Chapter 9 – The Safest Way to Travel

(Seven Tower – Floor 99 – 31st August 2019)

"Okay, we are not going to be able to cover this up forever. If Translucent does not show his face soon people will start to notice." Stillwell swayed in her chair as her brain tried to think of a PR trick to deal with the fact that one of her top earners was dead.

The statement was ostensibly for the two idiots she had brought in from market research and advertising. However, in truth, she was mostly just speaking out loud and using the two useless skin suits in front of her as a sounding board. Seth and Evan however actually thought they were there to really contribute as both had hard-concentrating looks on their faces.

"What if we just get out in front of it?" Seth suggested, leaning forward to push his idea forward. "Playoff of the whole Soldier Boy theme from the '80s. Hero dies tragically saving countless innocents and sacrifices himself in service of his country. We could have an amazing funeral, bigger than Kennedy's."

"I don't know, Soldier Boy actually died, you know?… and there was an actual nuclear reactor meltdown for the news to cover." Stillwell stopped swaying, leaning back in her chair and looking up at the ceiling trying to think of a solution. "Also, I don't really like the idea of admitting one of our unkillable superheroes bit the dust. We might as well kiss that military bill goodbye."

"Then let's not overthink," Evan's voice sounded out, causing Stillwell to peer down from the ceiling at the Public Relations lackey. "We just say he's on a classified mission. We can't say where, like, in the interest of national security."

"All we can say is that he is fighting MS-13," Seth added pointing a finger to his partner who just nodded liking the addition to his idea.

"Ooh, yeah. That's good." Evan agreed, lifting his hand out for a fist bump.

"Simple. Done. Boom." Seth lifted his hand up and fist-bumped his colleague.

"MS-13, MS-13….I like it, a hint of danger, plausible why he's not around and gives more time to come up with a good exit strategy." Stillwell nodded to the idea, leaving out the part where she already had an exit strategy forming.

Namely, Translucent out, Superman in.

Her mind however couldn't continue down that tantalising path as the phone next to her suddenly started to ring. She was quick to pick it up, and although her personal work cell phone rang at all hours of the day, the desk line was only for emergencies or when she needed to talk on a secure connection.

"Hello…." Stillwell went silent as she heard the report on the other end of the phone. Her smile grew wider as it continued. "When and where?...Okay, good. How many people know? ...Perfect."

She didn't even bother talking to the two other people in her office, instead standing up and immediately leaving. She needed to find Homelander and Maeve, a golden opportunity had landed in their lap and it was a chance they couldn't pass on.

(15 minutes later)

"Just where the hell is Homelander?!" Stillwell shouted as she marched down the corridor, her voice causing everyone to clear the way before she even appeared in view.

15 minutes, they had wasted 15 minutes on potentially the greatest PR coup in the history of the company all because nobody knew where their golden goose was. Maeve was easy to track down, if she wasn't in her room getting drunk, she was in the gym working off a hangover, and a quick glance at the CCTV footage had confirmed the latter. However, that did her little good because she really needed Vought's poster boy to get to their big break.

"Seriously! NOBODY?!" Stillwell cursed as she stormed through another section of the building. She half turned, hearing running footsteps behind her, but spun back with a huff when she saw it was just Maeve. "THE MAN IS WEARING A SPANGLED CAPE AND IS OVER SIX FUCKING FEET TALL, YOU CAN'T MISS HIM!"

"What's got you so worked up?" Maeve asked as she managed to reach the scowling woman who looked ready to murder everyone.

"We have a hijacked aircraft, crossing international waters right now. NORAD is waiting for an order to scramble F-16s, which means we have the perfect opportunity to swoop in and save the day." Stillwell paused mid-step, rounding on the red-haired Amazon who had to abruptly stop as well, lest she crash into the smaller angrier woman. "Something I would love for us to do, except for the fact I CAN'T FIND HOMELANDER!"

"He's just above the roof," Maeve responded bluntly, aloof as always.

"What?!" Stillwell exclaimed in anger, turning on her heels and heading for the helipad before Maeve could clarify, causing the heroine to sigh and trail after the angry VP.

It didn't take long for Stillwell to reach the roof, she normally arrived by helicopter or else greeted Mr. Edgar when he flew in so she knew the fastest way up. However, her arrival did little to affect her mood. In fact, it worsened as she scanned the area and failed to see any sign of Vought's golden boy. She resisted the urge to scream but instead turned abruptly on her heels and peered down at Maeve who was just leaning idly in the access doorway.

"You SAID he was on the roof?!" Stillwell hissed her accusation at the leggy supe, her mind already racing with ideas on how to punish her employee.

"No, I said he was above the roof, above. And he is." Maeve didn't bother to stop leaning instead just uncrossed her right hand and pointed one lazy finger into the sky.

As Stillwell looked up her face drained of colour slightly as she saw why Homelander was floating above the tower and didn't like it one bit. About 100 feet in the air above, her Homelander was deep in discussion with Superman with a look on his face that she had never seen before. It was pure joy.

"See, we can start there at Breezy Point on Rockaway Peninsula and then extend it all the way across the lower bay area to Sandy Hook. Creating the perfect storm-surge barrier for the entire New York-New Jersey Harbour Estuary." Clark floated next to Homelander his hand outreaching across the horizon as indicated where the envisioned protection for the city would go.

"Yes, yes I see it. We could protect the entire city." Homelander smiled as he envisioned the barrier and floodgates that he and Clark would single-handedly create, along with the praise the little people would heap upon them. "You and I could do this all by ourselves?"

"Well, we would need the materials and get parts manufactured but yeah. I ran the numbers last night. It would still cost a fortune, but with us doing all the work it would only be half the projected cost it currently is." Clark revealed earning a wider smile from Homelander who was impressed with the younger man's skills with numbers along with his vision. "Also, we could do it all in about 2 to 3 months instead of the 20 to 30 years it would take them."

"20 years in 2 months… they'd worship us." Homelander looked from Clark back out to the distant harbour that only they could see through the buildings and earth, whispering his last words.

"Yeah," Clark smiled, having missed Homelander's last statement before turning to smile at the older hero. "We can do so much more than stop crimes, John, we can inspire, set an example, clear wastelands, reforest areas, plant crops, create a brighter better tomorrow, we can…. sorry I'm getting carried away."

"No, no, no. Don't ever apologise to me, especially for being passionate. You have a vision for the future, and the drive to create it." Homelander moved over to Clark and placed a comforting hand on the man's shoulder giving him an earnest smile. "That is much more than most supes have…..certainly more than most of the Seven."

"Thanks, John, I'm looking into Translucent like you asked I should have something so-" FWEET! Clark was cut off by a very loud whistle below them, causing both men to look down seeing Stillwell and Maeve waiting below.

"Looks like we're needed, again" Homelander sighed, not bothering to hide his disappointment that their discussions for the future had to be tabled. He floated down quickly followed by Clark. "What is it?"

"Chance of a lifetime," Stillwell said with a grin on her face as she moved towards Homelander, a wide grin on her face which faltered for a moment as she glanced at Clark. "22 minutes ago, Trans-Oceanic Flight 37 from Paris to Chicago was hijacked mid-air. Over the middle of the Atlantic."

"22 minutes ago, who knows about it?" Homelander's eyes widened at the news and his interest was piqued, as this was his opportunity to be America's saviour.

"NORAD, Pentagon and the Whitehouse. I got it from our man in the Joint Chiefs, according to him no one's acted yet as they are still determining a response. However, they have a squad of F-16s at Fort Bragg ready to go, and they say the President is heading down that way." Stillwell pushed the news hard, and judging by the glint in Homelander's eye he was hooked, it was all there as he stared into her eyes. "But you're faster, you can get to the plane and save everyone."

"How many hijackers?" Clark's question broke the spell causing Homelander to look at the younger man and Stillwell to grimace for a moment.

"Looks like three, but Homelander, if we act no-" Stillwell answered Clark before turning back to her poster boy.

" 'Looks like?' You don't know? We can't guess at this." Clark looked alarmed at the casual manner in which the executive was handling this. "Lives are at stake and we can't afford to miss anything."

"I understand but if we don't move quickly the Air Force is going to blow that plane out of the sky anyway." Stillwell shot back her voice straining not to have a go at one of the most powerful superbeings in the world. She then turned back to Homelander and leaned in close. Her voice became a whisper as she subtly placed a hand on his chest. "John, this is it, everything we want, we can have if we save this plane. No one will have the balls to stand up to us, to you when the world sees you save everyone."

Clark's eyes went wide at the interaction and shifted uncomfortably, not sure how he should react to such a brazen display from Stillwell. He had heard rumours that the Vought VP and Homelander were an item of some sort and he wasn't one to judge any relationship between consenting adults but this seemed…well, unhealthy and almost predatory. Maeve's reaction also shocked him as well, she just sighed at the close contact and turned her head away as if it was something she had seen a thousand times before.

"W-w-w-well Stillwell is right, we should help. We are the only ones that can." Homelander straightened up as the woman moved away from him, his voice going high for a moment before returning to its confident nature.

"Okay then, but I'm coming with you," Clark responded, giving Homelander a nod whilst glancing at Stillwell.

Before Stillwell or Maeve could respond Homelander had moved forward a broad smile on his face placing an affectionate hand on Clark's shoulder.

"Son, I would insist on it."

(The Atlantic Ocean – Transoceanic Flight 37 - 2,180km from the East Coast - 31st August 2019)

Lucy was trying to keep herself and the little girl next to her calm, all while the blood from the dead airline stewardess that had been left in the aisle pooled at her feet. The child next to her looked ready to start bawling her eyes out again as she clung to the doll in her hands. Lucy placed a comforting arm around her whilst the girl's mother tried to calm her down from the aisle.

Under normal circumstances, she would just swap seats, but the screaming hijackers obviously were never going to let that happen. She eyed the nearest insurgent; he was brandishing a large ceramic knife; invisible to an x-ray machine, that must have been how he got it through security. Her mind was racing. If she moved fast enough her training might be enough to get the knife away from the man and restrain him before the others reacted but what then? She would have to contend with the other 3 on the aircraft.

Her grip on the girl tightened as the man spotted her staring and began brandishing the knife at her, screaming in Arabic. She ignored the man's threats pretending to be terrified and merely hugged the little girl closer to try and protect her. Dammit, Lucy think, think, what would dad do? Out of nowhere, a boy in the exit row behind her started jumping in his seat and pointing out the window.

"Mom, look who it is! It's okay, we're gonna be okay! Mom!"

There was a screech of metal, a rush of air, and as Lucy turned around all she could see was a woman shouting as her child was sucked out the open door. Her cries were heart-wrenching.

"MICHAAAAELL! Michael, Michael, Michael! NO!"

A flood of yellow air masks dropped down above all the passengers, adding to the confusion, while a red and blue shape appeared in the plane's doorway and started barking orders.

"Calm down! Calm down, for Christ's sake!" Homelander yelled over the roaring wind. Almost nobody could hear him in the panic. Queen Maeve climbed onboard the plane and quickly started a vain attempt to reassure the passengers. "We're here to help! Everyone sit down, please!" she tried to say, but her efforts were quickly drowned out and soon amounted to nothing.

"AHHH!" One of the hijackers screamed louder as he was violently launched toward the door.

The two other hijackers that were controlling the passengers started to struggle, one managed to stay upright by grabbing onto a set of seats whilst the other started sliding down the aisle to the open hatch. However, instead of disappearing out into the clouds, the hijacker shot out briefly into the hatchway only to be caught by an incoming red and blue blur. It was another man wearing a red cape, and the boy from earlier was safely tucked under his other arm! Before anyone could register what was happening the terrorist had been slammed face-first into the floor, knocking him out cold as the new hero stood over him.

The hijacker sliding down the aisle started to scramble trying to grip something to stop his descent, however as he reached the hatch, he was picked up by Maeve with childlike ease and a confident smirk on her face. Her other hand then whipped up and snapped his neck like it was a matchstick. However, her smile dropped as she threw the attacker down and looked to Superman, expecting to see him thankful for the help only to be greeted by wide shocked eyes. He blinked before spinning around.

The aircraft lurched as she witnessed Superman re-seal the exit hatch with a look of furious concentration. The plane fell quiet as Homelander took the opportunity to scan his surroundings. Vought's number one superhero was not focused on the passengers but the very tall broad-shouldered hijacker who was looking at the heroes in terror. The man clearly wasn't the most fanatical as he looked at his dead companion and the restrained one, only to throw down his knife and lift up his empty hands. Maeve knew that wouldn't save the poor bastard though, Homelander never did one of these without killing someone. Sure enough, she saw his eyes already flashing red.

She braced herself for the heat that was about to melt a hole in the man's chest only to feel a blast of air rush past her face. Her brain couldn't make sense of what just happened as the head of the man in front of her snapped backwards like he received a punch to the face, his body collapsing to the ground unconscious but still very much alive. She turned her head to the right and was greeted by Clark's outstretched fist, held as if he had just punched the air.

It was then that she registered what had just happened because Clark had done just that. He had just done it quickly and with enough force along with a level of precision she couldn't hope to understand, but it had generated a blast of air pressure strong enough to knock a man out. He had just saved the hijacker they were there to stop from them. The passengers quietly looked at each other before exploding into quiet unsure chattering, people looked at their saviours not sure if this was real.

Homelander whose eyes had flashed back to normal looked confused for a moment at the unconscious man and then at Clark, completely bewildered by what had just gone down. However, as the chattering reached his ears, there stood Vought's poster boy. A million-dollar PR smile lit up his face as he waved a confident hand to the anxious crowd.

"All right everyone, it's all over now. It's all safe. You're all going to be fine." Homelander announced to the passengers, who exploded into cheers. Relief swept over them all like a tidal wave.

"Thank you, Homelander!" and "Thank you, Superman!" were shouted out from the passengers earning a fake modest smile from Homelander who waved it off.

"Oh, no, no." He laughed off the praise with a dismissive wave before pointing to the crowd, which only made the cheering more intense. "Come on, now. You guys. You guys made it, you're the real heroes."

However, his fake smile faltered for a moment as he saw Clark give a quick glare at Maeve before kneeling down next to the man she killed. He took a blanket from the black-haired woman that the hijacker had been threatening, and with care laid it over the deceased man, an action he repeated for the dead stewardess as well. Homelander didn't linger on that scene, however, instead turning to the cheering passengers and absorbing their praise. Maeve didn't stick around either, Clark's quick glare had caused something in Maeve's stomach to shift and she just wanted this over now, so she pushed to the cockpit to check on the pilots.

"You guys are amazing, fantastic." Homelander's powerful booming voice trailed her as he followed behind glad-handing whilst Clark tied up the hijackers and checked the passengers. "Hey, let's get a round of applause for Queen Maeve!"

As Homelander and Maeve moved to the cockpit, Clark pulled tight on the zip cuffs he had brought, restraining the last of the subdued hijackers. He then stood up and his eyes scanned over the crowd to check for injuries. Apart from the stewardess that had unfortunately been killed, no one else was seriously injured. Finally, he turned his attention to the young boy from before whose mother was hugging him like he would disappear again at any moment.

"Michael, right? I need you to stay close to your mom and keep her safe. Can you do that for me?" Michael nodded. "That's good, that's very helpful. You're a brave kid." Clark said, prompting the boy to smile and nod again.

While Clark was tending to the passengers, Maeve forced open the cockpit door followed closely by Homelander, the latter's large frame blocking ordinary eyes from seeing what was going on.

"S-Superman!" Clark turned his head back looking at the other woman that had given him the blanket. Lucy looked quickly from Clark to the cockpit, clear worry on her face. "There was a fourth one, he went up front!"

Just as Clark opened his mouth to respond the plane violently jolted again causing numerous panicked shouts and several screams. Clark's eyes snapped to the cockpit, and his heart sank at the retreating red glow that gave him his answer as to what happened. He sent the black-haired woman a quick nod before rushing forward, trying to calm people as he went and reassuring them everything was alright.

However, as he reached the cockpit his calm reassuring demeanour evaporated as he saw the massive half-melted mess that had once been the captain's control panel. That, and the blasted charred remains of what Clark assumed was the remaining hijacker but couldn't be sure due to the lack of remains. His eyes then quickly scanned the rest of the room, most of the controls were shot, the co-pilot and pilot were dead, and there was a hole in the window but it appeared the engine thrust levers and fuel control switches were intact along with the first officer's seat and yoke.

"Do you know how to fly a plane?!" Maeve yelled desperately at Clark and Homelander as she tried and failed to raise the ATC.

"It doesn't matter if I did," Homelander gave a disparaging wave at the destroyed controls as his face became one of thought as he tried to think what to do.

"I do!" Clark yelled back causing Homelander's pensive look to break and Maeve to glance up at him with hope. Clark gestured for Maeve to move to the first officer's seat, quickly yet carefully removing the deceased pilot from his chair. "Lift the yoke….. its the steering wheel thing in front of you, are you feeling any resistance? If you do, don't fight it yet, just tell me, okay?"

Maeve was quick to take the seat and the control as Clark suddenly moved past Homelander like he wasn't even there and grabbed a clipboard and pen that had been stowed on the wall. He suddenly knelt in front of the controls between the two pilot seats and started scribbling like mad on the paper he had. Maeve gripped the yoke and started trying to move it, praying Clark knew what he was doing and wasn't trying to make himself look good.

"Thing's like a rock stuck in drying cement, almost but it's not impossible to move," Maeve shouted out before looking over her shoulder and seeing Clark fixated on the notepad he was scribbling down on. "Should I try and move it?"

"No, not yet. That means we've still got manual control, which makes this a little easier" Clark responded calmly before taking a deep breath as he checked over the calculations he had just done. "Okay, I've run the numbers and we can do this, but everyone needs to do exactly what I say, clear?"

Maeve gave a quick sharp nod desperate for Clark to start giving instructions, however as he looked up at Homelander he saw the hesitation in the man's eyes. Homelander debated for a moment simply ditching this situation but looking at Clark's worried expression and Maeve's pleading face he just sighed and raised a hand in defeat. It wasn't like he was at risk anyway, if the plane went down and he was still on it then all that would happen was he would get a little wet.

"Perfect. first things first, Maeve next to you the two leavers there control the thrust, beneath them are two switches with knobs underneath, they're the fuel switches. I need you to flick them down and then pull the knobs back until you hear a click." Clark instructed, watching as Maeve followed his instructions as he stood up and showed Homelander the diagram he had sketched of the plane. "John, when I tell you, fly to this part of the plane and place your hands flat on it. It's called a jack point. It's one of the strongest parts of the plane, if you push here with minimal force you can elevate the plane."

"Okay, I've done it. What did I do?" Maeve asked. She followed Clark's instructions to the letter but still had no idea what she did.

"You've just dumped the plane's fuel," Clark responded, giving her a smile but immediately clarified his position as he saw the alarm on her face. "It's okay, it's okay. We wanted to do that; otherwise, we risk the gas igniting and the engines exploding. However, the next part is the scary part."

"Why?" Homelander asked, his eyes narrowing as the plane started to jolt more violently and started arching down.

"…Because this is where I ram the plane to level it out." Clark revealed as calmly as possible despite the wide eyes the two other supes gave him.

"WHAT?!" Homelander shouted without caring about decorum or keeping the passengers from hearing. "The kinds of speeds you're talking about, the plane's either going to go ass over tits or you'll tear right through it!"

"No, I won't, I've run the numbers," The last son of El shot back, shoving his clipboard into Homelander's hand and causing the man to go quiet as he looked at the four pages filled with almost microscopic calculations. "I've calculated the necessary speed, angle and velocity I need to go at to ram the plane level without significant damage."

"So, we can do this?" Maeve cut in looking between the two superpowered men wanting reassurance. "We can save everyone?"

"Yes," Clark said first and boldly causing Homelander to just look at the man giving the orders. "But we need to act now, once I've rammed, and your level, grab the controls and keep it straight. This ball thing here is your attitude indicator, see the white line on the circle? Keep the black dot on that line and you'll stay level."

"And what do I do?" Homelander asked. His voice was almost adversarial in its disinterest.

"Without fuel, the engines will turn off, so we will be out of thrust and without thrust, we will crash. We can glide her for a while but not all the way to the coast without you being out there to elevate her." Clark bit down on the snappy comment he was about to make and tried to sound as friendly as possible to the supe in front of him. "Joh-….Homelander, you're the only one who can save us, we need you."

The words and almost pleading look Clark gave him caused Homelander to roll his eyes and sigh. He then nodded his consent and moved to go out to the passengers. Clark sighed in relief and then turned to Maeve who was quickly eyeing the skyline, they were descending but dumping the fuel had lightened them and taken the forward thrust out, stopping a rapid plummet to the sea. Before heading outside he leaned over to the other hero who was strapping herself into the seat and trying to ignore the bloodstains.

"Maeve, after I ram the plane, you're going to be on your own until we land. Homelander's going to keep you elevated whilst I'll be adjusting the flaps and the rudder to steer us. The controls are shot so I'm going to do it manually by hand." Clark explained passing the clipboard he had worked out the calculations on as well as a diagram for Maeve to visualise the plan. "Maeve, I'm not going to lie, this part is going to be hard. After we get it level, you can't move the yoke at all. Pilots normally are assisted by an automated levelling system, which is gone. So if you move the yoke too much then the plane will spiral, John will tear through the hull, and I'll rip off the rudder at which point everyone will die…..So once you've got the yoke level, don't move."

Maeve for a moment felt overwhelmed and was about to call for Homelander to come back and save them but stopped herself when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw not Clark but Superman standing tall, a paragon of calm and control in a sea of chaos.

"You've got this, I'm right here with you." Superman gave a friendly smile and a firm confident nod.

She gave him a fiercely determined nod and moved to get ready to grab the yoke when she was needed. Stratified that she was ready Clark turned and shot out of the cockpit moving as fast as he could, needing to move quickly if he was to do this.

His world became a blur as he first arched out of the plane which quickly became a speck in the distance to him. He stopped for a moment as he took a deep breath to steady himself, although he had run the numbers and this should work, he was still nervous, ramming a plane straight was not a natural thing. However, he allowed himself only a moment of hesitation before shooting forward, arching low and then upwards to get the right angle.

He closed his eyes as the plane's hull approached him not wanting to see the explosion his miscalculation would cause. He felt the metal collide with his skin causing him to tense….

(Garth and Jerry's Bowling Alley - New York, Late Evening - 31st August 2019)

"Astonishing scenes of heroism this morning as Superman, Homelander and Maeve successfully rescued Flight 37 from a team of hijackers. The world's finest managed to safely bring in the wayward flight after extremists took control of it over the Atlantic Ocean."

The news reporter was hidden as the entire screen showed images of Superman and Homelander safely watching the plane land unsteadily on an airstrip in Maine. Their rescue was greeted by hundreds of people screaming and cheering their names, all of them having been brought there by Vought's media team. The images were then replaced by the trio comforting the crying survivors who clung to the heroes as first responders checked them over, along with various local, state and government officials thanking them for their heroic efforts.

"The superhero team not only managed to capture two of the terrorists but also managed to land the plane safely, even after the destroyed the controls. The only casualties were two of the terrorists and an airline stewardess whose name has not yet been released. This recent save has sparked a massive spike in support for the proposed bill to let superheroes into the military."

Hughie just sank a little while watching the news report as he and Annie got their bowling shoes from the front desk and were directed to lane 14. He was also fiddling with the device in his pocket that Butcher had given him to hot mic Annie's phone so that they could listen to all her calls, texts, and emails. He felt his chest go tight at the idea but pushed it down into the bottomless pit he was shoving everything else into these days.

"Oh, by the way, my friend is in town, so I sort of invited him to join us if that's okay?" Annie's sudden request was done sheepishly and she winced at how bad it sounded springing this onto Hughie at the last minute.

"Um, yeah sure, more the merrier, right," Hughie wasn't even fazed by the question, in fact, he was secretly glad. More people might make this more normal and kill this feeling growing in him.

"Great, um when I said friend, I actually meant friend and his girlfriend….still okay?" Annie smiled at Hughie who just chuckled at her and nodded his head.

"Yeah, it's fine," Hughie smiled honestly back at her before it turned into a teasing one as his voice went sly. "As long as, you know, you're not about to tell me your mom, cousins, accountant, hairdresser and a random person you just met are also joining us."

"Well shoot, there goes my big reveal," Annie teased back with a smile earning a genuine chuckle from Hughie. "…No but seriously, just you, me, my friend and his girlfriend, that's it."

Hughie just nodded and then very chivalrously stepped to the side to allow Annie to press onto the lane, smiling as he went past. However, as she did his mind suddenly quickened 'Wait is this a double date? Women did those, right? For, like first date territory to prevent it from being weird….oh god this is a date? This is a date and I -"

"Hughie?" Annie's voice snapped him back to reality ending the threat that his own self-doubts were about to consume him. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine. This is us, Lane 14," Hughie gestured and moved over to get set up, using the app on his phone to order some drinks and food for the group.

It didn't take long for Annie's phone to buzz and signal that her friend and his date had arrived. A few moments later Hughie was doing up his laces as he heard Annie greeting the newcomers, and so he stood up to make a good first impression. That was the moment he froze, as standing before him was one of the tallest and most handsome men he had ever met. Hughie was actually pretty tall for a man, despite Frenchie calling him Petit Hughie he towered over Annie, but the man in front of him easily cast a shadow over him without trying.

"Hughie, this is my oldest and best friend, Clark Kent." Annie moved to the side of the very tall man who was wearing thick wide-brimmed glasses, a red jacket, a blue T-shirt and a pair of jeans. "Clark, this is Hughie, Hughie Campbell."

As Hughie looked at Clark, his mind for some reason flashed back to the street where Robin had died and his vision was suddenly filled with her bloodied remains. The image caused him to wince and shake his head to dispel them, an action that brought a worried look from Annie who thought Hughie had recognised her friend. Hughie had been great so far, fantastic, even with the whole 'I'm a Superhero thing' but she didn't think he was ready for 'and by the way this is Superman, one of the world's greatest heroes and People's sexist man alive, my pal' bit yet.

"It's nice to meet you, Clark," Hughie expanded a hand causing Annie to sigh in relief as the other man took the offered appendage.

"Thank you for having us Hughie," Clark responded with a smile making a mental note that Hughie's trauma was likely worse than he was letting on as he seemed to have blocked out him being there and therefore most memory of the event, bar the incident itself. "And before I get in trouble, this is my girlfriend, Lois,"

"Nice to meet you," Lois couldn't help the smile on her face as offered her hand to Hughie since for once her presence was getting a bigger reaction than her boyfriend's.

Hughie might have blocked out most of the tragedy that had befallen him, but Lois was still a celebrity in her own right, an easily recognisable one for someone interested in supes, which Hughie was. She was also at the disadvantage that she didn't have a secret identity to fall back on, everyone knew her as Lois Lane, and apart from a bit of makeup and wardrobe change, she still looked the same.

"Oh wow, um, it's nice to meet you, Lois Lane, I mean Lane, I mean Lois," Hughie took her hand and started to shake it for way too long as he stumbled over himself meeting a living legend of journalism.

"Okay Hughie, you can let go of her hand and pick your jaw up now." Annie teased in good nature earning a shock of denial from Hughie causing her to chuckle, finding it funny that supes did nothing for him but world-famous reporter Lois Lane did. "It's okay Hughie, I'm teasing."

"So…." Clark caught everyone's attention by slapping his hands together. "How are we doing this? Pairs, Free-for-all or Teams?"

"Oh no, I'm not about to let you two buddy up." Lois was quick to gesture to Clark and Annie who were already standing next to each other like some sort of ace duo bowling team. "We are doing this individually, that way I have a chance of beating at least one person."

Clark held up his hands in defeat whilst Annie just chuckled at the accusation. She then gave Hughie a light elbow to the side and a playful smirk as everyone moved to set up for the game. Hughie eyed Clark for a moment, his mind trying to place the man but failing. There was something about him…... However, he put that to the side for the moment wanting to focus on having fun rather than the mission Butcher had given him or anything else.

As Hughie stood up he for some reason had been nominated to go first so he gave a little smile as Annie cheered him on and picked up a ball. His first set was not great, not terrible but not great, which earned him a small round of applause from the blonde who seemed to be taking joy in his poor bowling skills.

"All right then, let's see what you've got." Hughie gestured for Annie to take her turn earning him a smirk from the blonde Superhero who picked up the heaviest ball and moved to the line.

Hughie's eyes however moved from Annie to her phone which she had left on the small table they had. His hand moved to his pocket as a voice that sounded a lot like Butcher told him to do it. After all, she was a supe and all supes were bad.

"Hughie you alright?" Clark's voice snapped him out of his daze as the taller man just eyed Hughie with suspicion looking between him and Annie's phone.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Hughie responded quickly earning him a look of doubt from Clark, however, he was saved from further questions when Lois spoke up.

"Wow she is baaaaaad," Lois' comment caused the two men to turn and watch Annie all but chucked her bowling ball into the gutter.

"You said you, uh, bowled before?" Hughie asked, looking at Annie with a genuine smile that for the moment cleared Clark's doubts.

"Yeah, I'm just a little rusty" Annie shrugged looking sheepish at her poor attempt, giving Clark a quick glance as he shook his head at her blatant deception.

"Well looks like I've got this then." Clark joked standing up and slapping his knees as he did so, moving over to pick up the heaviest ball he could.

"Confidence, I like it." Hughie smiled at Clark's air of courage, although the statement might have come across as arrogant, Clark just seemed to have a friendly demeanour that Hughie couldn't help but smile at.

He wasn't up for long, and as Hughie watched him the man seemed almost robotic in his movements. Clark took the ball up, strode forward, swung his arm low and released it perfectly, it then flew down the lane and nailed the pocket between the first and second pins. STRIKE appeared in big cartoonish letters on the screen above. Clark turned back round with a smile earning him a nod of approval from Hughie, a chuckle from Lois and a very large eye-roll from Annie.

"Okay, so Clark's good at this, I take it," Hughie chuckled looking over to Annie for an answer.

"Clark's good at everything he does, that's what makes him Clark," Annie replied back with a smile looking over to her oldest friend who was teasing his girlfriend as she prepared to bowl.

The evening then started to flow more naturally as everyone seemed to settle in and focus on just having fun. Hughie at points seemed to be alarmed by the sound of striking pins and the bangs from balls hammering down the lane, just staring off into the distance. However, he always seemed to snap out of it whenever he heard Annie speak or saw her going back to his normal self. Annie was loving the evening and everything seemed to be going perfect, she and Clark were hanging out like old times, Hughie and him were getting along, and she also really liked Lois. The only thing that threw a cloud over it was Clark grimacing every time one of the TVs showed the report of the saved plane and he overheard other lanes praising the event.

"So, what's, uh, Translucent like?" Hughie's abrupt question caused Annie to startle and blink at it just as Lois was releasing her second ball.

"That's a conversational left turn don't you think?" Annie asked, her voice a little confused by the strange question.

"Yes, it was. Sorry about that. Sorry. Yeah, it just popped into my head. As a kid, he was my favourite. You said the ones you met were dicks; is he a dick too?" Hughie seemed to falter for a minute before he plastered on a smile and powered on. He then seemed to realise that Annie wasn't alone and looked wide-eyed at Clark. "Oh sorry, we um, Annie mentioned it to me, and sorry Anne does he know?"

"I do," Clark responded giving Hughie a friendly smile, whilst trying to prevent the suspicion from appearing on his face, Hughie was throwing up a lot of red flags. "Annie told me about her problems. We work together. So, it's interesting, you're a Translucent fan?"

"Yeah, I am, so you work with Annie?" Hughie stumbled over his response quickly as his eyes widened in surprise. Clark didn't strike him as someone who would work for Vought. "You in marketing or something like that?"

"Not exactly," Clark chuckled looking over at Annie to see if she was okay with him telling Annie.

"Yeah, Translucent, he's not great with privacy or boundaries, I will say that." Annie quickly scrambled to answer Hughie's original question, giving a look that almost pleaded with Clark not to reveal his identity, she really wanted this to work. "Mostly, he seems like a loner. He spends most of his free time with his son."

"He's got a son?" Hughie's voice raised in shock, a fact that Annie seemed to be oblivious to but which caused Clark's eyes to narrow.

"Yeah, early divorce, I think." Annie carried on her face straining a little as she tried to recall the kid's name. "Hunter… or Maverick, it's something like that, he's about ten."

Hughie just went pale and turned around quickly grabbing a ball from the rack and all but running up to the lane. His throw however was lacking as he just seemed to drop the ball letting it roll down the lane as he took deep heavy breaths. Clark shifted in his seat and was about to confront Hughie but was stopped when Lois placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Lois whispered looking at Clark seriously and glancing over to Hughie.

"What do you mean?" Clark asked confused, his eyes moving from Hughie, who was slowly getting his second ball, to Lois.

"You've been staring daggers at Hughie for the last few minutes. It's making the guy uncomfortable." Lois whispered back nodding to Hughie who glanced at them and then quickly away. "Try to be a bit nice, okay? I get that Annie's like your oldest friend, but that doesn't mean you need to be all big brother, eyeing every guy she likes. And besides, you know it can't be easy for him after what happened. You saw how bad it was."

Clark's face fell at that, and he looked at Hughie again with new eyes, the red flags from before quickly shifted in his mind. Where before Hughie was being suspicious and alarming Clark with his actions and questions, he was now just a shaken young man trying to piece his life back together. Clark sighed deeply. Here was an ordinary kid who was being awkward around a girl he liked, and he was just being paranoid. The morning events with the plane had made him irritable, he supposed, and it was unfair of him to unload that on someone else.

"You're right," Clark sighed, taking Lois' hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze of support. "Sorry. Work this morning was just awful. Guess I need to take my mind off of it."

Lois moved to respond but Annie's voice cut her off "Clark, you're up."

Clark smiled and gave Lois a quick kiss before standing up and moving to continue his perfect game. It was time to focus on enjoying the day out with friends rather than on crazy conspiracy theories like Annie's new boyfriend having something to do with Translucent's death. No, he was just going to play a round of bowling and have a good time, no world dangers, drug lords or Vought BS. A nice quiet relaxing day, that was what he needed.

(Dining Area – Several Hours and a dozen games later)

"And for the man who bowled the prefect games, a free plate of hot wings and a cold beer," The waitress set down their food, annoying Lois a little as she did so as she gave Clark a flirtatious wink and smile. "Can I get you anything else?"

"No, we're good, thank you." Lois was quick to respond with a glare at the young woman who quickly got the message and scurried off, leaving everyone to the mountain of food in front of them.

"Okay, I'm going to come clean. I'm a little suspicious of you two," Hughie's words caused Annie to shift slightly as Hughie gestured to her and Clark. "First off, I'm pretty sure Clark's a Supe and secondly I think you threw those games?"

"You do?" Annie shifted looking at Hughie, remembering Sean Jakowski and how he never talked to her again after she hit the guy picking on him.

"Yeah! I mean you say you bowled a lot and you have, you know, superpowers. But with the skills you showed out there, you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn" Hughie leaned over to Annie giving her a teasing smile that caused Lois to roll her eyes. "I think you held back for some weird, 'don't show up the guy on a first date' reason. Am I right?"

The table fell silent as Annie blushed slightly having been caught out in her deception and was trying to think of a response. Everyone was silent for a moment until Clark decided to chime in.

"Nope! Annie is just that bad of a bowler," Clark's blunt statement came as he sipped a beer, causing the table to explode in laughter.

"Et tu, Clark? Oh man, that betrayal really stings."

"Okay, okay. So we've established Annie's a shitty bowler," Hughie chimed in, his teasing statement earned him a shove from Annie, as he then focused on Clark. "What's your story? Am I right? No offence, you've just bowled like 12 perfect games in a row, you are a literal giant of a man and you say you work with Annie. If you're not a Supe then I'm calling it…. freak of nature, alien, or steroids."

Clark just chuckled as he ran a hand through his hair and then quickly glanced around to make sure no one would overhear them or would spot what he was about to do. He then quickly removed his thick glasses and then with a flash of red from his eyes ignited the candle in the centre of the table. Hughie to everyone's surprise didn't seem shocked or go all fanboy like everyone else didk.

"Okay, wow. So, I know Superman, I guess no one's taking my lunch money anymore," Hughie quipped, earning a smile from Annie and a shake of the head from Lois at the bad joke whilst Clark put his glasses back on.

The table then fell into a nice quiet normal conversation, which Clark didn't realise how much he missed or needed, and he suspected Annie did too. Hughie didn't ask about their jobs or what being a supe was like, he just treated them as if they were normal people. He did keep glancing at Annie's phone, but Clark put that out of his mind for the moment guessing it was just a nervous tick, an odd one but everyone was allowed to be odd, especially on a first date.

The conversation veered onto Annie's first dates, the time she had taken Sean Jakowski to prom and the issues she had discovered with showing a guy her true strength. However, instead of looking abashed or uncomfortable, Hughie was completely self-confident with the fact that Annie was stronger than him and could beat him in anything. Her being a Supe capable of kicking his ass, both figuratively and literally didn't seem to faze him at all and caused her to smile brighter than Clark had seen in years.

The evening was going great, especially after Clark dropped the embarrassing fact that Annie's first kiss had happened at junior prom which earned him a playful kick under the table. Everything was great until the screen behind Clark caught everyone's eyes, causing the man to shift around. The moment he saw what had caught everyone's eyes he released a massive sigh and felt his skin crawl.

"I'm Ezekiel, and I want you to join me at the BELIEVE EXPO, September 6th to 10th at the fairgrounds." The advert showed Ezekiel on stage, along with scenes from past events, including a number with Clark as Superman. "Sponsored by Samaritan's Embrace. We're going to have music, we're going to have worship, food trucks, and oh yeah, Christ. Featuring Homelander and Starlight from the Seven. Along with a special guest, Superman. BOOK TICKETS NOW."

"Hey," Hughie chuckled pointing to the screen, finding it more than a little cool that two of the people he was with had appeared on network TV, however, his smile dropped as he saw Clark grimace.

"I know. Look, I'm not down to convert the masses or anything, I'm just…. I'm doing a panel for teens…..And I'm donating my appearance fee to the Covenant House." Annie was quick to respond to the advert feeling uncomfortable at the attention it had generated.

"You are literally the nicest person in the city. No offence Clark." Hughie replied to Annie looking at her in amazement. "No, I'm serious. Every other nice person can fuck off and go home, Clark here included."

"I mean that's why I do it. Vindicative personal glory." Annie teased back earning a laugh from the table as she sipped her beer proudly, raising it up in a self-toast. "But seriously Clark does more charity work than me, he gives like nearly everything away or to his parents."

Hughie looked over to one of the most powerful supes in the world and just earned a small shrug for his efforts. Clark just gave a rueful smile and turned back to his food not wanting or feeling the need to discuss his charity work or the money he sent his parents.

"It's nothing really, I have enough and honestly I get paid way too much to smile at cameras and the rest of it." Clark shrugged off Annie's praise as he picked up his beer and gave it a quick sip. "and honestly I'm only doing this one because Homelander wants to talk about things."

"He does?" Annie asked, she eyed Hughie quickly before focusing on Clark her eyes asking her if she was one of the things they were going to discuss.

"Yeah, we've been working together a bit. Discussing plans for the future, how to keep people…..I'm also going to talk to him about things, make sure we're all on the same page."

"Yeah, whilst that is great, we are out of beer guys and hot wings," Lois' voice cut in stopping the conversation from going down the dark sombre route it was threatening to do, whilst lifting up the empty pitcher of beer and tapping the empty tray of hot wings. "So how about you two Superheroes with cash to burn rescue us, mere mortals, from thirst and starvation?"

"Will do, ma'am," Clark chuckled, taking the empty beer pitcher and hot wing plate from Lois. "Want to get this round Annie?"

"Sure, save my spot okay Hughie?" Annie joked standing up whilst giving Hughie's hand a little squeeze.

Annie was oblivious to the reaction the innocent act caused Hughie, his mind suddenly flashed to Robin's hands holding his tight. In a flash, all he could see was a pair of severed arms clinging onto him, a bloody puddle in front. He winced, then the sound of the world came rushing back and the dark images faded from his mind, leaving the burning rage swelling in his chest and found himself staring at Annie's phone.

His hand made a move towards his pocket to the device Butcher had given him but stilled as he saw Lois looking at him with narrowed eyes. The ace reporter looked from Hughie's eyes to the phone and then to his hand that was half into his pocket. Panic flared through the man as Lois then looked over to Annie and Clark who were currently ordering the next round of food and drinks.

"Do it quickly they'll be back in a sec," Lois mouthed with an encouraging nod.

Hughie froze. His brain was failing as his eyes widened at Lois' words. Either she was playing a trick on him or the trauma of the past few days was causing him to go crazier than he suspected. His hand just stayed where it was as he just stared.

"Oh, for the love of..." Lois hissed before shunting her chair forward and shoving Hughie's hand out of the way so she could fishing the device from his pocket herself. She then turned it on and placed it next to Annie's phone, she quickly eyed Clark and Annie but could see they were still waiting for drinks.

"Wh-what?" Hughie's stupor finally ended as his brain finally caught up with what had just happened yet still confused as hell as to what was going on.

"Hey, shh, super-hearing, keep it low or the sounds of the other bowlers won't be enough." Lois hissed, turning back to Hughie shoving the device over to him as it finished its job, gesturing to Clark who was laughing at something Annie had said. "Seriously, if you struggle with this, the rest of Butcher's shitshow is going to eat you alive."

"You know him?" Hughie asked, his voice finally dropping to whisper as his eyes somehow went wider looking at the black-haired woman next to him.

"Oh my god," Lois shook her head at the amateur she was dealing with, she got that Hughie was invested and that it was why Butcher had recruited him, but this was just painful. "I can't believe you're the one that offed Translucent"

Hughie felt his blood freeze, and just shot a frantic glance over to Clark and Annie who were heading back towards the table.

"Who are you?" Hughie asked, alarmed that the woman before him seemed to know so much.

"Me, I'm just Lois Lane, ace reporter," Lois responded with a sly smile that spoke volumes to Hughie it was the same one Butcher and the Boys used, he felt his already cold insides turn to liquid nitrogen. "Keep your shit together and tell Butcher we'll talk soon."

"What are you two whispering about?" Clark asked, smiling as he set the new pitcher of beer down along with the plate of hot wings Annie had.

"You two of course," Lois responded with such honesty and skill that even a conspiracy nut like Hughie believed her.

He was just staring at the woman but a sharp kick under the table jolted him back to reality, making him cough and slip the device back into his pocket. "Yeah, just talking about our favourite Supes."

"So I've overtaken Translucent huh?" Annie asked with a teasing smile as she sat back down next to Hughie picking up her phone from the table as she did.

"Oh, you sure have" Lois chimed in while sending the blonde superhero a smile. "Hughie here had nothing but praise, right Hughie?"

"Yeah," Hughie smiled proudly as he looked at Annie pushing the sinking feeling down into the bottomless pit that was starting to feel not so bottomless. "…nothing but good things, sure as shooting."