By Catherine Semerjian <hsemerji@sympatico.ca>
Rated PG Submitted
May 1999
Summary: After saving Superman's life, Jimmy discovers that he has some "super" qualities of his own.
***
Clark Kent was in a fantastic mood.
Clark was tall with dark hair and eyes. Only his wife and parents knew about his Kryptonian heritage. He had used his superhuman abilities to become the superhero known as Superman.
Clark was happy because his wife Lois was returning from a conference in New Orleans.
Normally he could have just flown her home super-style, but she had insisted on travelling by conventional means. 'I can't have you spoiling me, Clark,' had been Lois' exact words on the phone last night.
Thinking about his beautiful wife made Clark's grin even broader.
Her petite frame, the dark hair and dark eyes. Everything about Lois had caused Clark to fall head over heels from the moment he had laid eyes on her.
"Bad day, C.K.?" his friend, Jimmy Olsen, teased, holding a manila folder.
Jimmy was just a couple of inches shorter than Clark was. A few years Clark's junior, he had light brown hair and blue eyes. Jimmy was a photographer at the Daily Planet, where Lois and Clark worked as well.
"Just awful, Jimmy," Clark answered, deadpan. "I mean, Lois is coming home. How bad can things get?" The smile on his face belied his tone.
"You have to admit, being a bachelor again wasn't exactly torture, now was it?" Jimmy replied, smiling himself.
"Well, I wasn't exactly a 'bachelor' again," Clark told him. "She was only gone for a week. Still," Clark added with a sigh that made Jimmy laugh, "it was kind of nice being on my own for a while. But I can't wait to see Lois again!"
"Neither can I," his friend admitted, "I can't wait to hear about some of the Mardi Gras she went to."
"She was at that convention the whole time, I doubt she could make it to one," Clark said. "Besides, how do you know so much about Mardi Gras?"
"I thought everyone knew about them," Jimmy replied. He smiled mysteriously. "Besides, I've got some friends in New Orleans."
Just as he was about to reply, Clark noticed the folder in Jimmy's hand. "What's that?" he asked.
With a slight blush creeping into his features, Jimmy handed the folder to Clark. "Oh, yeah. Here, the Chief wants you to check on this. It seems that a professor who worked at S.T.A.R. Labs says that he's developed an earthquake-making machine and he's going to test it out on Metropolis. He said that Superman wouldn't interfere either. Which I'm pretty sure is true because some Kryptonite was stolen last week."
The utter calmness with which Jimmy uttered these facts would have surprised most people. However, the young man wasn't too worried. Superman had saved the city too often for Jimmy to doubt him.
Clark tilted his head, silencing the young photographer before he could elaborate.
There was a large, panicked crowd gathering in the middle of a city. They sounded like they were screaming about having been in an earthquake.
"Uh, Jimmy, I've got to go." Clark began. He hated lying to his friends, but …
"Yeah, you've got to go pick up Lois." Jimmy nodded, handing him the folder.
"Thanks!" Clark called out, bolting out of the newsroom.
A few minutes later, the radio reported a disturbance near the centre of the city.
"I guess Perry will want some pictures," Jimmy sighed, fetching his camera and jacket.
He walked out the door just as the editor himself stepped out of his office. "Olsen! I want you to get some shots on that mob!"
Perry noticed the distracted wave just as the elevator doors closed.
"Guess I'm becoming predictable," Perry muttered, returning to his office.
***
The sight of Superman calmed many of the citizens down.
The Man of Steel acquired the story from a middle-aged man who was standing with his frightened wife.
Apparently, these people were from the suburbs of the city, minding their own business when there was an earthquake.
Not enough to damage buildings or hurt people, but enough to shake up the small communities into marching into City Hall and demanding an explanation.
"Listen, everyone." Superman called out, loud enough to get their attention. "City Hall's going to have an answer for you. I'll look into it, though. I'm sure this was just a random occurrence but there will be an investigation. Why don't you all go home. In addition, please try to stay calm."
***
Jimmy had arrived a few minutes ago, just in time to hear someone explain the story to Superman and the Man of Steel's subsequent speech.
Jimmy got some shots in that would definitely be front-page material.
Out of the corner of his eye, the young photographer saw a glint of metal against the hazy afternoon sun.
Jimmy realized with horror that Superman didn't see that it aimed right at him.
Something told Jimmy that this was no ordinary gun.
***
Superman was just finishing his speech when he felt someone plow into him. At the same moment, his sensitive hearing picked up a strange sounding projectile hurtling through the air.
The Man of Steel heard the familiar gasp beside him and turned in surprise to see Jimmy with what looked like a tranquilizer dart imbedded in the side of his neck.
Only instead of a knockout drug in it, Superman noticed the bright green substance known as Kryptonite inside of it.
***
"Are you okay, Jimmy?" Superman asked, noting the glazed look in his friend's eye.
"I'm fine, Superman." Jimmy stuttered drowsily. The younger man staggered a few steps … then passed out.
***
Jimmy had just saved his life.
The thought filled Clark with a sense of gratitude as he flew towards S.T.A.R. Labs cradling Jimmy's unconscious form.
While Kryptonite wasn't outwardly dangerous to humans, it could kill Superman in a matter of moments.
True, Kryptonite didn't hurt humans externally, but to his knowledge, no human had ever been given such a high dose of the deadly substance internally before.
That was what worried Clark.
Superman could only pray that it wouldn't hurt Jimmy now, either.
***
Dr. Klein was more than a little surprised to see Superman fly into his office window. He schooled his emotions as he noticed the body in the Man of Steel's arms.
Without preamble, Superman explained the situation to the doctor.
"It didn't hurt when you picked him up?" Klein asked tersely as Jimmy began to regain consciousness.
"No," Superman replied, placing Jimmy in the chair that Dr. Klein brought forward. "He just felt a little cold, that's all."
"That's a very good sign," Klein told him. "It's very probable that the Kryptonite will work through his system without any adverse affects."
"I have the most god awful hangover." Jimmy groaned, putting a hand to his neck. "What the hell were we drinking last night, C.K.?"
Clark allowed himself a moment of shock to register as Jimmy stared at him questioningly, waiting for an answer.
After a few fearful moments, Jimmy blinked a couple of times. "Superman? Dr. Klein, what am I doing here?"
Superman let out a silent sigh of relief. That had been a narrow escape.
He started as he realized that the doctor had been explaining what had happened to Jimmy.
"Then how come I'm not hurting you?" Jimmy asked, again turning his gaze onto Superman.
"We don't know, Jimmy." Superman replied truthfully. "That's why we're going to run some tests and see if the Kryptonite is having any effect on you."
The younger man's eyes looked to be a lot bluer for some reason.
Jimmy nodded obediently, "if it helps, I feel fine; just a little cold. My neck hurts a bit, too."
Yes, Superman noted. Jimmy's eyes were definitely a brighter shade of blue. Not quite glowing, but it was noticeable.
Klein wrote the information on a clipboard that he had acquired from his desk. "All right," he said after a moment, "if you'll just follow us, we'll run some tests and then I'm sure we'll be able to send you home, all right?"
Jimmy nodded again. "All right."
The trio proceeded down the hall with mixed emotions. One of them was worried, the other was worried and confused … one of them was just cold.
***
The testing came out as it was expected. Jimmy's blood test had shown an unknown substance in his bloodstream, not very surprising.
His temperature had registered at an even ninety eight degrees, which was point six degrees below normal. Oddly enough, Jimmy had only mentioned being slightly cold.
Testing his strength proved that Jimmy was slightly above average for someone of his height and build, no cause for alarm.
"Well, Jimmy," Dr. Klein began, "you're in optimal health for someone of your age. It's obvious that the Kryptonite didn't have any side effects, with the exception of the lowered body temperature and the unusual eye colour. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't go home now. In all feasibility the Kryptonite should be out of your system in a few days."
Jimmy grinned in relief. Superman still couldn't get over how blue Jimmy's eyes had become. It was disconcerting.
Before even Superman could react, an older man burst through the lab doors. The young intern he was holding a gun to prevented any actions.
"Now, Doctor Klein, you're going to listen to me and you're going to listen good." The man snarled.
He had lively brown eyes, a stooped posture, frazzled white hair and hard skin.
"No, Jeremy." Klein began, "not this way! Your theories were too-"
Jimmy's hand shot out and Superman found himself wondering wildly what he was going to do from so far away.
The sudden pain caught Superman off guard.
The Man of Steel cried out, knowing instinctively that Kryptonite was near him. But, he didn't know from how or where.
Looking at the gun, and hearing Jeremy's surprised yelp, Superman, through the blinding pain, saw the pistol levitating several feet above the scientist's head.
Just as suddenly, the weapon dropped onto the ground several feet away, near a stunned scientist.
Jeremy shoved the young woman out of his grasp and fled the room. Superman was still fighting the dizziness. Jeremy had little trouble getting away.
After a moment, he was able to stand upright again. Dr. Klein helped up him up concernedly, asking him how he was.
The rest of the doctors were crowded around Jimmy, asking him questions:
"Are you okay?"
"How did you do that?"
"How long have you had this ability?"
"Why did your eyes change colour?"
Jimmy for his part, only had one question. He directed it to Dr. Klein and Superman.
"What are they talking about?"
***
As they watched the surveillance video from just a few moments ago, Superman wondered about what he would see. After the Kryptonite exposure, his memories were a bit fuzzy.
Klein sped up to the moment where Jeremy walked in.
Several seconds into that he stopped the tape, "look here," Klein said excitedly, "watch your friend, Superman."
Even as the words were out of his mouth, Superman saw Jimmy's hand shoot up, and his eyes suddenly changed to a bright, glowing shade of green.
The same colour as Kryptonite.
The glazed, out of focus look in the younger man's eyes wasn't lost on Superman, either.
"I did that?" Jimmy exclaimed in shock as the gun floated in the air.
"You mean, you don't remember?" Klein asked excitedly.
Jimmy frowned, "actually, it's kind of coming back to me now. I remember thinking that I wanted to get the gun away from that guy, and then I remember thinking that it had really gotten cold and then boom!"
"That's the third time being cold has been mentioned." Klein observed, "the Kryptonite has lowered your body temperature slightly and using this … ability must increase that as well, remarkable."
"I'm cold now, but I was freezing then." Jimmy corrected.
"You're not tired, or thirsty?" Klein asked.
Jimmy shook his head, "A little tired, but it's nothing to worry about. Other than that I'm fine."
"There's really no reason to keep you here," the doctor told him. "I'd like you to call me if anything of this sort happens again, though."
Jimmy nodded, "Will do."
Superman stood up, "Come on, Jimmy. I'll fly you home."
Klein was too busy studying the new data to say goodbye.
***
"I'm sorry, Superman." Jimmy said suddenly.
"For what?" Superman demanded, surprised by the statement.
"About that whole … thing," Jimmy replied. "I didn't know that would happen-"
"Then you have no reason to be sorry, Jimmy." Superman replied easily. "It looked like you didn't have too much control of that ability in the first place."
"I think I do now." Jimmy told him. "Didn't you have trouble with your powers at first?"
Superman thought back to his first time flying, which had quickly resulted in his first time crashing. The look on his parents' faces had been priceless.
"A bit," Superman admitted. "On the other hand, we don't know if your powers are permanent in the first place."
Jimmy considered this as Superman opened the window of his apartment for him, "If they are, I'm going to have to learn how to use them. I'll try to get some practice in tonight. Thanks, Superman."
"No problem," the Man of Steel replied as he flew towards his apartment. "At least I hope not."
***
After about an hour, Jimmy felt he had the levitating aspect of his power down.
The young photographer noticed that it was a little harder to move heavier things, like the couch. It left him tired and much colder.
Jimmy only wished he could tone down the colour of his eyes. It was really starting to bother him. The young man could tell that Superman had been too.
Jimmy was also debating on whether or not he should go in to work tomorrow.
The photographer laughed as he thought of the telephone call between him and Perry:
'Hey, Chief, I'm not coming into work today.'
'Why not, son?'
"Well, I got shot in the neck with a dart full of Kryptonite and my glowing eyes just might throw people off. What do you think?'
After the imaginary conversation, Jimmy felt a foreign weight in his hand.
Looking down, he saw his phone obediently resting in his hand, with the dial tone sounding.
The increasingly familiar coldness made him shiver for a moment, before dissipating.
"Weird," Jimmy muttered as he set the phone back down.
***
Clark flew into his house absently, reverted to his normal clothes and flopped down onto the couch.
It was a few seconds later before he noticed the suitcases on the ground next to the door.
"Lois?" He called out.
"Miss me?" Lois called back from their bedroom; she was obviously unpacking.
Clark practically bounced into the room and hugged her tightly in reply.
"Maybe I should go away more often," she teased.
Clark kissed her, "Don't you dare. At least, not without me."
Lois grinned and sat down on the couch. "Before you ask, the convention was incredibly dull. A bunch of reporters, talking about their best stories in front of other reporters who were thinking about their best stories."
"Sounds like you were right at home." Clark chuckled. He got a gentle punch in the arm for his trouble.
"Yeah, right." She muttered. "So, did anything interesting happen here?"
Clark reflected on the day's events.
Lois took his silence for a negative. "That dull, huh?"
Clark almost laughed at the irony, "Actually …"
***
Dr. Jeremy O'Connor worked over his device with an enraged fervor.
His amazement at having escaped from Superman and that peculiar kid were the furthest things from his mind now.
"You don't believe me, Klein." O'Connor muttered as he worked. "You say my theories are too dangerous. Well, I'll show you, you hypocritical bastard. I'll show you what my theories in action can do."
At last, the device was complete. With these modifications, agitation of the tectonic plates would be increased tenfold.
"In fact," Jeremy muttered happily, "In twenty two hours, I'll show all of Metropolis what my theories can do."
***
Perry noticed the change in Jimmy almost immediately. The kid was wearing sunglasses in the newsroom and a heavy sweatshirt, despite the warm June breeze outside.
True, he watched out for all of his people, but Jimmy had always held a special spot in his heart, though Perry would never admit it.
That in the end, is why Jimmy was summoned into Perry's office five minutes after his arrival.
"What's up, Chief?" Jimmy asked casually as he strolled in.
"Funny, that's what I was about to ask you," Perry retorted coolly, watching the kid for a reaction.
Jimmy's dark sunglasses didn't quite mask the confused frown. "What do you mean?" He asked evasively.
"What do I mean?" Perry muttered in disbelief. "You're the one wearing sunglasses indoors and sweatshirts in June, and you want to know why I think something is wrong?"
Perry winced; his voice had sounded a lot more like a concerned parent than he had meant for it to. Of course, he was concerned, and Jimmy was like family to him. He hadn't wanted that to show at this time. They both knew that Jimmy could play Perry like a Bingo card if he set his mind to it.
"Nothing's wrong, Chief." Jimmy replied easily, "I'm just coming down with something that's all. The light bugs my eyes."
Jimmy's ability to lie so well had always scared him. He had once convinced a friend of his that he was having flashbacks of the Second World War from a past life.
Bobby got mad. Of course, it didn't take much work for Jimmy to convince him that he had only done it on a dare from his cousin. Jimmy didn't have any cousins, but it made Bobby feel better.
The younger man's reverie ended when he noticed Perry's expression soften.
"Why don't you go home then, Son? Get some rest." The paternal fondness in Perry's voice, coupled with a stern businesslike tone. So far, only Perry White had it mastered.
Jimmy nodded, careful not to make his glasses slip. "All right, Chief. I'll call you tomorrow."
The young photographer waved on his way out, but forgot that Perry had moved his desk slightly yesterday.
Jimmy winced as he banged his shin against the wooden desk.
The wince wasn't out of pain though; it was the fact that his sunglasses had slipped very slightly.
Nevertheless, it was enough for someone with Perry's keen observational skills to notice.
"Judas' priest, Olsen." Perry muttered, taking a step closer.
I could beat him to the door, Jimmy thought quickly. He sighed; nah, he'll just have C.K. and Lois hound me till I tell them what happened. Maybe I could get Superman to tell them. They can't get mad at him. At least, I don't think they can …
Jimmy knew it was hopeless when Perry tentatively removed the sunglasses from his face.
Perry gasped, the kid's eyes were no longer a quiet light blue, they were literally glowing.
The editor wondered wildly if the kid could see in the dark.
"I bet you want to know the story, huh?" Smooth line, Jim, his conscience commented. Real smooth, I'm in awe of the smoothness of that line. Sandpaper's got nothing on you.
Jimmy mentally told his conscience to shut up. For once, it listened.
"You bet I do!" Perry exclaimed, sitting behind his desk.
Jimmy grinned sheepishly, looking for the world like a kid caught with his hand in a cookie jar.
"Remember yesterday?" Jimmy began. "Well, that's actually when this whole thing started …"
***
Perry listened to Jimmy's story with utter disbelief on his face.
"I don't believe this," the editor muttered.
Jimmy sighed. "Pick something, Chief," he asked Perry after a moment. "Pick anything in the room."
"What do you mean?" Perry queried, staring at the kid's deadpan expression.
"Just trust me," Jimmy replied.
Perry shrugged and absently pointed to the paperweight on his desk.
"Piece of cake," Jimmy told him, tilting his head slightly.
Perry nearly had a coronary when Jimmy's eyes changed colour. It had been more sudden than a stoplight changing.
Jimmy's teeth began chattering, but he managed to point to Perry's desk.
The older man turned from his staring to see his paperweight floating peacefully several feet above his desk.
"Great shades of Elvis!" Perry exclaimed, for lack of anything else to say.
Jimmy took the shout as a sign that he could lower the object now. He did so with a tired sigh.
Perry noticed that the kid had started shivering despite the sweatshirt.
"Are you all right, Jimmy?" Perry asked, "do you need anything?"
"I'm fine," Jimmy stuttered, "It'll go away in a minute. It always does. Do you still want me to go home?"
The abrupt change in the conversation took Perry off guard, but he found himself nodding. "You do that, Jimmy. Get some rest."
"Bye, Chief. Wow, this is probably a world record." Jimmy muttered as he left the room.
"I don't follow you," Perry told him after a moment.
Jimmy grinned, "it's been exactly seven minutes since I walked into work and now I'm leaving."
***
Perry called Lois and Clark into his office, noting that Jimmy's departure had startled the couple.
"You mean to tell me that Jimmy's got some kind of superpower now?" Lois asked incredulously. Although Clark had warned her, hearing it from Perry shed a whole new light on the situation.
"And that's probably the only one he knows about." Clark added, "who knows what other side effects the Kryptonite might have had that haven't been discovered yet. Nothing like this has ever happened before."
"That's what I'm worried about," Perry told them sternly. "I want you two to keep an eye on him for me. Check up on him once in a while, you got that?"
"Will do, Chief," Clark replied. Lois nodded her assent.
Clark barely registered the faint rumbling in the back of his mind as he settled comfortably into his chair.
"Now, Clark, how far have you gotten in telling Lois about that earthquake story you've been working on?" the editor asked, settling back into work mode.
Lois opened her mouth to reply when the earth began shaking. At first, she hardly noticed it. Lois dismissed it as a figure of her imagination.
When she fell out of her chair, Lois knew she wasn't imagining this temblor.
***
Jimmy had just turned the corner around the Planet when the quake hit.
The startled shouts and sudden loss of balance momentarily stunned the young man.
Regaining his composure, Jimmy proceeded to help several people back to their feet.
Something that didn't accomplish very much due to the fact that the tremors were growing in intensity.
***
"Level five on the Richter scale!" Jeremy sang. "Let's up the tempo, shall we, Metropolis?"
***
There was pandemonium in the Daily Planet.
Desks were tipping over, people were yelling in alarm as bits of the ceiling started to crumble down.
Clark finally managed to get into a secluded area and change into Superman.
He was just in time, since one of the ceiling's support beams just collapsed on top of Lois. She'd be killed in a couple seconds.
Superman caught the beam just in time, and welded it back into the ceiling with his heat vision.
The Man of Steel didn't even hear Lois' thanks as he set out to answer the ever-increasing number of cries.
***
The near-death experience didn't even faze Lois as she left the Planet to help the people outside.
***
Whatever pandemonium reigned inside the Planet was nothing compared to the anarchy outside.
People were shouting and fleeing in all directions at once. Anyone who had been driving suddenly found themselves overturned and trapped inside their cars.
Jimmy was totally disoriented.
He was no longer sure of where he was. The only thing he was sure of was that he had to help in any way he could.
***
Lois was trying to calm people down, but it was hard when all she wanted was to run, herself.
***
Superman followed the rumbling he had heard earlier to a nearby apartment.
He dove into the window with several different forms of light emitting from it.
Inside, the man Superman had seen earlier at S.T.A.R. Labs was standing beside a very complex-looking computer.
The old man didn't even notice Superman's entrance; he was so deep into his work that nothing that didn't relate to his experiment even registered.
Superman took care of the problem with two fists directly into the heart of the vile device.
Evans wailed in despair as thirty-three years of work now sat in a smoking wreck.
The old man didn't put up a fight as Superman bound him and left to help the remaining citizens of Metropolis who were still in danger.
***
The fact that the earthquake was over did little to calm the citizens' of Metropolis' fear.
Lois was the first one to notice the change and soon shouted it to the others around her.
The news spread quickly. Soon the good people of the city began helping the others who'd been hurt or trapped.
***
Superman flew around the city, lending assistance wherever he could offer it. It was a miracle that most of the city, and its citizens, were in one piece.
***
Most of the city was in one piece, but some sections weren't.
***
Jimmy was working with a group of four other men, trying to pry a huge hunk of rock from the doorway of a department store.
The job took a lot of muscle and the sudden motion jolted everyone involved from the large hunk of concrete as it tumbled safely to the left.
The scream of surprise made Jimmy look up sharply.
An enormous piece of concrete was precariously balanced on top of the building across the street had been knocked off its perch. It plummeted to the ground at impossible speed
In its path were at least twenty petrified people.
Jimmy's hand shot out.
The shout that had been working its way up to his throat stopped dead as an awful cold settled onto his body.
It was so much worse than before that for the first time, Jimmy was actually afraid of his new power.
***
Even from several feet away, Lois saw the large piece of concrete levitating a few feet above the ground.
"Superman," Lois whispered in relief, running over to the spot where she expected to find the Man of Steel.
All Lois saw was Jimmy; hand outstretched as though he were holding something, with his eyes glowing an impossible shade of green.
Superman can't help if Jimmy's using his power, Lois realized. He'd be too weak from the Kryptonite and the rock would crush him if Jimmy stops.
The citizens under the rock were petrified.
Thinking fast, Lois ran under the rock and began moving the stunned people out of harm's way.
Soon several other citizens followed her lead and in a couple of minutes, there was no one under the rock.
Lois ran up to Jimmy, who was so busy trying to hold the debris up that he hadn't even realized that the danger was over.
"Jimmy," Lois told him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
The reporter gasped and pulled her hand away. He was cold to the touch.
Lois noted Jimmy's blue lips and pale skin. He was shaking violently. Lois saw him breathing in small gasps.
"Stop it," Lois told him again, trying to get his attention. "Jimmy! Superman!"
Her cry must have gotten through to him. The rock fell to the ground with a thunderous crash.
Whereas Jimmy Olsen fell to the ground with only the softest of groans.
***
Superman was just helping a pregnant woman and her young daughter out of their overturned van when he heard Lois call out to him.
The Man of Steel helped her the rest of the way through, before taking flight again.
Lois called out again and Superman flew toward a street two blocks away from the Planet.
When he got there, Superman checked to see if anyone was hurt. He was relieved to find that everyone was fine, although a little shaken.
"Over here, Superman!" Lois called out again, "it's Jimmy! Something's wrong!"
The Man of Steel ran to his friend and noted that his heartbeat was practically nonexistent.
Jimmy was dying.
***
Jimmy's pulse was dangerously slow because of extreme hypothermia.
"No time," Superman muttered, "got to try this."
Hoping for the best, Superman aimed a low ray of heat directly into Jimmy's heart.
If they were lucky, the heat might kick-start Jimmy's heart into beating again.
It was dangerous, though. If Superman made the heat too hot then he might send Jimmy into shock.
There wasn't time for anything else.
Superman gasped in relief as Jimmy's heart began to resume a slow, steady, beat.
"I'll take care of him," Superman told Lois and the others. "You go check on everyone else."
***
Superman couldn't believe how cold Jimmy felt in his arms. The shivers that wracked his friend's body made him feel even more upset that he hadn't seen this coming.
"You're going to be fine, Jimmy." Superman told him confidently. "Just fine. We'll get you warmed up then we'll make sure you're okay."
***
By the time Superman got Jimmy back to his apartment, the young man had a hint of colour back in his formerly pale cheeks.
As Superman placed him on the bed, Jimmy stirred and tried to sit up.
The Man of Steel held him down gently. "You really should lay down, Jimmy. You've been through a lot."
Jimmy just nodded, as though he was too tired to say anything. He leaned back against the couch, pulling up a nearby blanket as he did so. He curled up on his side and in a moment was asleep again.
Superman wanted to stay with Jimmy, but he could still hear people in trouble calling for his help.
The Man of Steel took one last look at his friend before flying through the window.
***
It was two hours later that Clark managed to walk back into the Planet to check on everyone.
He was exhausted, the rescue efforts had wiped him out.
Clark walked to his desk and flopped into his chair. He didn't even want to look at his computer screen, much less turn it on.
But, Perry was walking toward him and was no doubt expecting an article sometime in the near future.
Aside from sporting a bruise on his temple, Perry didn't look any worse for wear. He sat down on the chair in front of Clark.
The editor lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Say, Clark, you haven't heard anything from Jimmy, have you? I lost track of him when all the commotion started."
Clark hid a smile. It was an open secret that Jimmy was like a surrogate son to Perry, though the editor always tried to hide it.
"Actually, Chief," Clark began. "I just saw Superman and he told me that Jimmy had passed out after using that power of his to save some people. He guesses that Jimmy used it up and exhausted himself. Superman flew Jimmy home after that. He said that Jimmy was asleep when he left."
Clark had decided not to worry Perry about close they had come to losing Jimmy.
Clear relief shone through Perry's eyes but he masked it quickly with his editorial sternness.
"I'll want an article written up by tomorrow morning," White told him sternly, walking away.
Clark smiled to his boss' back. "Whatever you say, Chief. Whatever you say."
***
Jimmy woke up to find himself at home, and in bed. Weird, he couldn't remember taking his shoes off.
Aside from his hair sticking out in all directions and his face feeling dirty, Jimmy felt pretty human.
As he made his way over to the kitchen sink to splash some water on his face, Jimmy realized something.
"It's hot in here."
Looking like someone who had just walked into his own surprise party, Jimmy walked over and adjusted his thermostat.
Jimmy shifted uncomfortably. He felt different, as if someone had switched off a light switch inside of him.
Then memory returned … The building … holding up the boulder so that the people could get away.
Jimmy could feel the cold he had felt, but in a detached, otherworldly sort of way.
My power's gone. The thought made Jimmy feel smaller and weaker than he had ever felt before.
Just to confirm it, Jimmy glanced into a nearby mirror. The reflection showed his face, looking tired, haggard and dirty.
That wasn't exactly a shock.
What caught the young man's eye was that his eyes were now back to their original, muted colour.
It was then that Jimmy noticed his camera on his coffee table. He remembered that he still had a roll of film in there.
"Time to get back to work." He muttered stooping down to pick up the camera.
Jimmy's entire body jerked as the temperature in the room seemed to plummet. The camera literally jumped into his hands.
"What the-?" The young man muttered staring at the object now nestled in his arms.
"Let's try this again." Keeping a careful eye on his form in the mirror, Jimmy focused on lifting it.
The cold was immediate, and the mirror lifted. However, Jimmy saw that his eyes were still the same shade of blue.
"Curiouser and curiouser." Jimmy muttered in surprise. "I think that S.T.A.R. labs will want to hear about this."
***
Doctor Klein theorized that while the Kryptonite had been in his system, his cells had adapted to it, thus creating an entirely new substance. Jimmy would have to go to S.T.A.R. labs tomorrow to be sure the theory was right. Knowing Doctor Klein, Jimmy had no doubt that it was.
Jimmy hung up the phone, and pencilled in the appointment in his date book. Just before walking out, Jimmy remembered that he looked like something the cat dragged in.
The young man walked to the sink, splashed water onto his face and smoothed his hair back into place.
Just as he grasped the doorknob, an unbidden thought made its way through Jimmy's mind.
Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
"Tell me about it."
THE END