Jimmy had taken Irene to her apartment the moment that she was able to stand again. He was probably afraid that she would snap in the middle of the office. But their coworkers had already seen Irene almost faint, and what everyone at the Daily Planet thought about her was the least of all her worries.

All she could think about was Clark and how he hadn't been answering any of her calls. It had been hours and she hadn't heard a word from him.

"Capitol Police are confirming to CNN that the suspected bomber is Wallace Vernon Keefe. Now these sources also say he may have gotten the explosive devices into the hearing by concealing them inside his wheelchair." The reporter said and Irene hated herself for having not looked into Wallace Keefe after he had vandalized the Superman statue. How she hadn't made the connection when she saw that he was going to be used as a witness in the hearing. "As for Superman, he was in the room, but obviously failed to stop him."

"Clark, it's me again." She practically pleaded as her grip on the phone tightened. "You're really starting to worry me. Can you..."

A familiar thud on the balcony caused her to freeze for a moment as she was flooded with relief. She understood if he needed space but she also just needed to know that he was okay.

Irene rushed to the balcony door sliding it open. The cold air almost stung her skin as she slowly stepped close to Clark.

"I didn't see it, Irene. I was at anding right there and I didn't see it." Clark said his voice almost a whisper, he wasn't even meeting her eyes. He was only looking down on the floor in shame.

"Clark, we know there are people behind this." She reminded him because he couldn't blame himself for what happened. Though she had questioned it. Wondered why he hadn't seen it, he could hear a pin drop from the other side of the city.

"I'm afraid I didn't see it because I wasn't looking."  He finally looked up to meet her eyes, and Irene felt her heart break as she saw the tears running down his face. She wanted to reach out and wipe them away but she knew that he needed space. "All this time. I've been living my life the way my father saw it. Mending wrongs for a ghost. Thinking I'm here to do good. Superman was never real. It's just a dream of a farmer from Kansas."

"That farmer's dream is all some people have. It's all that gives them hope." Irene said desperately trying to reason with him. She placed her hand on his chest, on top of the emblem of the House of El. It was like it was yesterday that he told her the meaning of the symbol. Irene had teased him about it it resembling and 'S' and he told her that the symbol meant hope on Krypton. "This means something."

She meant her words fully. Superman changed a lot of lives and saved so many people. Even after everything there were still people who believed in Superman and what he stood for. The symbol of the House of El might have meant hope on Krypton, but to a lot of people on Earth it held that same meaning. Superman have people hope.

"It did on my world. My world doesn't exist anymore." Clark replied and Irene couldn't help but be shocked by his words. It was difficult to see him lose hope, to hear him say that Earth wasn't his home.

"It means something to me." She told him but it wasn't enough, not anymore.  His feet slowly started to raise from the ground as he started to fly away from her. And before she could even attempt to say anything else he was gone. "Clark."

Irene could feel the tears running down her face, she hadn't expected him to leave. They always worked things out together and no he left her.

Taking a deep breath Irene wiped her tears away and stepped back inside the apartment where Jimmy was waiting nervously. Although he hadn't heard their conversation he had still seen them. He saw Irene crying and Clark leaving, Jimmy knew exactly what that meant.

"I'm so stupid." Irene said as she sat down on the couch. Everything came crashing down all because she fell for another one of Lex Luthor's traps.

Jimmy sat next to her on, and she couldn't be more grateful that he was by her side. He was currently the only thing keeping her together. "Irene you are anything but stupid."

"I should have known."  She muttered and although Jimmy had assured her that she was it was how she felt. She was stupid and foolish for not having realized it before. "I should have known he would do this. Instead I fell for another one of his tricks."

"You mean the meta-humans?"

Irene nodded as she looked up at the TV, Jimmy had muted it at some point but she could still see the images being played on the news reports. Footage of Superman getting the survivors out of the Capital, crowds rioting, and images of the burnt down Capital building.

"He sent me on this wild goose chase to throw me off. If he hadn't I might have figured it out sooner. I could have prevented this."

"It's cause he knew you were close. He was afraid you'd figure it out." Jimmy stated firmly and knew that he was right, but that didn't change anything. "You can't blame yourself for what happened. The only person to blame is Lex."

It was widely known that Lex Luthor was one of the smartest men in the world. Irene just hadn't expected him to be so smart as two always be ten steps ahead. It was a shame that a man like him would use his intelligence, money and power to hurt people instead of help them.

All Irene could do was sit at her desk staring at her computer. The monitor was black considering that she didn't even focus or think about anything related to work. All she could think about was everything she could have done.

All she could think about was Clark and how he wasn't answering any of her calls. How there hadn't been any sightings of Superman and how maybe that meant that Clark had given it up.

"And so, we are left to wonder, If Superman was aware of the threat and did nothing, was he then complicit in the Capitol tragedy?" Chloe Sullivan read, she had been assigned to cover Superman's disappearance and although it was going to be her first time in the front page she didn't seem very thrilled as she read her work. "His disappearance raises questions. How could he simply have disappeared at a time when we, as a nation, need him more than ever?"

Irene shook her head hating how the Daily Planet planned to publish that. They were the first newspaper to print about Superman, and they had been writing about Superman for the last two years always being the first to get exclusives. It was terrible for the paper to turn on him now.

But the idea that Superman was behind the Capital bombing was selling, even if it didn't make any sense.

"Still no Kent?" Perry questioned and Irene hadn't realized that he was standing right next to her desk.

"No." Irene replied softly, it had been two days already since the tragedy at the Capitol, and she still hadn't heard from Clark. "He's still sick."

Perry nodded and although he had gotten the answer to his question he hadn't made an attempt to move. Irene knew why, she could see it in his eyes too.

The guilt.

He knew just as well as she did that it was Lex Luthor that was behind this. That she had warned him about it days before the accident. That she had begged him to publish and that he refused. That maybe if he had listened to her what happened in the Capital could have been avoided.

"It was him. It was Lex Luthor." Irene stated finally voicing what he was afraid to. She didn't blame him because he wasn't at fault for any of it. He was right, she did need proof and she had failed to get it. This was on her. "He did this you know it's true. I could have stopped him."

"Then what are you doing sitting down and feeling bad for yourself?" Perry replied and the harshness of his words and tone shocked her. "Do something about it. Get the evidence you need to get the son of a bitch. Be a reporter."

Irene looked up at the closest television, there was a report titled "WAS SUPERMAN INVOLVED?' as a crowd in the background shouted "Burn him!"

They repeated those awful words as they torched and burned items that had Superman's emblem printed across. The most horrifying thing that they we're burning was a mannequin dressed like Superman. That images made her feel sick.

Perry was right. Nothing good came from her sitting at her desk and drowning in guilt. That wasn't going to clear Superman's name. It wasn't going to bring Clark back.

She couldn't bring back any of the people that lost their lives at the Capitol but she could make Lex Luthor pay for what he had done. And she could make sure that he didn't hurt anyone else.