The world was in a panic.

Only a couple of hours had gone by since the message from General Zod that was broadcast all over the world. Yet, the next day everyone was preparing as if the apocalypse was upon them. Though maybe this could result to be much worse than any apocalypse imaginable.

There were only a couple of hours left until the twenty-four hours Zod had given us were up, and as the time slipped away the panic increased.

It would be impossible for Irene to deny that the fear and uncertainty were getting to her too. In now way was a possible alien invasion, something that she could easily brush off. Even as she poured Jimmy a cup of coffee, her hand shook slightly from nerves. Luckily Jimmy was too caught up in his own distress to notice.

All the sounds around her felt like a soft buzz and although she currently had the news on, she had long ago stopped paying attention as all that was being covered was Zod's message and the panic of the looming alien threat.

"Irene this is insane." Jimmy stated as he proceeded to dump spoonfuls of sugar into his coffee. Something that Irene knew he was doing not because he enjoyed a ridiculous amount of sugar in his coffee, but because he was nervously doing it without thinking.

Placing her hand on top of Jimmy's to prevent him from adding yet another spoonful, Irene met her best friend's eyes as an attempt to reassure him. "I'm sure everything is going to be alright."

"And how do you know that?"

She didn't want to give Jimmy any false hope, or maybe she was the one who was finding herself having too much hope. "Because I know he's going to do the right thing. He'll give himself up to Zod."

The thought wasn't comforting, because there was no knowing what would happen to Clark if he did surrender to Zod. And the simple thought that something terrible would happen to him when he did was horrifying.

Jimmy looked back at Irene with wide eyes, in a way that made her feel like she had suddenly sprouted wings. "Well, you sure have a lot of faith in someone who you haven't even known for maybe about a day."

"Jimmy..."

"Wait." He said as he raised his hand, reaching for the remote on the kitchen counter and turning the volume up on the television behind her.

Irene had forgotten that she had the television on to begin with as she usually had it on in need of some background noise at all times and always wanting to be up to date on every news story.

Initially, she wasn't sure what Jimmy had gotten so excited about until she realized that it was Glen Woodburn who was sitting across from the news show host. Although Irene had never met the man personally everyone at the Daily Planet knew about his blog. Woodburn was always hungry for attention and if that meant publishing false stories it didn't matter to him. In fact Lois always referred to him as the 'scum of journalism' and Irene had to agree. Credibility was incredibly important to a journalist, but Woodburn clearly didn't care about such a thing.

Seeing his face on her television screen now was concerning.

"We hardly know anything about him, isn't that right?"

"If he truly means us no harm, then he'll turn himself into his people and face the consequences. And if he won't do that, then maybe we should. Uh...The Daily Planet's Irene Miranda knows who this guy is." Glen Woodburn declared confidently as he looked pointedly at the camera. In that moment Irene couldn't be sure if it was anger or fear that had suddenly taken a hold of her, but what she did know was that her heart was beating widely at her chest at the repercussions that would come from this. There was no way that this statement would be ignored, especially when she was clearly the only lead the world currently had on the location of who they knew as Kal-El. "I've been told by a reliable source within the Daily Planet and I think that she's the one that we should be questioning."

"It wasn't me I swear." Jimmy said immediately with wide eyes. Of course he didn't tell Woodburn, Irene trusted him entirely. "Oh shit Irene. This is bad. This is really bad."

Jimmy continued to mutter fragmented sentences, but Irene was already trying to determine who Woodburn's source could be. The only people who knew about Irene's search for the mysterious alien were her brother, Jimmy, Lois, and Perry. All people who she was confident would never betray her like this.

But suddenly the realization hit her with such force that she felt overwhelmed. The memory of James Corben teasing her and Lois about their alien wild goose chase returned to her, and Irene couldn't even be angry at her coworker.

She had been careless. And she should have known better.

"It was Corben." Irene suddenly stated interrupting Jimmy's nervous ramblings. He looked at her with the same wide eyes he seemed to always look at her with only this time the fear was replaced with a surprising hint of anger.

"What?"

"That snake! He overheard Lois and I..." Irene began to say as she nervously ran her finger through her hair as her cell phone suddenly began to ring. Looking at the name shining on her screen she couldn't help but groan knowing that nothing good could possibly come from this phone call.

Irene looked down at her phone contemplating whether she should answer, whatever Perry had to say couldn't have been anything good. "Hello?"

"Are you watching this crap?" Perry's angry voice came from the other line. Irene couldn't be sure whether he was angry at Woodburn exposing her on national television or if he was upset at Irene herself. "It's been running all morning. For once I actually agree with Woodburn. Now have you seen him? Do you know where he is?"

"No. And even if I did, I wouldn't say." Irene stubbornly replied as she began to pace around her kitchen feeling Jimmy's questioning eyes following her every movement.

"The entire world is being threatened here." Perry argued as Irene came to a stop looking out the window hoping that the sight of the city would give her some kind of ease. She was aware of the weight of this secret and it was crushing her knowing that the fate of the world currently rested in her hands. This was never a position that she would have ever imagined being in, and one that she currently did not appreciate. "This is not the time for you to fall back on your journalistic integrity."

The sight of multiple black vans stopping on the street below caused Irene's blood to run cold in her veins. And as men and women in FBI uniforms began to step outside she had no doubt in her mind that they were here for her.

"This is serious, Irene. The FBI is here. They're throwing around words like treason."

"I gotta go." irene said quickly before hanging up and running to the other side of the room to get her bag. A new kind of panic began to take a hold of her knowing that she couldn't get caught, though maybe running from the FBI also wasn't the best course of action. "Jimmy we have to go."

Irene met Jimmy's eyes and although she hadn't voiced what was currently happening, Jimmy clearly knew what was happening. Without a word Jimmy followed Irene out of the apartment as they headed towards the emergency staircase that Irene had never used in the three years she had been living in this building.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit." Jimmy began to mutter under his breath as they ran down the staircase that would lead them to the back alleyway.

Although Irene was experiencing a crisis of her own she had to remain somewhat level headed. All she knew at the moment was that she couldn't let Jimmy get dragged into her mess. Whether she got detained or not really didn't matter, all she wanted was to make sure that Jimmy had no part of this. "Once we're outside we split up."

"No. No. No. We aren't splitting up." Jimmy declared as Irene pushed open the door that led into the alley. Irene headed towards the back street of the building as Jimmy instantly began to follow. "Have you never seen a movie before? You should never split up!"

"Jimmy, you're only going to put yourself in danger." Irene replied in a hushed voice, quickening her face eager to disappear on the street within the early morning crowds.

Just as the pair reached the end of the street Irene was about to let out a sigh of relief until a black FBI van stopped at the end of the alleyway preventing them from going any further. Irene came to an instant stop causing Jimmy to bump into her in the process.

Although Irene knew it was a useless attempt she turned around to see if there was another way to make a quick exit, only to find herself unsurprised by the fact that another van had already blocked the other end of the alleyway.

FBI agents approached them on both sides pointing guns at Jimmy and Irene who were both frozen in a mix of fear and irritation. Although Irene couldn't deny what she did feel fear both from the looming threat of Zod and the fact she had no clear understanding of what the FBI was going to do to her and Jimmy, she mostly felt irritated at herself for handling this situation so clumsily.

She should have known that this was inevitable and it was something that she should have prepared for.

"FBI! Hands up! Drop the bag, now!" One of the agents ordered as they approached Irene handcuffs in hand.

Irene held her hands up, dropping her purse on the ground in the process. Jimmy instantly let himself fall to the floor at the sigh of all the guns that were currently pointed in their direction.

One of the officers forcefully took both of her wrist pulling them behind her back and painfully closing the metal handcuffs around her wrists. Irene stole a glance at Jimmy who currently was looking down at the ground as another officer handcuffed him too. It was impossible for Irene not to feel guilty at seeing her best friend in this position. Especially when all of this could have been avoided.

She should have never gone looking for Clark Kent.        

Never in her wildest dream would Irene have imagined herself handcuffed and sitting inside an interrogation room on a secret military base. Irene had never even gotten a detention in high school and although being scolded by Perry often felt like what she would imagine going to the principal's office did; being detained by the military was a whole other feeling entirely.

She felt out of place in her denim overalls and old t-shirt in a place like this. Then she couldn't help but feel even more ridiculous at the fact that she currently felt concerned over her clothing. But the truth was that she needed to focus her mind on something that wasn't how incredibly screwed she was.

Irene didn't even want to imagine how Jimmy was currently taking this whole situation. Not, well she could imagine as she was barely keeping it together herself.

Suddenly the door to her interrogation room opened slowly as Colonel Nathan Hardy stepped inside his footsteps echoing loudly through the silent room. Irene remembered meeting the colonel on her trip to Ellesmere Island, and in some way it felt ironic that it all started the day she met the colonel and it was almost like everything was coming full circle.

Full circle in the worst way imaginable.

It was possible that they chose Hardy to interrogate her because they believed that his presence might make Irene feel more comfortable. That she would be more willing to talk. However, Irene's only memories of Colonel Hardy were how unpleasant he was towards her, Lois and Jimmy.

"Miss Miranda, sorry for the inconvenience. I know you're a busy woman." Hardy said as he took a seat across from Irene, placing a large file on the cool metal table separating them.

At first glance it seemed that the file was holding multiple sheets of paper, but Irene could see right through this attempt to intimidate her. They were hoping that she would believe that the contents inside the file were all the evidence they had of what they called her 'treason', which only amused Irene as she met Hardy's eyes with disinterest.

"Where's Jimmy?" Irene questioned not willing to play along with Hardy's games, all she could think about was Jimmy and wanting him to walk out of here.

"Mr. Olsen is safe in another room." Hardy replied quickly as he placed his hand on top of the file, a gesture meant to bring her attention to the object. "We have knowledge that you, Miss Miranda, know the location of the alien that calls himself Kal-El."

Irene turned her gaze back down at the file, pressing her lips together. "I'm assuming that all the knowledge is inside that file?"

Leaning forward meeting her gaze with what she was sure was meant to be kindness, the colonel gave her a single nod. "I've read a lot of your work Miss Miranda. I have to say that I'm impressed you clearly are a very smart woman and I'm sure you know exactly how much danger we are in if you don't help us Kal-El so that we may speak to him."

"So you're telling me that every single sheet of paper in that file is evidence against me?" She continued as she looked from Hardy to the file. When she met the colonel's eyes again to meet their coldness a small smile tugged on her lip seeing how the warmth he had attempted to demonstrate disappeared in an instant. Irene's theory was only confirmed by the man's silence giving her the confidence to continue. "Or maybe if you opened that file every single sheet of paper is completely useless because you don't have a single incriminating thing against me."

Colonel Hardy stood, irritation very evident in his stiff movements and the sternness in his eyes. Maybe Irene had gone too far and she was too direct in the way she spoke to Hardy, but it wasn't like they had much time to go in circles and achieve nothing.

Time was a precious thing at the moment. And it was being wasted. 

A/N: Things are definitely going to kick off now. This story really has been a slow burn but I promise it will be worth it! I already have book 2 mapped out and although it's not going to follow a particular movie it feels like I just wrote a script for a Superman movie myself. DC and Warner Bros hire me!!!! Anyway book 3 will then follow the events of BVS which I am really excited about as I am birching to write Diana I just love her so much. Then when the Snyder Cut is finally released book 4 will then follow that storyline. Like I said this story is very ambitious but I a very dedicated to finishing it.