THE SUPERWOMAN FROM KRYPTON

THE WOMAN OF STEEL. CHAPTER II

November 24th, 1949

Metropolis, 09.45 A.M

Clara walked with Roberta through Columbus Park on her way to the district attorney's office, where she waited for a policeman to give her some information about the Toyman's escape months earlier and the criminal manhunt for the sinister mass murderer. Watching the carefree crowd, Clara thought with frustration that despite her constant use of her super-hearing, a bomb could go off at any moment and kill innocent people. Sometimes common criminals and psychos could rob her of more sleep than supervillains or the lingering threat of nuclear war, which seemed so far away and yet so ready to begin. She also thought of Luthor, deprived of his constitutional rights, presumed dead, locked up in Nebraska. Luthor's situation infuriated her, and accepting it seemed to Clara to be a betrayal of her beliefs...but the government had been clear. Luthor, as a spy and a colonel in a foreign army and because of the diplomatic risk involved, could be treated that way. To Clara's surprise, Bruce agreed that it was better for everybody that Luthor was locked up without public trial. It was unacceptable to her. But she couldn't take Luthor out of Nebraska and throw him into the State Prison without causing a political earthquake of consequences she herself was dizzy about.

Trotting along with her was Roberta, who was going to accompany her on her investigations that day and whom she was going to teach to take notes on the interviews. The girl was enthusiastic and talked all the time.

"How does she do it?" the girl asked.

"Who? Who does what?"

"Superwoman! How does she do it? How does she keep up with everything? How does she figure it out? Yesterday she saved dozens or hundreds of refugees from being killed by rebels on a boat in Burma...a short time later she was over here catching a pickpocket...and then she rescued victims of an avalanche in the Andes. How does she do it?"

Oh Roberta, believe me, she doesn't really know it herself.

"Do you know her?" The girl insisted.

Clara hesitated.

"Uh... once or twice... no, not really."

"So, she never saved your life the way she saved Mr. Lane's?" The girl immediately realized that she had mentioned a name that made Clara uncomfortable and started a hasty apology, but Clara smiled at her. She was about to answer gently when, thanks to her super-senses, the reporter saw a speeding truck fail to stop in front of a mother and child who had jaywalked barely a hundred feet from them. I must act quickly...this is a job for Superwoman!

Clara was calm, now she can fully control her powers and at her maximum super-speed, no one could really see anything. Carefully she pushed Roberta, who landed gently on the ground, while in a fraction of a second, she took off her glasses and all her clothes, unfolding her red cape and hiding the civilian clothes under a parked car. In another fraction of a second, she managed to put the mother and child on the sidewalk, barely an inch before they received the shock. Then she lifted the truck above her head to avoid a collision with other cars.

Roberta suddenly found herself on the ground, surrounded by running people and in the middle of a thunderous storm of screeching and honking. Clara was nowhere in sight. In the middle of the street, Superwoman, in her bright and majestic long red cape, was lifting a small truck above her head, while on the sidewalk a mother was hugging her son, crying, unable to understand how they had escaped being run over.

The cars braked, and some of them collided without undue force. Superwoman dismounted gently and carefully set the truck down on the street. The driver was stunned and almost trembling. Superwoman seemed to approach the mother and child as a crowd surrounded her, but then she hesitated, backed away, and took off, disappearing into the sky. Roberta looked up as a hand landed on her shoulder and found Clara Kent looking down at her in surprise.