"Kent!" Bellowed Perry White.

Clark looked up, bracing himself for another tirade. Did Perry check his dropbox again? There was still no copy there.

"You have to go to Gotham. The planet has just been bought by Bruce Wayne.”

Clark just stared, horrified. "And you want me to go to Gotham, why?"

“To interview him, of course.” Perry spoke briskly.

“Perry, he just bought the goddamn paper and all you can think of is to interview him?”

“Kent, he has already bought it, nothing we can do about it. But it is headline news, and I want the Planet to have an interview, to which Mr. Wayne has already agreed.”

“Why me?” Clark knew he sounded plaintive, but he really did not want to go and meet Bruce Wayne right then.

"Look around, Kent. There's no one else here to do it. Lane is away chasing god knows what and Bruce Wayne hates most of the other reporters I have."

"I might be in that list too," Clark made one final attempt to wriggle out. "Our last meeting didn't go too well."

"At Luthor's gala?" Boomed Perry. "Did you bug him about the bat vigilante?"

Clark fidgeted, not answering and Perry sighed. "Look, Kent. I know you mean well, but you have to drop this. And please, don't botch this interview. Not if you want to keep this job."

That was Perry for you, thought Clark as the editor went back to his cabin. Clark sat down at his desk. He was not thinking of Luthor's gala, but of the time he stopped the Bat with a warning.

It hadn't taken him long to figure out the real identity of Batman. And once he did, he had researched into the millionaire playboy with the same single mindedness with which he'd researched Batman. And he thought he could understand where the Bat came from. Losing your parents like that, and then his son, he could understand why Bruce Wayne would want to do what he did.

But that did not mean that what he was doing was right.

Clark knew that Batman had some sort of vendetta against him. Or rather against his alter ego, Superman. Somehow, Clark could understand that too. He'd seen the news reels and read the reports of his fight with Zod. Even now he flinched when he saw the damage that was done to the city. And Wayne Tower had been one of the worst affected. It had been full of people too.

Clark had wondered if there was anything he could have done differently. He knew it was not possible. The fight was not his fault. It was thrust upon him. Zod had given him no option. And what else was he supposed to do, anyway? It was more than his life in the line there. Zod was turning earth into Krypton. Every human on earth was going to die. If Clark hadn’t stopped him, there would be no mankind left.

That did not stop him from having sleepless nights. But all the sleepless nights in the world was not going to change the fact that Clark had had no choice.

Apparently, Bruce Wayne had somehow decided it was his fault.

Clark wondered if the Gotham vigilante had figured out his real identity by now. It was possible. Batman seemed to have an uncanny ability to find things out. But if he had, going to Gotham to interview Bruce Wayne might be the worst thing he could do.

But perhaps, he could find some proof about the Batman's real identity. He did not think even Perry would shy away from that story. But now that Bruce Wayne owned the Planet, perhaps he would. But if he could find some proof, there were other ways to bring it out.

Of course, he risked exposing himself, but the billionaire playboy had more to lose.

He would go to Gotham. Perhaps he could figure out what the Bat was upto. And he would go with the assumption that the Batman knew his real identity.