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Lois Lane was pretty sure Superman saved Bruce Wayne from whoever had taken him, meaning that Clark Kent had an idea of what happened. Of course, the hero wouldn’t tell her anything aside from his new friendship with the Omega. Clark didn’t even mention if he still wanted to court Bruce, even if the billionaire was pregnant and had a slight scar on his throat.
If she was being honest, at first she couldn’t really understand why his friend wanted to court that specific Omega. She wasn’t pretentious nor judgmental, but even she knew that Wayne’s Omega’s image was bad for their gender. She had fight everyone who ever dared call her a slut or a bitch, but apparently, Wayne liked being that. It didn’t matter if Clark said that Bruce wasn’t really what he looked like. That he wasn’t even drunk when he appeared to be in all his galas, or that he wasn’t really the flirty playboy the Gazette described.
The last six months had changed her mind, though.
Since Gotham’s favorite Omega returned pregnant, Bruce had taken a more active role in his company. Wayne Enterprises created more jobs and gave more scholarships than ever. Medicine, science, technology… Wayne even helped a group of extremists fighting against global warming to get out of prison for breaking in his own company and sabotaging some projects. Pamela Isley, the leader, had a contract with the company now, overseeing and studying every project and suggesting changes that would help the environment instead of the pollution.
Bruce knew that his rich friends liked to brag about their money, so he used them to donate to hospitals, schools (both public and private), and orphanages. The last one wasn’t new, because he already had a foundation dedicated to his parents to help children who lost their families. He had contracts with Arkham Asylum, ensuring the correct treatment of patients, and the rightful payment to doctors and security. Clark said that Bruce thought that if they were happy, they would treat their patients better. Of course, it helped that the new “vigilante” exposed those who didn’t belong to a place that helped others.
The Bat, a new hacker in Gotham, had started to leak private information about people in high positions. The first one was the governor, who had some nasty agreements with both Falcone and Maroni families. He received a grand sum of money as long as he ignored his dealings and murders.
Quincy Sharp claimed “they attacked each other and left the rest of Gotham alone. I wouldn’t interfere with them, and they wouldn’t destroy our city.”
Then it was the police department. Everybody knew that the GCPD was corrupted even if there were some that were actual honest policemen or detectives, (those who tended to end dead), so it was no surprise when the Bat leak all the information about payrolls and interferences on cases, especially on their commissioner, Mackenzie "Hardback" Bock. The new mayor, Marion Grange, ensure their destitution and placed one James Gordon as commissioner of the GCPD. The three of them, (Grange, Gordon, and the Bat) continued cleansing the city, with the Bat leaking every dirty detail he found on anyone with power, Gordon investigating, and Grange acting as a responsible mayor.
It also helped that some judges were guilty of corruption, so they didn’t have a say in any of the defendants’ punishments. Besides, Bruce’s old friend Harvey Dent was a fierce and scary prosecutor. No one messed with him.
Lois looked up from his computer, where she had been reading about the neighboring city. Clark exited the elevator and offered her a coffee which she took. His friend looked happier if a little tired. He had visited Wayne’s manor every day off since the Omega’s return, and when she asked if it wouldn’t be a bit suspicious, he told her about Bruce’s friend and how they could say they met at a gala and then Queen introduced them “to annoy his friend”. Lois wanted to meet Queen in person, but it wasn’t her kind of work. She’ll leave that to Cat.
“Your Omega’s been busy,” she smiled around her styrofoam cup. “Although I would talk to him about his… flirting.”
Clark scoffed, but his smile grew.
“He wouldn’t be taken seriously enough if he suddenly wasn’t Brucie Wayne,” he shrugged. “He kindda explained it to me but I didn’t really get it. People love him for it, though.”
“It doesn’t bother you?”
Clark averted her eyes.
“You haven’t told him,” she sighed.
“I- I want to wait for the right time. He just lost a mate-
“One that kidnapped him.”
“-and I know he’s stressed about his pup and all the new things he tries to do in Gotham,” he ignored her. “I mean… I know I would save him if something were to happen, but you know how old money is. Some of the founding families don’t want to let go of their money and will try to stop Bruce from making Gotham a better place. They profit from trafficking and drug dealings and whatnot. Not all of them own big companies that keep the income flowing.”
Lois raised an eyebrow and studied him for a second.
“You know more than you are telling me,” she rolled her chair to his desk and whispered. “Is it about the Bat? Do you know who it is? Is it Wayne?”
Clark stared with widened eyes.
“No- I- Uh,” he stammered. “I do know who it is. But they don’t want people to know. And they kind of protect Bruce, so…” he shrugged.
“They protect him?” Lois asked. “I’m not sure if you’re protecting him right now, or if ‘they’ are some kind of white hats group he hired to help him.”
Clark smiled sheepishly.
“He has something to do with it, right?”
Clark nodded.
“So? Are you telling me about the founding families?”
Clark let out air and looked around them to ensure no one was listening.
“So, Bruce received a mysterious letter, or rather it appeared on his desk in his study in his manor,” he explained. “No one has access to the manor. He put a lot of security after he was taken. Alfred was pretty shaken when Bruce showed him.”
“Who was it from?”
“You’d think that threats weren’t signed,” Clark chuckled. “Bruce thought it was a joke, and I thought someone was trying to scare him because it was a poem, an old lullaby from Gotham about owls. Then when Alfred took it seriously we contacted the Bat, and they helped us.”
“Let me guess,” Lois said, looking into his coffee. “The lullaby talks about something real and these owls are the founding families and they don’t like Bruce changing their city.”
“Yeah,” Clark answered, running a hand through his hair. “The Bat has a list of the families involved, and he found some of their plans. Practically they controlled Gotham. We think they are responsible for Bruce’s parents’ murder since they also wanted to change things. So far we have nothing on that, but the Bat keeps looking into it.”
“And the threat?” Lois asked, worried about the other Omega.
“Alfred thinks they’ll use an assassin they call ‘Talon’,” Clark explained. “When the Bat looked into it, he only found a link to a circus. We weren’t sure what it meant, then Bruce saw some posters with the name of the circus. They are coming to Gotham next month.”
“Is the Bat going?” Lois asked and threw her empty cup into the waste bin under Clark’s desk. “I really hope Bruce won’t go. If this is for real he should stay as far away as possible.”
“I thought so too,” Clark sighed. “But he received a personalized invitation, and as the owner of Wayne Enterprises, he can’t really refuse.”
“He wants to be seen as part of the city, not only an onlooker from his big house,” Lois nodded, understanding. “You’ll go with him?” Clark gave her a look. “Right. You’re only friends and we don’t anyone thinking you’re Bruce’s new Alpha,” Lois rolled her eyes. “At least tell me you’ll have an ear out for him.”
Clark gave her another look, and she laughed.
“I think I’m really starting to like your Omega, Smallville,” she smirked. “You’ll have to introduce us someday.”
“Yeah, right,” Clark scoffed. “You’ll be making fun of me together, I can picture it already.”
“Sounds right.”
They went back to work before Perry could shout at them, and Lois thought that she would like it very much if she met the real Bruce Wayne, the one Clark got to know in those last months.