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Jackie Williams was ecstatic to have landed this internship at the Daily Planet right after graduation. It was a hell of an opportunity to get hands on experience on how to be a journalist from the best of the best. Said best of the best were not quite what they had expected and anticipated, though.
Perry White was an absolutely fantastic editor in chief, and the best boss they could ever ask for. He pushed them to work harder than they ever had before, but as a result their writing and reporting had improved by leaps and bounds. He also had an eerie ability to know exactly when Jackie needed a push to do something that they were completely capable of but needed encouragement, and when they instead needed someone to pull them back and make them rest. He more than lived up to the legends they’d heard.
All through college, Jackie had admired Jimmy Olsen’s photography prowess and his uncanny ability to get fantastic shots in the middle of disasters. They were somewhat surprised, when they finally met him, about how laidback he was most of the time. They’d expected him to be far more high-strung and antsy. To be fair, he was antsy when he thought he was in trouble with Perry, but the instant a camera was in his hands he was completely at ease, even if he was caught in the middle of a fierce superhero battle. It was easy to feel comfortable about him, and to listen to his advice on how to navigate Perry’s moods and the fast pace of news through the Planet.
Jackie had expected the Daily Planet to be a highly professional place, and it was, but because of how much of their lives employees tended to invest in the Planet, their personal lives tended to bleed over. Which made for some very strong interpersonal relationships between employees and fascinating drama.
The weirdest – and yet most straightforward – family drama that Jackie had borne witness to was because of columnist Dirk Armstrong. They honestly weren’t sure sometimes how he was still employed by the Planet with how dense he was (well, the actual answer to that seemed to be that the publisher, Franklin Stern, wanted him around to “balance” perspectives. It was complete hogwash, but there seemed to be little Perry or anyone else could do to sway Stern’s opinion on this.) It could not be more clear that his daughter, Ashbury, still cared about him (for reasons beyond Jackie’s comprehension), which was the only reason why she didn’t completely cut him off when he was a complete asshole. Theoretically, Armstrong was smart, so Jackie didn’t see how he did not realize that the more he insulted and attempted to push away Ashbury’s odd friend Scorn, the less Ashbury was going to talk to him. Or perhaps he had realized that, and just didn’t care as long as he eventually pushed Scorn and Ashbury apart.
Clearly, that would backfire on him even more spectacularly than it already had at some point. Ashbury loved Scorn, and she loved the thrill of risky and dangerous situations like the ones that they got into together. If her father made her choose between him and Scorn, she wasn’t going to choose her father.
In the face of that soap-opera level melodrama, it was easy to overlook the more interesting – but far subtler – family dynamics present in the bullpen. Especially considering the reporter at the epicenter of it.
For an unassuming investigative journalist from Kansas, Clark Kent was somewhat of an enigma. On paper and in person, he seemed normal and slightly boring, with very little reason to pay attention to him beyond an uncanny ability to ferret out secrets and his frequent disappearing act because of his weak stomach.
But if for some reason one decided to look closer, Clark quickly became very strange. To start with, there was the fact that he had two family members also employed at the Daily Planet.
Much of the Daily Planet staff itself was close enough to be considered family, so Kent’s family at the Planet went well beyond two people. And it made sense that Kent met his wife working at the Planet, and Troupe ended up as his brother-in-law when he met Lane’s sister. But to Jackie, it felt like there was something more than coincidence and chance at play.
The Lane & Kent & Troupe family had something odd going on, something that Jackie couldn’t quite figure out. Jackie was well on their way to becoming an investigative journalist in their own right, goddamnit, they could figure out their coworkers!
So they did what every good journalist did, and researched their subjects. Thoroughly. It was quite a task, considering Lane’s output. It was no wonder she was the top reporter at the Planet. The more they read, the more honored they felt at the chance to work in the same newsroom as Lane.
Kent appeared on the scene quietly alongside Superman, and rivaled Lane in the number of articles written about Superman and his activities in Metropolis. Lane and Kent became reporting partners relatively early on in his career, which must have been quite the adjustment for both of them. They made a mental note to try to question one of the more established employees – Jimmy, probably, he was good friends with both of them – on what that had been like. From Lane’s earlier writing, she seemed to have preferred to work alone, and Kent was so mild that the initial days of their partnership must have been quite rocky. They’d clearly made it work, though.
They’d then found, in their backreading, one of Troupe’s first articles at the Planet; a piece written after Superman’s death, on the Cyborg Superman before his villainy was revealed. In it, Troupe talked about his admiration for Kent’s writing and work in retrospective, since Kent had been missing-presumed-dead from the Doomsday Battle at the time. Kent had been unearthed alive from rubble by a newly revived Superman soon after. Jackie wondered whether that article had felt awkward to either of them, afterward, when they became coworkers, then later friends and in-laws.
Probably not. Weird things happened all the time in Metropolis and as reporters they saw more of it than most. It was probably a subject casually brought up to tease about at family dinners.
While at work, Kent, Lane, and Troupe were very professional and one could almost think they were normal. The true oddness and entertainment of the Kent & Lane & Troupe family set in when one considered their associated visitors and hangers-on.
Lucy Lane, Lois Lane’s sister and Ron Troupe’s wife, was an occasional visitor to the Planet, usually to pick Troupe up for some thing or other, or occasionally to give something to Lois. When she did, she usually ended up hanging around for a while and teasing Jimmy about one thing or another. They had apparently dated in the past, before Lucy met Ron, and were still good friends now.
The kids came by more often. Jon and Sam were semi-frequent visitors to the Planet, when their parents were working overtime. According to the older employees, Jon had practically grown up in the bullpen from how often he accompanied his parents on late nights. Kent had worked partially remote during Jon’s toddler years, but there were still situations that required both Kent and Lane at the Planet, and Jon had tagged along quite often. Few workplaces would have been accepting of that, but the Planet was. It helped, of course, that Jon was Perry’s godson, and he was always thrilled to see him.
Troupe hadn’t been employed at the Planet around the time of Sam’s birth, due to some kind of staffing shake up involving Luthor that none of the staff from around that time wanted to talk about. But he’d rejoined sometime after, and Sam had apparently began making regular appearances at the Planet after that.
At their current age, Jon and Sam showed up together at the Planet. They both occasionally worked as newsboys, so that made sense. Keith, Perry’s adopted son, generally supervised them, and many jokes were made about them being the next generation of Daily Planet reporters. None of the kids had committed to journalism as a career choice, but there were high hopes in the newsroom about at least one of them doing so.
Kent and Lane’s oldest kid, Chris, also made occasional appearances after school, though less often than Jon and Sam did. He was a shy but sweet teenager, and well loved by all at the Planet. Jackie had only met him once, but they agreed with that assessment
While they were the youngest members of the family that dropped by, they were by no means the only. Kent’s brother, Conner, came by somewhat frequently – he attended college in Metropolis, so that made sense. Kent and Lane took him out for lunch and fussed over him, which he alternately preened under and complained about. It was clear, despite the fact that they’d met later in life, that Clark and Conner were very close. Conner took great glee in teaming up with Lois to heckle Clark. He evidently visited home in Kansas more often than Clark did; frequently, he brought baked goods their mother sent back with him. Jackie wasn’t entirely sure what Conner studied; for as seemingly open and cheerful as he was, he didn’t really share many details about himself. He and Clark were a lot alike in that sense.
Rumor had it that Conner had a dog, but said dog was unfortunately not allowed to enter the Planet so Jackie had never been able to verify this. Mostly because it felt really awkward to walk up to Kent and ask about his brother’s possible dog. She definitely didn’t want to tip him off that she was snooping, especially with how protective he seemed to be about his family – they still remembered that time Kent had practically loomed over a police officer because of a snide comment made about Conner. It was the only time they’d ever seen him look remotely scary, and Jackie didn’t want to be on the receiving end of a repeat demonstration.
Kent’s cousin was also a frequent visitor, though less often than his brother. Jackie wasn’t entirely sure what it was exactly that Linda did, though not because of the inability to say things about themselves that all of Kent’s family members seemed to have – whatever her job was, it seemed to change often. She usually came by to tease Kent about something or other around lunch before flitting off to whatever she did otherwise. Jackie couldn’t entirely articulate why, but Linda felt stranger than anyone else in the Kent family. She was ever so slightly off in body language from what one would expect, which made her hard to read and ever so slightly off-putting. And then there were the times that she was puzzled by normal, everyday things. Jackie thought that it was likely she had escaped from a cult as a child, which would explain some of her idiosyncrasies and the fact that Kent had apparently not known his cousin for most of his life. Whatever the story was, Jackie could only wish Linda the best in figuring out her life.
The odd assortment of relatives were obviously from Kent, and the coworkers that made up their family came from the connections both of them had at the Planet. The superheroes, on the other hand, were clearly Lane’s strays.
The Daily Planet in general was a magnet for connections to supertypes – Jimmy Olsen was, after all, Superman’s best friend – but this was something else.
First off, there was Superman, who whenever he wanted to be interviewed almost always ended up giving one to Lane. Kent snatched them up occasionally, usually when Superman seemed cagey about something. Everyone else got the occasional interview if they happened upon the scene fast enough. Jimmy, of course, as Superman’s best friend, had more access to Superman than anyone but Lane, and not only did he always come back with spectacular photos, there were occasional high speed deliveries of his favorite takeout when working on a deadline. Superman was a good friend to have.
But there was something more to Lane and Superman’s connection. It was very close. Incredibly close. If Jackie didn’t know better, they’d say that they were in love, or dating, or something. It certainly looked that way sometimes – the way they looked at each other after Superman caught Lois wasn’t exactly subtle. It was for that exact reason that Jackie didn’t know what to think – if everyone could see it, surely Clark could too? And he never said anything about it at all, and made vague allusions to him and Superman having a close relationship as well.
There was an office betting pool about what exactly was going on between Lane, Superman, and Kent, even. Bets ranged from Lane having an affair with Superman, the three of them being in a relationship of some kind, Lane and Superman being just friends, and the most unlikely of them all – Kent having an affair with Superman. The flimsy evidence provided was that Kent had rumpled clothing sometimes after Superman appeared, or ducked away randomly. Jackie thought it was the most ridiculous and baseless thing they’d ever heard. Clearly, Lane was married to Kent and dating Superman. She had a very specific type that Kent and Superman fit - to the point that they looked startlingly similar. Everyone else in the pool was being utterly ridiculous. Kent and Superman were clearly just friends.
Superman was the most awe-inspiring and well-known hero who hung around Lane at the Daily Planet, but he wasn’t the only one. The Steels were frequent visitors as well, both in and out of their suits.
The first Steel – John Henry Irons – usually visited in uniform to drop off information of some kind to Lane and Kent. He said it was about professionalism in interacting with the press, though it was clear from the way that they spoke that he was quite familiar with both Lane and Kent. The fact that they occasionally went to lunch with him or would walk to and from the Planet with him some mornings and evenings only solidified that impression. There was definitely something going on there – that was more than just an amicable acquaintanceship.
The second Steel – Natasha Irons – was more cavalier about showing up outside of her suit. She was more likely to stop by in “civilian” clothes to banter with Kent when giving him and Lane tip-offs about events in Metropolis. She was clearly familiar with both of them, but seemed to be much more in awe of Lane than Kent (which was very understandable, Lane was amazing).
Oddly enough, she also seemed to be friends with Kent’s brother and cousin as well, and would tag along on their visits. Kent and Lane treated Conner and Linda’s friendship with an actual superhero as completely normal and unremarkable. Sure, it was Metropolis, but it was an unusual occurrence and a strange attitude to have.
The Kryptonian members of the Superman crew? Superman family? Jackie had only moved to Metropolis for this internship, she wasn’t entirely versed on what their superhero group was called. Anyway, the other Kryptonians also seemed attracted to the Planet like moths to light.
Superboy the Second – the more recent, brown haired one – popped in pretty often. Sometimes he accompanied an older Kryptonian – particularly Supernova – or one of the Steels, but usually it was on his own. He was polite and helpful, usually gone as quickly as he came.
A rare exception to that was the time or two that Jon Kent and Sam Troupe were in the building when Superboy arrived. The teenage Kryptonian went out of his way to tease both of them, but especially Jon. The boys seemed familiar with each other, which made Jackie ponder whether Superman and Lane and Kent set up playdates for their kids. It added more fuel to their theory that Lane was in a relationship with Kent and Superman; if that were the case, surely they’d have introduced the kids and thus, Superboy would be familiar with Jon and his cousin. Lombard thought that it was something as absurd as babysitting that had made them that familiar. As if!
Supernova (formerly Superboy) was quite a bit flashier than the others, when he appeared. He usually showed up alone to relay information he’d picked up while responding to things with his teammates. Otherwise, he turned up with Superboy or Natasha Irons. He came across as being light-hearted and very confident and at ease with himself and what he was doing. That made sense, given his history. As far as Jackie could tell, Supernova had been in the superheroing business for most of his life. Of course he was comfortable with what it entailed!
There was a depth and vulnerability Supernova showed sometimes that seemed to be reserved for Lane and Kent. He still bantered with Lane, but he was far more likely to broach serious topics and admit uncertainty with her. He did something similar with Kent as well, but it came across in a far more understated way.
The current Supergirl – there had been a couple, apparently – was more elusive that the rest of her kin. She’d had some bad experiences with the press in the past, and seemed to prefer letting her cousins take press duty. She seemed to trust Lane and Kent implicitly, though – Jackie could only speculate as to how they’d earned that trust from her. The few exceptions to Supergirl’s non-Lane and Kent news blockade seemed to come when she felt that a member of her family was being threatened by the press. Then, she’d put herself between them and the microphone, every time. Superboy, presumably because of his youth, was always shoved out of the way by her. Certain topics – which followed no rhyme or reason as far as Jackie could tell – had her shoving Supernova out of the way too, much to his chagrin.
Whatever her reasons, Jackie was just glad that her limited contact with the press reduced how often they had to report on her telling the press to go fuck themselves, or threatening ineffectual officials, or all the nasty things she yelled at supervillains. Yes, the less Jackie had to report on that, the better.
Heroes from other cities would occasionally appear at the Planet, but that was a normal thing in the world that they lived in, so Jackie discounted it. The important puzzle piece to the mystery that was Kent and Lane was the local, Super-superheroes. While the overall picture made from Superman and his family of heroes’ connections to Lane and Kent seemed complex and convoluted on the surface, it was quite simple when one reduced it to the basics. The Supers were oddly at ease with Kent but especially with Lane, considering her reputation. It would make complete sense for them to be awed or keep a distance from her given her reputation for ferreting out secrets. The clear openness and trust they showed was odd. And then there was the clear and obvious familiarity between Superman’s family and Kent’s. The only plausible explanation was that Lane was involved with Superman, so his family and Lane and Kent’s were one big, blended family. It explained everything, from Superman’s close relationship with Lane, to the tendency Superman’s family had to trust Lane and Kent, to the way that Superboy acted around Jon and Sam. It all made complete sense!
Yes, Jackie had their coworkers’ connection to Superman very well figured out. One of these days, when the truth came out, they were going to be able to tell everyone else in the betting pool “I told you so!”