It seemed that even two days was too long for Irene and Clark to be apart, but it was no surprise to her when Clark showed up at her hotel room with sushi.   

They were sitting on the bed eating mostly in a comfortable silence. Irene couldn't deny that before Clark had showed up she had been nervously pacing her room waiting for Secretary Swanwick to call her.

"I've been craving this sushi all week." She told him annoyed how he had probably ruined any other kind of sushi for her forever. One of the many things she loved about Clark was that it wasn't enough for him to get any sushi, he had to fly all the way to Japan to get the best.

"Here try this one." Clark replied as he raised he chopsticks feeding her a piece. "How was your day today?"

"I met with Swanwick, hopefully he'll get back to me with answers."

"You mean you cornered the Secretary of Defense?" Clark corrected, he seemed slightly amused though Irene knew that he didn't entirely approve of her more aggressive methods.

"Maybe." Irene admitted knowing it was exactly what she had done as she reached out and took Clark's glasses off. "What did you do today?"

Clark was silent for a moment before finally meeting her eyes. "Don't be angry."

"What did you do?"

"Superman talked to The Batman last night."

Irene looked at Clark trying not to be upset. She knew why Clark was so insistent to change Batman's ways, but she felt that he didn't understand that Gotham's rules didn't apply to the rest of the world. "What did Superman man say?"

"Just tried to reason with him. Tried to remind him the right way to help people." He replied as he leaned back against the bed frame deep in thought. "In the end I think I made him hate me more."

"Maybe I could find a way to talk to Bruce Wayne and find out exactly what he wants?"

"No."

"No?" Irene repeated not used to Clark telling her no.

"After what you told me he said to you, absolutely not."

"He was just trying to get under my skin." She a uickly dismissed knowing that everything about Bruce Wayne was just an act. An act he kept up because no one would ever believe that billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne would fight crime in his free time.

"You had caught his attention before you figured him out."

"You can't seriously be jealous." Irene said in disbelief, especially because he wasn't the jealous type. Not that she entirely minded his jealousy, it was cute that he cared. "First, I'm in love you. Second, you keep my fully satisfied in every aspect of our relationship."

A wide smile formed in his lips as he leaned forward to kiss her, he clearly felt some kind satisfaction at her words as pulled her closer."Yeah?"

"I mean who can compare to you?" She questioned as he pushed him back onto the bed. Irene kisses him and Clark seemed to have instinctively put his hand behind her thigh guiding her so that her legs were on either side of his hips.

Slowly she started unbuttoning his shirt as she kissed down his jaw to his neck. Once she undid the last button she began to kiss her way down his chest as he just watched her. Irene looked up to meet his eyes before softly biting the skin on his stomach.

Clark let his head fall back as she slipped her hand inside his pants.

"Irene I need you to..." He began only to be interrupted by her phone ringing. For a single moment she considered ignoring it but he curiosity always tended to win.

"Hold that thought." Irene said as she reached over across the bed for her phone. It said that the call was from an Unknown number, but in her heart Irene knew that it had to be Swanwick. That he was probably calling from some pay phone so their call couldn't be traced. "Secretary Swanwick?"

There was a short pause on the other line before Irene heard a sigh."You knew I would look into this?"

"I had a feeling."

"Meet me tomorrow at 5am. The bench by the river outside your hotel" Swanwick instructed and Irene was no fool she understood exactly what he was doing. He wanted her to know that he knew where she was staying, it wasn't a threat but a reminder that he also had his resources.

"See you tomorrow." She confirmed before hanging up the phone and tossing to the other side of the bed again. "Did you hear that?"

"I did." He said with a smile.

"We're finally going to get some answers Clark." Irene continued not being able to contain her excitement. She was ready to clear everything up and for them to continue on with their lives. Clark was just looking up at her, not saying a word. A small smile still on his lips. "What?"

Clark sat up placing both of his hand on her waist, keeping her close. "I just.... I love how much you love your work."

Hearing his words made her smile even more. All the other guys that she had dated always told her that she focused too much on school or her job. But not Clark. He wanted to see her succeed, and that meant the world to her. "You must be the best boyfriend I've ever had."

"Hopefully the last?" He replied flipping them over on the bed, he looked at her almost he was waiting for her answer. An answer that he already knew.

Rolling her eyes Irene pulled him down to her. She didn't feel the need to answer his question, he had to know that he was it for her. The moment that he came into her life he changed it forever, and she couldn't even remember what life was like before him.

Irene sat down on the the bench looking over the river, she was ten minutes early and not to pleased with having to be up so early. Clark was still asleep when she left, and if it wasn't for the fact that this meeting with Swanwick was so important she might have considered staying in bed with him.

She shouldn't have been surprised by how punctual Secretary Swanwick was, but when he took a seat beside her on the bench exactly at 5am Irene could t help but feel relieved. Some part of her feared that he could have changed his mind.

"CIA thinks the desert was a setup. Somebody wanted Superman to look guilty." Swanwick stated as he looked out into the river. He had just confirmed everything that she had suspected and Irene could almost feel a large weight being lifted off her shoulders.

"The bullet?" Irene questioned knowing that she couldn't lose track of the only bit of evidence that she hand now that she was getting answers.

Secretary Swanwick still didn't look at her as he slid the plastic bag containing the bullet across the bench for her to take. "The metal was developed by a private company."

"What company?"

"LexCorp." Swanwick stated, and after a moment of her silence he stole a look at Irene.  "You don't seem very shocked."

"I had my suspicions." Irene admitted even though some part of her had hoped that it was not true. That the man who was now possibly in possession of a large sample of Kryptonite was not looking to take down Superman.

But this was a lot more strategic. He wanted to destroy Superman's image first, everything that he stood for.

"He also had private security contractors in the desert compound."

Now this was new information that she could use. Something that she needed to look further into. "Any names?"

""Anatoly Knyazev. He's known as KGBeast."

Nodding Irene kept mental notes of everything that Swanwick was telling her. His condition to meeting with her was to remain anonymous and keep their conversation off record. She respected all her sources, and didn't record the conversation no matter how badly she wanted to.

"Go on record." Irene urged him though she already knew what his answer would be. But she still felt some kind of desperation that she needed to ask.

"Not a chance." He replied immediately, because of course he wouldn't risk losing the job he probably spent his whole life working towards. "It's classified. I happen to like my job."

Irene nodded not holding any kind of resentment. She understood, and he had already done a lot to help her.

"It doesn't make sense. You said that the ambush was arranged to frame Superman, but how could they know that he'd show up in the..."

It was like they were all pawns on a board that Lex was moving around. And she was the first one he used to start all this. The stupid one that fell right for his trap.

"...in the middle of the desert. Thank you." Irene said quickly as she stood up. She couldn't shake the feeling that they were running out of time, that she needed to act now.

Although she was tempted to call Clark first, there was someone else that needed to hear what Swanwick had just told her first. Because if they were running out of time then she didn't want Lex Luthor to advance his plans any further.

She was surprised when he answered the phone considering how early into the morning it was.

"Got anything on your piece of metal?" Perry questioned immediately, not even bothering with a greeting. It was almost like he was expecting her call.

"An anonymous source can verify everything that I told you about Nairomi." Irene told him as she crossed the street to head back to her hotel. She needed to start packing and head back to Metropolis as soon as possible.

"An anonymous source?" Perry questioned skeptically.

"Run it. Luthor engineered the desert. It was an ambush for Superman." She instructed him knowing that there was no time for her to sit down and write an enter expose. It had to be a breaking news headline. "A little trust here Perry."

"I let you go to DC didn't I?"

"You have to run it." Irene continued to urge knowing that if she was the one to destroy Lex Luthor's image first then he couldn't possible do anything against Superman anymore.

"If you're wrong Luthor will sue the paper out of existence." Perry replied, and Irene hated that he was right. It was a risky story to print but he had to do it.  "You need proof."

"No. It needs to run now. Before he has the chance to do anything else." She continued to argue as she rushed up the steps leading into her hotel. "We're a couple steps ahead of him now Perry."

"I'm not going to risk the paper for whatever little game you have going on with Luthor."

Irene felt like she could practically scream in frustration. She hated that Perry had to be so logical, and although there was so much more to this that she needed to uncover they had to get ahead of Luthor. "This isn't a game. You know I wouldn't lose my credibility as a reporter and publish something that isn't true."

"I know and I need solid proof before I can publish." He insisted and she knew that there was no point in pushing it further. "I know you can get it Irene."

And she was determined to. She was going to get the proof that Perry needed and she was going to take down Lex Luthor. He wasn't going to get away with tearing down Superman's image and she certainly wasn't going to let him hurt Clark with whatever he was planning.

A/N We're really getting closer to the climax of the story. I'm really having so much fun writing this story as you can tell by my frequent updates. I have 13 more chapters outlined for Book 3, so we still have a little more before we reach the end. What are you all excited to see in the future.