Excitement was coursing through Irene's veins as she looked out the helicopter window admiring the white landscape of snow covered mountains. She had never been assigned a story that required her to leave to Metropolis or spend so much time investigating the inner workings of the government. Not even the bitter cold could change the change her eagerness to start working on this story with Lois Lane even if she seemed to be slightly tense over not getting what she wanted from this story.

The entire plane ride from Metropolis to Canada Lois explained the story and the situation that they found themselves in due to military involvement. An unknown ship was discovered deep in the ice and although there was the possibility that it could be nothing, the possibility that it could be something unimaginable was just as certain. The excitement shinning in Lois' eyes made Irene more anxious to begin uncovering whatever it was that the military seemed determined to hide.

"That's why we need to show up on day early. Trust me I know how these military types work." Lois continued loud over the unbearable sound of the helicopter as it lowered itself on the white landscape of the Ellesmere mountains. Everyone in at the Planet knew that Lois' father was an important general in the army and that there were tensions between the two as Lois had a tendency to want to uncover secret government projects. "And Jimmy you better take some of the best pictures you've taken in your life."

"Yes, Miss Lane." Jimmy immediately replied a he raised his camera, snapping a quick picture of Lois who was clearly caught off guard.

"Not now." The older reporter scolded as she stood the second that the helicopter door slide open. As she was helped out of the helicopter wasting now time to meet the man who would take them to the army base.

"I hate the cold." Jimmy muttered as he also stood beginning to pick up his camera and zipped up one of his coats. There was no denying that it was almost unbearably cold, however Irene doubted that it was cold enough to wear as many layers as Jimmy was at the moment.

"You have five layers on Jimmy, I'm sure you'll be fine." Irene assured her friend as she picked up her bag and notebook before heading to the helicopter door. A tall man was waiting just outside for a moment Irene considered stepping off on her own but the couple feet to the ground practically guaranteed a fall. Ignoring her own stubbornness she accepted the workers help as he placed his hands around the her waist helping her down. He lifted her like she weighed absolutely nothing and caused him no effort at all. Although some part of her wanted to acknowledge how strange that was, she was absolutely taken my the scenery to pay it much importance. "You're strong. Thank you."

Turning her attention back to her beautiful surroundings she already began to think about the future as the endless possibility of stories that she would write. The bitter winds outside were something that she wasn't completely prepared for as she had never been in a climate like this, even winters in Metropolis didn't get much snow.

"I got it." Jimmy declared confidently and Irene turned around in time to watch the photographer fall to his knees as he jumped to the ground refusing the man's help.

"You got it huh?" Irene questioned as Jimmy began to brush off snow from his clothing. Jimmy didn't say anything as he gave her an irritated look before raising his camera and beginning to take pictures of their surrounding landscape, Irene joined Lois as she spoke with who she assumed ran the cargo station at the shore.

"Jed Eubanks, Arctic cargo." The man introduced as he extended his hand towards her.

Offering the man a smile Irene shook the man's hand, her attitude shifting entirely as gained a more professional posture. "Irene Miranda."

"How far to the station?" Lois immediately questioned seemingly not wanting to waste more anytime as this was clearly a time sensitive story. Irene couldn't help but wonder if Lois' distrust towards the military was due to her strained relationship with her father or her years of experience investigating them.

"Camp's just over the rise, I'll walk you over." Jed stated as he motioned them to follow, they only took a couple of steps before Jed turned towards the worker that helped them out of the helicopter. "Joe! Help them out."

"Careful with those, they're heavy. And expensive." Jimmy warned as the man, Joe, began to unload their belongings and equipment.

It wasn't long before they were standing at the military base looking up at a large glacier by the shore where the mysterious ship had to be in. Beside her Jimmy began taking multiple pictures as they followed Jed inside the military tent where everyone seemed occupied in their respective roles.

The only two men who seemed unoccupied were standing in the middle of the space looking ahead at the group of outsiders who had just entered their territory. Lois seemed unfazed by their stare as she approached the two men who had been waiting for their arrival.

"Miss. Lane! Miss Miranda. I'm Colonel Hardy U.S. Northcom" He introduced stiffly ignoring Lois' extended hand making it perfectly clear how he felt about their presence in his base. The older many on his side seemed indifferent to their arrival as he smiled kindly at them as shaking the young Daily Planet worker's hand. "Dr. Emil Hamilton from DARPA."

Colonel Nathan Hardy looked between a three Daily Planet workers with an unmistakable contempt. This was clearly a man who took his position very seriously and did not approve of their interference in his work. "You're early. We were excepting you tomorrow."

"Which is why I showed up today." Lois stated as she looked between the two men firmly having already adjusted her own approach to them as being friendly wasn't an option. To get any information out of these men a stern approach would be needed as it was now a matter of gaining their respect. "Look, let's get one thing straight, guys, okay? The only reason I'm here is because we're on Canadian soil and the appellate court overruled your injunction to keep me away. So, if we're done measuring dicks, can you have your people show me what you found?"

Irene felt a small smile touch her lips at the shocked expressions of Colonel Hardy and Dr. Hamilton. Having never seen Lois Lane in action before she was slightly stunned, but also not surprised that it was this approach that made Lois one of the best reporters in the business. After having read so much of her work to learn her road to getting a Pulitzer, Irene couldn't help but admire the older reporter more for succeeding in a men dominated playing field.

"This is Officer Sekowsky." Colonel Hardy quickly introduced a younger soldier who currently seemed invested in the images in front of him.

Sekowsky only gave them a curt nod of acknowledgment before once again returning his attention to satellite images of the ship that they discovered in the Arctic. Removing her gloves Irene readied her notebook to write down whatever information they were about to offer. Lois had assigned her the task of taking the notes as she did most of the questioning, a fact that slightly irritated Irene but she had to remind herself that this was her opportunity to shadow Lois Lane. That this was her opportunity to show everyone at the Planet that she has what it takes to succeed in journalism.

"NASA's ER satellites pinged the anomaly first, the ice shelf plays hell on the echo soundings, but there's definitely something down there." Officer Sekowsky explained as Irene continued to furiously write down the important notes that would definitely be needed once they began the writing process. In reality this information wasn't much until they finally uncovered what was under ice, and even if it was some old ship it would be an interesting enough discovery to keep readers interested.              

"A submarine, maybe from Soviet era?" Lois suggested as she took a closer look at the blurry images that really didn't offer much as to what could possibly be surrounded by so much ice. Irene shared a brief glance at Jimmy who also seemed curious about the images, but didn't seem to have much of an opinion on the either.

Colonel Nathan Hardy shook his head, eyes never leaving the unusual object that occupied the scree. He seemed tense knowing there would be no hiding what they were planning on uncovering tomorrow. "Doubtful, that's three hundred meters, considerably larger than anything we know they built back then."

"But here's the spooky part." Officer Sekowsky continued as he widened that graph showing the density of the ice and mysteries ship deep within it. Although neither Irene or anyone else in the room voiced the fact, it was impossible to ignore that the shape of the apparent ship as it certainly didn't seem to be built like any ship Irene had ever seen. Especially one coming from the Soviet era. "The ice surrounding the object, it's nearly twenty thousand years old."

Hearing those words left the three of them speechless as they tried to wrap their minds around their meaning. To Irene it simply didn't make any sense. The thing surrounded in twenty thousand year old ice couldn't possibly be a ship, especially one that size.

It was impossible.

Considering that there wasn't much information that could be offered until the next day Colonel Hardy decided that it was best to take them to their assigned sleeping quarters. He was a man of little words yet had the ability to clearly express what he felt for their apparent intrusion. His contempt was something that mattered little to Irene as all she wanted know was to understand what was underneath all that ice. She was sure she wouldn't be able to get much sleep from thinking about it the entire night.

"Try not wander." The Colonel ordered as he led them over the hill to a small temporary storage unit where the Arctic Cargo worker from before was in the process of dropping off all of their belongings. "Temperatures drops to minus forty at night around here. We couldn't find your body until after spring."

Once they stepped inside the small storage unit it was clear that their comfort was something of little importance to the people of this military base. The space was large enough to accommodate three old comparing cots and their belongings that were stacked highly in a corner of the room.

"What if I need to tinkle?" Jimmy questioned and although his tone was serious Irene knew her friend well enough to know that he was simply trying to be funny. It would be argued that Jimmy simply wasn't a very funny guy as his humor seemed to go unnoticed by many.

Colonel Nathan Hardy seemed satisfied by Jimmy apparent disbelief at the small compartment that the three of them had been given. This was undoubtedly due to the fact that they had arrived an entire day early before they could attempt to cover up any unusual discoveries. "There's a bucket in the corner."

"But you see I'm very shy." Jimmy quipped as he began to take pictures of our surrounding, a simple action that could easily be seen as a threat to a man like Colonel Hardy.

"Then take it outside. But I wouldn't recommend being out there for too long." The man warned slipping out of their sleeping accommodations just as the cargo worker from before cam back inside holding what had to be the last of their belongings.

"Asshole." Irene muttered in annoyance finally understanding Lois' distaste for the military. Though she could hardly assume they were all like Colonel Hardy who seemed intent on having their visit be as unwelcoming as possible.

Just as the worker was about to make his way outside again a distracted Jimmy who was occupied looking through the pictures he had taken throughout the day stepped in his path. At a simple glance it seemed that the two men simply bumped into each other, but the loud crack that filled the silent void told a different story. Jimmy stumbled back as his now broken camera fell between the two men. The cargo worker seemed slightly stunned as he looked down at the camera that was broken into multiple pieces, a worried expression crossing his face.

"That's my favorite camera." Jimmy said his voice laced with panic as he instantly let himself fall to the floor as he quickly began to collect the remains of his camera.

"I'm so sorry." The man immediately said as he bent down to help pick up the pieces of the camera. There really was nothing that could be done for the camera  but the man seemed genuinely distressed at what had just happened. "Really please forgive me."

"Don't worry about it, every camera is Jimmy's favorite camera." She assured the man as she bent down beside him and Jimmy to pick up what was left of the camera. Looking up she met the the cargo worker's stunning blue eyes as she realized that she couldn't remember his name. She knew she heard it when they arrived and as he continued to look at her, Irene was suddenly overcome with the need to want to remember his name as silly as the thought was.

"Excuse me." He muttered as he placed scraps of the camera into her hands before quickly slipping out of the small compartment. Irene and Jimmy watched as the worker disappeared into the white abyss before turning back towards each other sharing a confused look.

"Weird." Jimmy stated before returning his attention back to the shattered pieces of his camera.

Irene nodded still not able to wrap her mind around his strange behavior. She was aware that it could very much be nothing at all, that he probably just needed to get back to work. Yet, she couldn't deny that she was very curious even at the slightest possibility that his odd behavior could be due to something else. "Yeah."

"It just... it literally felt like I ran into a brick wall." Jimmy continued as he rubbed his shoulder, wincing in pain. From Irene's view it looked like Jimmy and the man had barley brushed shoulders, but the broken camera and Jimmy's clear pain said otherwise. Maybe it was the fact that the man's build greatly differed from Jimmy who had a smaller frame, but that hardly answered the question of why the camera had shattered the way it had. Before Irene's mind could conjure some ridiculous theory she quickly remembered Cat's words from the other day.

Possibly Cat was right and Irene was always looking for a mystery where there wasn't one. Which was undoubtedly the case here as in reality it was just a simple accident.

"He looked like he was built out of concrete." Lois commented though her mind was clearly elsewhere as she already began to unpack some of her necessities. No doubt she would want to start working on their collaborative story immediately and Irene admittedly wanted to begin their work on it too even if the had yet to get all the necessary information they had a base that they could work with.

Looking around the tight storage room Irene took a seat on one of the three camping cots. They were visibly in terrible condition, but it wasn't until she sat down that she wondered if it was even possible to sleep on the cot without having it fall apart.  But she wasn't about to complain about something so insignificant when it seemed that they were about to be part of what could possibly be an incredible discovery.

A/N: Things are going to start picking up soon. Very excited about the direction this story is going to go. I am so loving wiring Irene and her quiet strength that we will see evolve throughout the book even if it will lead her to trouble more than once. Hope you are all enjoying!