2012-07-15 Rescued by Superboy

"It is I, Scorpio! All shall fear my mighty stinger," calls out a loud voice from a pedestrian bridge that leads from the Hypersector toward New Troy. The day is coming to a close, the sun setting over Metropolis as the costumed crazy makes his statement. As if to add to his menacing appearance, a large clawed hand reaches out to grab random civilian number - oh wait! That's not a random civilian. That's Lois Lane! On her way home from work. She shrieks a the sudden movement and smacks the 'villain' on the head with her purse. "Let me go," she demands in a shout that carries through the area.

Superboy is out on 'patrol', something he has been taught about by Supergirl. He was doing this beforehand, but now he actually knows what it is called and undertakes it with a bit more professionalism. He flies at speed through the sky, a blue and red blur, when he hears the shriek and the declaration in a clearly villainous tone. He changes his speed immediately, making straight for the bridge that Scorpio is taking hostages on.

"You might want to rethink that word choice, silly little girl," Scropion taunts Lois, moving to hold her over the heavy end of business day traffic in the street below.

Lois looks down with a gulp, and grabs onto the hideous claw, because let's face it; that's the only perch she has. "What do you want from me, you twisted little-?"

"I am not little! And I want you, and everyone like you, pretty, petty, arrogant, to just ...bow before me," he's saying, giving the poor reporter a shake.

"No bowing," calls a voice from the sky, a voice belonging to the Metropolis Kid - Superboy!

He hovers a ways off, glaring at Scorpio and the captive whom he has seen once before. Man, that lady just has no luck at all. There's no time to ponder, however, and his eyes suddenly begin to glow red hot and the air before his face gains a sudden heat shimmer.

Heat vision! A blast of crimson energy shoots from his eyes at the insect man's chest, a savage and burning bolt! He has little control over this aspect of his powers, however, so it is the full force of it and nothing less. He quietly hopes he doesn't incinerate the pair of them.

At near the same instant, both captive and captor look up. "Superboy," Lois calls out, voice surprised and relieved all at once. That is until the boy's eyes crimson over. The adrenaline of fear and awe flicker through her as she watches, closer to the receiving end of the blast than she's ever been. It's... frightening. More than a little frightening, and yet she's so used to her supers having complete control over the power that she doesn't think to flinch.

Scorpio, however does, bringing his free hand..claw..thing to shield his face as the blast hits him full in the chest. The shirt he wears over the armored carapice burned away in a heartbeat, and and ugly angry red burn covers his chest as he staggers back and drops the reporter.

Superboy wastes no time in swooping down, his ears still listening out for anything that Scorpio might do while his eyes fix keenly on the falling reporter. He moves fast, faster than a speeding bullet in fact, and swoops up from beneath her to catch Lois in his arms. He whisks her upward, landing on the bridge and setting her down as he locks eyes with her.

"Are you alright?"

That diving scoop, the feel of those impossibly strong arms, the change of direction, and the delicate way she's set upon her feet is dizzying from the sheer thrill of a 'first time'. Violet eyes lock onto those impossibly blue eyes; her favorite color now, used to be purple. Lois sighs as she nods to the question. Her arms remain on his shoulders as she just marvels at this youthful version of Superman while her cheeks flare a bright red; just like 'always'.

Scropio is cross, and so, pushing through the burning pain of his chest, he foolishly charges the pair, yelling barbarically as he goes.

A half-smile crosses Superboy's face as he gives Lois a quick once-over with his x-ray vision, looking for broken bones or internal injuries that may not be readily visible. Seeing none, he turns his head slightly towards Scorpio and then back to Lois.

"I've just got to take care of this, miss."

That said, he turns about on his heels and holds his arms up. His goal? To let Scorpio charge straight into him, confident that his strength will be enough to stop him in his tracks.

Superboy's strength is MORE than enough, and Scorpio quite literally just bounces off that big red S. The 'villain' falls to his rump, looks up at Superboy, then turns to scramble to his feet and run for it.

Meanwhile, just behind Superboy, Lois watches, lips parted faintly, as Superboy... well.. just STANDS there and drops the lunatic to his behind. As many times as she's seen that display of strength from a Super, if NEVER gets old.

"No you don't," Superboy calls after Scorpio, his voice cocky - good-natured though he may be, he's still a teenager, "Come back here."

The Kid takes off; running at a speed much faster than what his opponent can muster. The blue and red blur zips through the air, speeding past Scorpio is a gust of wind before Superboy 'materializes' in front of him.

"Hi," he says with a smug grin before heaving a fist to strike him right across the jaw.

The expression is: Out Cold. Scorpio has no great speed, and is toppled by Superboy's mighty right hook. The villain is spun about until he faces the other direction, then falls flat on his face, a sprawled mess of a scorpion on the street at Superboy's feet.

Lois just watches, chuckling softly at the good-nature and cocky attitude of the boy. Her blush fades a bit as the likenesses ebb.

Superboy is gone and back again in an instant, carrying a length of steel which he bends like rubber to tie Scorpio's hands and feet. It takes him all of a few seconds, utilizing his super speed the whole while. When the unconscious villain is bound, he flies him up to hang him somewhere high that he won't be able to get down from with ease. The authorities can deal with him from there.

That done, he flies back down to land alongside Lois, "Hi."

Lois is chuckling as she watches the metallic hog tie. It's so... classically... Superman. When the youth lands as her side, her smile remains, broad and warm. "Hi," she replies, the bridge of her nose wrinkling faintly in amusement and joy. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Superboy says, looking around as a small crowd begins to gather around the guy who just knocked Scorpio for a loop. When someone asks for an autograph and mistakenly refers to him as Superman a guilty look crosses his face and he looks at Lois, "Do you ... have anywhere you need to go? I can fly you there?" Clearly, he's just looking for an excuse to get off the bridge.

And this is how is starts. Lois nods, smiling at Superboy as she steps toward him. "Yes, actually. That would be wonderful," she's saying. She can see that slightly guilty look, that uncomfortable sort of shift in his stance when Superman's name is used. "I really appreciate the rescue, Superboy," she says firmly, and though her eyes are focused on the youth's face, the tone of her voice could make anyone question if her qords weren't actually directed at the gathered crowd instead.

Relieved to say the least, Superboy moves forward to take Lois up in his arms and immediately takes off skyward. The crowd is left behind to watch him go and before long they're high up amongst the tallest towers of Metropolis' cityscape, and it is now that he asks: "Where to?"

Flying. It's the single most amazing thing... ever. Lois enjoys the flight, peering about the city she's come to love and so takes a few moments to gather herself to answer. "Ah, oh. Right. Um... To be honest I was headed home from work, but I didn't want to embarass you or anything. Especially not in front of every one. I... I'm sorry. I know you get this a lot but, you look SO much like him."

"Yeah, I know," Superboy says and now it is his turn to redden around the cheeks. Not long ago he'd tell anybody who listened about being a clone, but Supergirl has sworn him to secrecy and so he simply agrees but doesn't elaborate. He continues to fly, just making slow loops above Metropolis for the time being, "Thanks for letting me get out of there."

"Yeah, of course. Any time," Lois says, noticing his blush. She smiles, lips pressed a little thinly together. "And this has something to do with Superman's big secret, I bet," Lois asks, looking away. Lois has never once wanted to be so wrong in her life. But.. if that's true, who's the-?

"I can't say," Superboy answers, his tone apologetic. He won't lie outright, but lies by omission seem to be a necessity here, "What's your name, anyway?" He can't give her his, but maybe she'll let him know hers.

Lois nods to that, sighing soflty, but smiling back at Superboy warmly. "Thanks. I appreciate that; it's a whole helluva lot better than- nevermind. I'm Lois Lane, from the Daily Planet," she says, hoping she steered clear of the sticky topic of lies.

"Oh!" Superboy says, a little excitement entering his voice, "I read one of your articles online. You're a really good journalist." He's not sure how to compliment but he's being honest, at least, and that is comfortable about having to lie a little before.

Lois smiles, a faint blush coming to her face at theboy's excitement. She's heard those exact words before, at pretty much the same altitude. It's uncanny! "Thank you. It's nice to know you read me," she says, then winces a bit. "I mean..." wow, school girl time.

"No, it's really cool," Superboy says with a nod of his head, zipping up a little higher to get above the cloud cover, "I try to read all of them." The blush causes him to tilt his head to the side slightly, "Are you okay? We're not up too high, are we?"

Lois has to cling a bit tighter. It's reflex at these dizzying altitudes. "No. no. I'm okay. just... yeah. i don't get up here often," she quips, trying to make light of her embarrassment. Maybe he won't notice!

It is hard not to notice, especailly when he can hear her heartbeat and the rushing of blood is like waves crashing in his ears. Still, he's learned that embarassment is something people like to ignore and so he ignores it for her sake, "It is pretty high, yeah."

Lois nodnods quickly, all too happy to take that bit of kindness from the Super Boy as she tries to recollect herself. He's got to be like fifteen, sixteen! A boy that young should NOT be able to make a girl twice his age.. I mean... only twnety-nine(!!!!)... blush like a school girl. Lois opts for blaming Superman for the reaction. They do look EXACTLY alike. Maybe they're brothers?

"It's really pretty up here," she says after a long bit of silence, hoping she's got most of the emotions in check.

"Yeah, it is," Superboy agrees, continuing to fly in silence for a little while before he ventures to ask, "Where is home? I don't think you want to fly around up here with me all night."

Lois hangs on, calming down as she just enjoys the flight, mind wondering about... well, about things. "Hmm? Oh. It's over there," she says letting go with one hand to point toward whre she lives. "Thanks for the 'ride'," she comments, chuckling softly

"Anytime," Superboy answers, flying in the direction indicated by Lois and waiting for her to let him know exactly which building it is, "Do you get attacked a lot? This is the second time I've rescued you."

Lois gives directions to her balcony, chuckling at the question. "Does seem to be something I'm good at, huh? Truth be hold, I never really thought about it," she replies, looking up into his face.

"Well, just as long as I'm around you don't have anything to worry about." There he goes, being cocky again. As they arrive at the balcony he comes to a landing and sets Lois down, "This it?"

Lois blushes again, though this time it's a bit on the bittersweet side of a smile. She's nodding, both to his words and to the fact that they are, in fact, at her house. "Yes. Thank you, Superboy. It's really nice... having you in Metropolis also. If you... ever need to talk.. about anything or... well. Yeah. Umm. feel free to stop by." Mental kick in mental butt. WTH Lola!

"Yeah, I will," Superboy promises, though with all the secrets he has to keep he's not sure there is anything he /can/ talk about. All the same, no reason to tell her that, "I'll see you around, Miss Lane."

Lois smiles to that, stepping back and away from Superboy. She fights to smile through the frown at the sight of him. So much like Superman. So much younger. Where did he come from...? The reporter gives a little wave before turning to her sliding glass door.

Superboy remains a moment before taking off, flying away at speed. He's a little disappointed to have to leave as well, but he cannot think of a reason to just sit around on her balcony.