Irene walked over to Clark's desk, he had been up writing all night and she had assumed it was about the charity event last night. But when one of the interns handed her an early mock-up of the days paper she was shocked to see that Clark hadn't turned anything in. "You didn't write about the charity event last night?"

"It's not what I'm interested in writing about." He replied as he stood and motioned for her to sit down in his chair. She sat down and although she meant to scold him the truth was that she was worried. His pursuit of the Batman was consuming him.

"Perry is going to lose it." She warned him knowing that his refusal to cover Lombard on sports and not writing on the event that he was personally invited to was going to drive Perry mad.

Almost like he sensed that they were talking about him Perry approached them, the anger on his face unmistakable. "So, I logged into your Dropbox to find a copy."

Perry then opened up his copy of the mockup and turned to the sports page, where the headline story about football was printed across with a blank text on the bottom.

"There's a copy, alright. But, nothing about football. Nothing about..." Their editor-in- chief continued in frustration as he stopped to rip the mock-up in half. "Friends of the Metropolis Library, just... The god damn Gotham bat thing, I told you not to pursue."

Clark sighed equally as frustrated. "The police won't help, the press has to do the right thing."

"You don't get to decide what the right thing is."

Their argument had already caught the attention of most of the staff as they all stopped what they were going to listen in. But Clark was stubborn about this and was not going to back down. "When the Planet was founded, it stood for something, Perry."

"So could you, if it was 1938, but it's not 1938." Perry snapped, and Irene hated that in some way he was right. The values that Clark followed, were values and morals that most of the world no longer cared about. People were no longer shocked that the Batman had become more brutal in his methods, most probably thought that he wasn't tough enough on Gotham's criminals. "WPA aren't hiring no more. Apples don't cost a nickel. Not in here. Not out there. You drop this thing. Nobody cares about Clark Kent taking on the Batman. We'll discuss this further in the meeting."

Perry stormed off crumpling up the mock ups in his hands as he headed towards his office.

"I hate to say I told you so." Irene told Clark knowing that he was walking on thin ice when it came to Perry.

Clark reached forward taking a stand of her hair between his fingers. "No you don't. You love being right."

Someone beside them cleared their throat and Irene's eyes went wide the the sight of Barbara Gordon. Her friend was smiling as she moved her wheelchair closer, and in some way she looked much better in Metropolis instead of Gotham. It was like that city sucked the life out of everyone that lives in it.

"Barbara what are you doing here?" Irene asked and she couldn't help but smile. She hadn't expected her friend to come all the way to Metropolis, though she had eagerly been waiting for her to call.

"Here to get back to you about your little friend. Thought it would be better to discuss it in person." She replied looking over at Clark and then Irene. "Is this Clark?"

Irene had forgotten that she had told Barbara about Clark, and from the amused expression on her face she was ready to tease her about him. "Yes. Barbara this is Clark. Clark this is Barbara."

"Nice to meet you." Clark greeted as he extended his hand for her to shake.

"Kent! Miranda!" Perry yelled from across the room. "Time for the meeting!"

"I'll be right there!" Irene yelled back, the meeting wasn't half as important as whatever information Barbara had for her.

"Excuse me. It was nice meeting you." Clark said with one last smile at Barbara, before going inside the conference room. From the flight hunch in his shoulders it was clear that he wasn't looking forward to getting yelled at by Perry again.

"I can see why you like him so much." Barbara commented turning her attention to Irene. "He's cute."

"He is." She agreed, as she took a notepad and pen from Clark's desk ready to listen to what her friend discovered. "So what do you have for me?"

"I had never seen a metal like this. Could be DARPA black box." Barbara told her as she pulled the plastic bag containing out of her bag, she placed it on the desk sliding it over to Irene. "Thing is it's not sold anywhere commercially or in the black markets. I hacked into the Pentagon's system and found no record of anything similar."

Irene was in disbelief by how casually Barbara mentioned hacking an government system, but she decided questioning it. "Then where did it come from? Who could find out?"

"Nobody that would want to." She replied and it was clear that she had given this issue a lot of thought.  "My theory is that they gave them out to the rebels to test in theater."

Irene at up straighter in her chair not being able to wrap her mind around what Barbara had just said. Just the idea of something like that being possible horrified her.

"Using live soldiers as guinea pigs?"

"This is what makes you such a good reporter. Things like this still shock you." Babs stated and the serious in her voice made it seem like she had seen things like this happen before. "So what now?"

"I think I know someone who could get us the answers we need. Hold on."  Irene said as she looked through all the contacts on her phone. She knew that him picking up was a shot in the dark. Calvin Swanwick was a busy man, especially now that he got promoted, and truthfully he probably wouldn't want to speak to her anyway. As the phone rang and he didn't answer, Irene couldn't help but feel disappointed. Now she would have to go to him.  "Nothing. Not that I'm surprised."

Barbara nodded, but Irene could tell there was something bothering her. "Well good luck with all this."

"Thank you for everything Babs."

"I also wanted to talk to you about something else. Just be careful okay, when it comes to Bruce." She continued and she laughed slightly. "I have to say you certainly knew how to push his buttons."

It took Irene a moment to realize what Barbara was saying and who she was referring to. Her mind was all caught up on how she was going to talk to Swanwick, but all that was put on pause. "Bruce Wayne? Why?"

"He isn't the person that you think he is. He's rough around the edges but he's good. After what happened with me, Dick and Jason it's been rough."

Irene didn't know what to say, mostly because she didn't understand.

"You know?" She whispered but as she spoke the words Irene leaned back in her chair looking at Barbara with wide eyes. The realization that she was about to marry Dick Grayson who was Bruce Wayne's adopted son hit her and she felt stupid for not having made that connection before. That explained the Joker attack and the disappearance of Nightwing and Batgirl not long after. "Are you telling me that you're..."

"I was." Barbara said quickly, like she didn't even want Irene to say it. "I'll see you around"

"You're just going to admit something like that and just leave?"

"It's a story for another day. You seem like you have a lot on your plate right now." She replied but Irene knew that it was so much more than that. Even after all these years it was something that was not easy for her to talk about. And although Irene was curious and needed to know more this wasn't something that she was going to push.

Barbara left without another words and Irene knew that telling her was not what she wanted but had to do. She wanted to warn Irene about not being to harsh on Bruce, but she couldn't do that without telling her the truth knowing that Irene probably would have figured it out eventually.

Irene sat there for a moment in shock not being able to fully process what Barbara had just told her. But she didn't have time to just sit there in disbelief. Standing up she rushed into the conference room where Ron Troupe was in the middle of speaking.

"Sorry." Irene apologized as everyone looked up at her, half relieved that they didn't have to listen to Ron talk numbers anymore. "Sorry."

"It's alright." Ron muttered softly looking a little disappointed.

"No it's not." Perry stated firmly as he looked at Irene, clearly he was still fuming over his argument with Clark. "What is this about?"

"No match." Irene announced as she held up the plastic bag for Perry to see. "My source in the crime lab, has never seen one before."

Perry reached taking the plastic bag, he looked at it for a moment seeming unimpressed as he returned it to her.

"It's called a bullet. You shoot people with it."

"Recovered from the scene of the fire fight in the desert. Not sold anywhere commercially in the world, even black market."

"So?"

"So, who gave prototype military rounds to tribe fighters in the Sahara?" Irene questioned finally giving him the hook of the story and she could immediately see the shift in interest for Perry.

"The Ask, Irene." He urged and Irene had to stop herself from smiling knowing that he was going to let her go.

Perry knew that this was something worth pursuing, but ever since she had gotten a Pulitzer he had given Irene more freedom to choose the stories that she wanted to write.

Irene couldn't help but steal a glance at Clark who was looking at her with a blank expression. It almost seemed worse than him being angry or upset. It meant that he was hurt. "Flight to DC tonight, two days there."

"Go. Coach. No extra leg room." He instructed and she immediately headed out of the conference room, she needed to get to the apartment and pack a bag now if she had any chance of getting on a flight that would get her there tonight.

Rushing to her desk she grabbed her purse and began to pick up all the things that she needed. The plan was to get to DC tonight and hopefully talk to Swanwick tomorrow. Now that she felt closer to the truth she was eager to get the answers her an Clark needed.

"So, why didn't you tell me?" Clark questioned and she could hear the hurt in his voice at the fact that she had been dishonest. "You're digging up snakes Irene. It's dangerous."

"Follow me." Irene said as she led him into the supply closet and locking the door behind them. She needed to make sure that no one was listening, especially if their discussion turned into a fight. She was really hoping that it wouldn't, that he would understand if she just explained. "I know I promised that we would make these kinds of decisions together, but I knew you wouldn't approve. Which is why I didn't tell you."

"I can't let you put yourself in danger like this. We don't know exactly who we're dealing with."

"Which is why I have to find out who's behind this and what they want." She argued, it was impossible for her to just ignore her instincts. Something was wrong, and she had to find out what it was. "Clark the things that they've been saying about Superman because of what happened out there..."

"I don't care."

"Yes you do. Let me fix this." Irene replied, she wasn't blind no matter how hard he tried to hide it the terrible things that were being said about Superman hurt him. All because he went out to the desert to save her, and she just couldn't stand by and let it continue. "You're always there to save me when I need you. Let me save you this time. Let me do that for you."

Clark's eyes softened as he looked down at her placing a hand on her cheek.

"I love you." He whispered, leaning down and touching his forehead to hers. They stayed that way for a moment before he placed his hand under her chin to tilt her up allowing him to kiss her.

"I love you." She told him while he continued to kiss her. His hand was lost in her hair as he slowly pushed her back until back touched the shelves behind her.

Irene couldn't help but feel a little shocked, that he was being this bold at work but she kissed him back just as feverishly. Wrapping her arms around his neck she held him even closer, his hand tightening slightly on her waist.

"Just... please be careful." He added as he pulled away from the kiss just so she could look him in the eyes and see just how serious he want. "I don't even want a paper cut on you when you come home."

Irene nodded determined to keep herself out of trouble. "Please don't get yourself fired while I'm gone."

"I'll get started on sports after this." He assured her as he pulled her back towards him. Giving her one quick kiss his lips began to kiss his way down her jaw until her reached the base of her neck.

Irene closed her eyes as she felt his tongue against her skin. And as much as she would have liked to let him continue she had to focus and prioritize what she needed to do.

"I have to go." Irene told him placing one last kiss on lips before stepping away to adjust her skirt. "I have a plane to catch. I'll see you in two days."

With Barbara's help Irene was able to get a hold of Secretary Swanwick work schedule, apparently hacking a high level politician was easy. A press conference had just finished and Irene followed the Secretary of Defense across the building.

She watched him enter the bathroom, and she waited a couple of minutes making sure no one was paying attention before stepping inside. She needed to talk to him in private and she had a feeling that he would only give her a couple of minutes to plead her case.

Luckily the bathroom was empty, but that didn't mean that he would be willing to listen. And she had to admit that she was afraid that he wouldn't. He was her last resort.

"Wrong room, miss." Secretary Swanwick said as he finished washing his hands.

"Secretary Swanwick, you haven't been returning my phone calls. I'm hurt." Irene said as she locked the bathroom door behind her.

He turned around to meet her eyes and he looked at her as if they had never met before. "Miss Miranda, if you would like an interview, Major Farris is just outside that door."

Irene looked at him in disbelief. Of course they didn't know each other very well, it had been two years since the Battle of Metropolis and they hadn't spoken since that day. But what they all experienced that day, it shocked her that he would act as if it didn't happen. "You're treating me like a stranger?"

"I'm treating you like a reporter." He replied, and she could not argue his logic. So, she had to take a new approach to the way she spoke to him, it was her mistake to assume that they could talk like old friends.

"Alright. Is the US providing experimental military arms to rebels in Africa?" Irene questioned cutting right to the chase and being the reporter that he expected her to be.

Swanwick looked at her in disbelief, but he even seemed a little amused. "You know with balls like yours, you belong in here. Who's your source on this? A tin foil hat?"

He started to make an attempt to leave but Irene stepped in front of him.

"No, not tin, but it's metal." Irene said quickly knowing that her time was running out. She held the plastic bag containing the bullet out for him to see, hoping that it would pique his curiosity enough for him to look into it. "Fired in the Superman incident. Experts at the Pentagon can't ID it. We haven't been told the truth."

"Here's the truth. A reporter got greedy for a scoop and went where she shouldn't have. Superman acted like some... rogue combatant to rescue her and people died." He told her and hearing the truth so clearly was like a knife to the chest. But even though his words hurt she appreciated his honesty. No one else was holding her accountable, and it frustrated her how people around her assured her that it wasn't her fault. Because in many ways it was. "Don't invent a conspiracy theory to put back his halo. Or yours."

Irene stepped in front of him having to believe that he would help. He was her last hope in tracking down the origins of the bullet and she simply could accept defeat. Not for this. There was too much at stake.

She didn't care about herself, they could say whatever they wanted about her. She found that she really didn't care, even if it took years for her to make a name of herself. All that mattered to her was making sure that the world no longer saw Superman as a disaster waiting to happen. Or some kind of threat that would destroy them all.

They were so wrong, and Irene couldn't stand by and watch it go on any further.

"I don't have a halo over me, Mr. Secretary. I went into the desert, people died." She agreed doing her best to keep her voice as steady as possible. What happened that day would haunt her for the rest of her life, but the people involved needed to be held accountable for what they did. For the lives they took. "It keeps me awake. It should."

Irene held out the bullet to him again, and although his hesitation was clear he quickly took the bullet and put it in his pocket.

"If you think Superman is a murderer then throw it away. But, I don't believe you think that." Irene continued knowing that as corrupt as all politicians were, Swanwick was different. He knew Superman better than most. "You know him. He would never do this."

Swanwick didn't say anything as he walked around her and left the bathroom. Irene had just given him the only piece of evidence that she had, trusting that he would follow up was a gamble. And she could only hope that he wouldn't disappoint her.

A/N: This is a really long chapter but there is just so many scenes and plot points that I want to cover. From this point the pace is really going to pick up, but I love writing Irene just being a journalist.