bring your future to you." " I'll just be a second." " Right." "Okay." "Thanks." "The UN is in an uproar." "They canceled their conference to deal with the space station." "No terrorist group has claimed responsibility." "And the NIA thinks it's a lone gunman." "Great." "What's next, the Eiffel Tower?" "The Parthenon?" "It takes one single lunatic to bring everything crashing down." " Yeah." "Not unlike our wedding." " No kidding." "You know, for our next wedding, maybe we should do something different." "I was thinking we could just elope." " Elope?" " Yeah." "It would be fun." "Intimate, less complicated." "Sort of a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing." "Be romantic." "Just you and me and a few friends, our parents." "Amiable passerby." "Mariachi band." "What?" "What are you looking at?" "You." "Just sitting here wondering what my life would've been like if I'd have never met you." "Yeah." "If you never left Smallville." "Smallville?" "What if I never left Krypton?" "You probably have parents there with their heart set on a daughter-in-law from Jupiter." "How'd you know about her?" "I bet they really would've liked you." "Jor-El and Lara." "Do you think about them much?" "Sometimes." "But that is in my past." "What's in my future is us." "Okay." "Well, go find your fake bug on a hook and let's get out of here." ""Fake bug on a hook"?" "This is my lucky fly." "Jimmy's going fishing and I said I'd lend it to him but I can't remember where I put it." "I looked for it this morning and..." "Here it is." "My dad gave this to me when I was 7." "It never misses." "Looks like the moths didn't miss it either." "Man, I love this fly." "Come on." "I'll buy you a new one on our honeymoon." "Thank you very much." "Are you alone, or are you having another doughnut?" "I'm alone." "Did they find it?" "No." "And it was super obvious, a child of 2 could've discovered it." "Perhaps we should've laid down breadcrumbs or a neon sign or a large..." "Ching, don't start." "Why are you so protective?" " Wait, do I detect admiration?" " Not at all." "Wait." "I sense..." "You're attracted to how tight his clothing is across the muscles of his posterior." "No, I'm not." " I was thinking about Phase Two." " Is that what they call it?" "Let's just continue as planned, shall we?" "It should be interesting to see Superman try to survive this." "So we've got the satellite dish but no transmitter." "And no suspects." "Off the lamp." "It can't be Lame Brain or the Prankster or Tempus..." "Because they're all in jail." "Off the doorframe with a backflip." " And Lex and Bad Brain are dead." " Also correct." "Off the water bottle, off the coat rack in the cup." "You could miss one once in a while." "Guys?" "Dr. Klein's on line three." "Here is all I've found on companies involved with microwave technology." "Well, that was quick." "I knew it was important, so I moved you to the top of the list." " Thanks, Sarah." " Okay." " Is she seeing anyone?" " We would be the last ones to know." " You call yourselves reporters?" " Don't you have a limo to catch?" "Hey, some things are more important than trout." "Like your phone call." "Sorry to keep you waiting, Dr. Klein." "I just finished deciphering the last of the computer code sent to the space station." "It was interesting, the encryption was in multiples of the wavelength of..." " Dr. Klein." " Right." "Okay." "To the point." "If Superman wasn't able to save the space station the main thrusters were programmed to stop and the altitude thrusters would've fired anyway." "The space station would've saved itself." "So you mean there was never any real danger?" " Exactly." " But why program it to put itself in jeopardy and then rescue itself?" "That's the $64-billion question." "Thanks, Dr. Klein." "Maybe that real-estate guy didn't tell us everything." " What was his name?" " Dave Miller." "Hey, never let it be said that I don't pull my weight in this relationship." "Hello, may I speak to Dave Miller, please." "Yeah." "He's one of your brokers." "He showed me a house this morning." "Okay." "I see." "Thank you." " No broker named Dave Miller?" " Bingo." " Jimmy?" " Jimmy?" "Good news." "She's single." "Great." "Call Detective Kurimoto and see if he can get us some mugshots on guys who might run real-estate scams and/or be experts in microwave technology." "Yeah, those two are related." "Lois, Clark." "I just got an anonymous phone call." "There's a bomb in front of the Metropolis Museum of Natural History." "It's in a backpack by the lions." " Clark, you get the car." " Yeah." "Right." "Now, Jimmy, I want you to pull up everything you got on the museum." " Superman!" " You all have to leave immediately." " There may be a bomb." " Cool." "I wanna stay." "Is that the bomb?" "It's not here." ""If you're reading this, I assume you got my message." "Here's the location of the real bomb." "It's on this micro CD." "Unfortunately, you have to assemble the player in time to play it." "Good luck."" " Superman, what's going on?" " A very dangerous riddle." "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to concentrate." " Can we help?" " I can do my four times tables." "Four times one is four." "Four times two is eight." " Four times three is fourteen." " Twelve." " No, it's not." " Kids..." " That's stupid." " Stupid's not a nice word." "Congratulations." "But the bomb is still ticking." "Here's another puzzle:" "Twice the square root of Holst is where you start." "Cary Grant knew the direction." "Patrick Henry." " That's it?" " Okay, the only "Holst" I know is Gustav Holst, the composer." "He wrote "The Planets."" "There are nine planets, the square root of nine is three." "I know my threes tables." "Three times one is three, three times two..." " Not now, Sammy, not now." " Twice three is six." " I knew that." " But six of what?" "Or the sixth what?" " It could be anything." " If it's based on "The Planets..." " ...the sixth planet is Saturn." " Like the moon?" "No." "Saturn has rings around it." "Just like the Daily Planet logo." "Lois!" "Lois, you..." " There's a bomb at the museum..." " No, no." "It's somewhere around here." " Lois just went..." " I'll explain later." " Cary Grant was in North by Northwest." " Yeah." "Was he in any other movie with a direction in the title?" "Gee, I'm not a Cary Grant fan." " I'm more of a Jim Carrey kind of guy..." " Jimmy!" "No." "Not that I know of." "Okay." "All right." "We start here, under the globe." "North is this way, right?" "And Patrick Henry..." "What, Revolutionary War..." " A patriot." " "Give me liberty or give me death."" ""Death" will happen if we don't find the bomb." " But what is "liberty"?" " Freedom." "Escape..." " Liberty, liberty." " Get-out-of-jail-free card." "Liberty." "I just remembered." "Cary Grant was also in a movie called Destination Tokyo." "Thanks, Jimmy." "Nice hat." "Perry's idea." "He found it just in time." "We have to talk." " What kind of a sick person does that?" " I don't..." " What'd you see?" " Dave Miller." "He's a guy Clark told me about." " The real-estate guy?" " Yeah." " Where'd he go?" " I don't know." " Are you sure you saw him?" " Absolutely." "Beep Lois and Clark to meet me at the house they went to this morning." "I wanna see if there's any clues they might've overlooked." "You got it." "I'll never get used to that." "The bomb almost exploded." "Correction." "It did explode." "But your friend managed to toss it into the ionosphere..." " ...in another modest display of strength." " He's not my friend." "No, no, you're right." "Maybe "friend" is too mild a word." "Perhaps your feelings are stronger." "When he tempts you with a doughnut, you give in." " Who had a cappuccino?" " Well, I didn't enjoy it." "Ching, you're being ridiculous." "You know where my feelings lie." "Really?" "Then how do you explain these?" "These... these ear adornments and these clothes." "You're wearing chemical compounds." "Everyone does." "It's harmless." "It means nothing." "Yeah, what's next, liposuction?" "It means something, otherwise you wouldn't take the time out to go shopping and use it." "I suppose he likes it." "You forget yourself." "On the contrary, you've forgotten who you are and why we're here." "While you've been indulging yourself, I've been pushing ahead." " And you are pushing too hard." " Life is hard." "Our life is hard." "Yes, people may die, but remember our goal." " I remember." " Well, good." "Then I suggest we proceed." "We know his strength and his intelligence." "Now we'll see where his heart really lies." "Okay, I'll bite." "Why would Dave Miller be lurking around an alley?" "You got me." "But if he is connected to the space station and the bombing he's either crazy or he's really smart." "Or worse, he's a really smart crazy person." " So, what are we looking for?" " Anything unusual no matter how unimportant it seems." "Okay." "Let's assume the worst-case scenario that he's a really smart madman." "It's gotta be something big." "I mean, he was able to outthink the space program." " He's willing to risk hundreds of lives." " And why would he do all this?" "And that space station was a bluff." "Yeah." "But that bomb under the manhole cover was not a bluff." "El zippo." "This is definitely strange." "I was thinking that these things were just diversions to get me out of the way so other crimes could be committed, but so far, nothing has happened." "It's almost like you're being tested." "Or set up for something bigger." "Yeah, definitely." "It's something bigger." "Yeah, well, there's something big." "There's a quarter." "We can use it on our down payment." "Speaking of money I was thinking that you know, maybe we ought to make an offer on this house." "Very funny." " I'm serious." " What?" "That's your happy look, right?" "Surprised but happy, right?" " Are you out of your mind?" " You always say to take a chance be spontaneous, carpe diem, seize the day." "I'm talking about little things like wearing brown shoes with a gray suit." "Or putting the coleslaw actually on the pastrami sandwich." "Not this, this is huge." "This is colossal." "I mean, this is a life-altering decision that could have repercussions for decades." "Okay." "We haven't done anything yet." "How do you know I even want a house?" "This morning you said that you really liked this place." "I really like the Grand Canyon, but I don't wanna buy it." "Clark, this is just a really big step." "I just thought that, you know, after we got married you'd wanna get a place, you know, put down some roots." "Lois?" "Well, I just don't know if I'm gonna be any good at that." "Anyways, we should get back to work." "Because all my search has turned up so far is this one..." "Clark, look at this." "This isn't a quarter." "It's a microtransmitter." "This must be what Dr. Klein homed in on." "The satellite was a decoy." "Well, he did say plus or minus six feet." "Let me see." "Finally." "It's about time you found this, Superman." "Or should I say Super-slow-man?" "Wait, don't answer that." "I just wanted to say hello." "And you'll be seeing a lot more of me soon." "The best and the worst is yet to come." "Now, see, Jimmy, this is what we call a Woolly Booger." "I call them a goofy worm for short." "And you just flip it on out there, follow my lead..." " ...easy as pie." " The fish actually eat these?" "Quicker than you can say "trout almondine."" "Mr. White?" "Mr. Olsen?" " I'm Dave Miller." " Well, hey, how you doing?" "I gotta tell you, this is like nothing I've ever seen." "Whoever built this is a genius." "I'm almost down to the atomic level and there's still circuitry." "Hold it." "There seems to be some lettering here." ""Ching Limited."" "Roberta, it's Lois." "I need an address for a Ching Limited." "Two words." "The last one is abbreviated." "It's open." "Good, you're here." "Now the real fun begins." "Listen, Miller, or whoever you are." "If we don't get answers, Superman will be here in two seconds." "Really?" "One two..." "Did I miss him?" "Or perhaps you were exaggerating a bit." "I guess we'll have to go on without him then." "Bomb A." " No!" " Bomb B." "Now here's an interesting problem." "The two bombs are electronically linked." "Stop one, the other goes off." "Separate them, say by throwing the one at your apartment into space and the other goes off." "So do you save Metropolis or White and Olsen?" "What do you say, Clark?" "Or should I say Superman?" " Why are you doing this?" " Because we need to know." "Sarah?" "What are you doing here?" "What do you need to know?" "This is really not the time to dawdle." "Do you save two people you really care about or a million strangers?" "That's not fair." "You can't make him choose." "People have to make choices all the time." "Low-fat or regular, Calvin Klein or Versace..." " ..." "life or death." "What'll it be?" " Stop the bombs." "Did you just think of that?" "That's good, but I can't." "Nobody can be in two places at once." "He'd have to split himself in two." " Why are you doing this?" "It's insane." " No." "It's a test." "One I'm deadly serious about." "Now we know the answer." "He's going to try to save Metropolis." "We can stop." "No." "We need to see it through." "We have to know absolutely." ""Sorry, I need to borrow this." "Superman." "P.S., thank you."" " Yes." " He did it." "Jimmy?" "Mr. White?" "You guys okay?" "Yeah." "We are now." "Boy, that's a lot more excitement than I'm used to on a fishing trip." "Well, you're not the only ones in for some excitement." " Jimmy, can you hold this?" " Yeah." "I gotta fly." "Well, Chief, I guess we'd better cancel?" "Come on, Jimmy." "Trout out there with your name written all over it." "Come on, son." "You." "You gave him the idea." "He would've failed if you hadn't been here." " Come on, we've gotta leave." "Now." " Wait a minute..." "As another block of muscle once said, "Hasta la vista, baby."" "Lois?" "Lois, can you hear me?" "You okay?" " He knew you were Superman." " I know." "But don't ask me how." "And what does Sarah have to do with all this?" " What happened after I left?" " He threw me away like he was flinging a piece of spaghetti against the wall to see if it would stick." "Well, if he's that strong, he's even more dangerous than we thought." "I had the weirdest dream." "I dreamed I was in this house in the back yard and I had this chef's hat on." "I was barbecuing burgers and my legs were turning into roots and they were growing into the ground and I was screaming, "I am not an oak I am free!"" "Lois, honey, maybe..." "Maybe you better lie back down." "Come on." " Now are you happy?" " He would've failed without Lane's help." "No doubt he'd put that ridiculous suit on backwards if she weren't around." "Why do you keep denying what we've both seen?" "Look, you find him worthy, I find him wanting." "I'll admit, he has ability, but look at him." "Skulking around, wearing glasses when I know for a fact they're completely unnecessary." "Why pretend?" "He could rule the world and enforce what he knows to be a better way..." " ...and yet he refuses." " Perhaps there's a higher lesson there." "Ching." "No." "No." "Don't you understand?" "This..." "This kaleidoscope of virtues, this Superman he doesn't deserve what's been handed to him." "And I'll prove it." "Obviously I have ambivalent feelings about owning a house..." " ...and all that that means." " Obviously." "If I can just reassemble this, maybe we'll have a way of locating Ching and Sarah." "I mean, I move from place to place I take assignments all over the world." "It's like I deliberately run from putting down roots." "Like that's a bad thing." "There, that piece fits." "Clark, I'm talking about something important here." " I'm sorry, honey, I'm just..." " When I saw that house today it suddenly became really clear to me what you want." "And I just don't know if I can give you that." "Lois you've already given me everything that I want." "You." "I don't care if we live in a house or a boxcar or a yurt just as long as we're together." "What's a yurt?" " It's a circular, portable..." " Clark I know a house is important to you." "When I was growing up my home meant permanence." "A place to be safe." "My life, it's so chaotic now, going from disaster to disaster." "I just always dreamed of having my own real home." "When I was a kid home was where Mom was in the lounge chair getting drunk and Daddy was in the back yard burning steaks trying to explain what he was doing kissing Mrs. Belconto in the church parking lot." "Permanence wasn't so permanent at my house." "Lois, you and I are gonna be as permanent as permanent can be." "So I guess I should stop running." "I won't burn the steaks, I promise." "Forget the steaks." "Just don't be kissing Mrs. Belconto." "Superman." "What?" "Yes, it's me." "I'm here at your apartment." " Don't keep me waiting." " What do you hear?" "A voice in my head." "He's at my apartment." "Then we better go." "I'm gonna put you away for the rest of your life." "How much are you willing to sacrifice to personally put me away?" " Plenty." " That's good." "That's the attitude." "Then by all means, come and get me." "Two guesses as to what this is." "It rhymes with "kryptonite." Lois, no helping." "Turn it off." "Okay, it's kryptonite." "Actually, a kryptonite force field." "What's the matter, Superman?" " Don't you still want me?" " I'll take a piece of you." " Let go." " He has to do this alone." "That's good." "That's good." "Better yet, why don't you just run away?" "See, I told you." " You can't hide in there forever." " I don't intend to." "Expand." " Ching, what are you doing?" " Simple." "Testing the Man of Steel." "I intend to shoot myself." "Now, of course, you can try to stop me." "To do that, you'll have to pass through the force field which, as you can tell, is lethal." " Ching, I order you to stop now." " I'm beyond orders." "So you can either let me die the man who tried to kill Olsen and White plus a million other people or you can kill yourself trying to save me." "He's bluffing." "I wasn't bluffing about the bombs, was I?" " Five..." " Ching, don't do it." " It's the only way to prove I'm right." "Four." " I believe you." " No, you don't." "Three..." " What will killing yourself prove?" "That I'm right and he's not." "Two..." "Whatever it is, Ching, it's not worth dying for." "Yes, it is." "One." "No!" " Why did you do this?" " I..." "What have I done?" "He is the one." "He's gonna be all right." "Let's tell the others." "Did I save him, Lois?" "Where'd they go?" "Are you feeling any better?" "Yeah." "Thank you." "Boy, I'll tell you, that kryptonite it's a humbling experience." "Clark, Sarah and this Ching person first they nearly try to kill you and then in the end they say, "He's the one."" " The one what?" " I don't know." "And then they flew." "How could they fly?" "I don't know." "Who do you think they are?" "Lois, I have no idea." "I was the unconscious one on the floor, remember?" "But nobody on Earth has ever had your powers." "No." "Not unless they were somehow transferred directly from me." "Do you think there's any possibility that they aren't from Earth?" "No." "No, that's a dumb idea." "It's going to be more of a problem than I thought." "He's lived too many years on Earth as Clark Kent." "It's going to take some convincing." "What do you mean, convincing?" "It's the law." "He passed our tests." "The law demands he return." "Just tell him, it's the law." "Kryptonian law." "Yes, and he is Kryptonian." "I am in no mood to coddle him, Zara." "Ching, he's our future." "And our children's future." "I think that we can find the proper way to tell Kal-El that he must leave the Earth forever." "Well, well." "I've found you." "I traced your transmissions before you disguised them." "And I'm given to understand you've found him as well." "Unfortunately, by finding Kal-El you've just signed his death warrant."