Title: He's No Superman
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Fandom: Superman & Lois
Relationships: Clark Kent/Lois Lane
Tags: Outside POV, Fluff
Summary: It was a simple job. Kill Clark Kent.
Word Count: 4,615
Spoilers: Up Through Season 2 Episode 13
Author Notes: Based on this prompt. Thanks to V.Mures for helping me figure out a plot.
Beta: Grammarly



Adam Miller looked at the trio of people who worked for him. They were good. As a foursome, none of their sanctioned hits had ever missed. This hit was against a farm-raised reporter whom Adam still had no idea why the CIA had been approved to take out a USA-born reporter.

"Really?"

"Yes, sir, he just missed the whole thing," Greg Sanderson said.

"I know that the other three teams who had been sent have had issues. The biggest is that he never leaves the USA. His wife does. I wish we could just kill her to get him to stop doing what he's doing but going after Lois Lane is a bigger deal than going after Clark Kent. Okay, he's going home this weekend. Let's go to Smallville, where we can figure out what is happening."

"Have you been told how he's a threat to the government?" Emily Bloom asked.

"No," Adam said. He looked at her and knew it came from a place of wonder.

It wasn't like Clark Kent was Superman. The first hit team should have been able to take him out. The man just had the luck of God, it seemed. Adam wasn't looking forward to writing up this report. He had been stuck in Langley for the mission, and the rest of the team had worked on their own. He didn't think for a second that they fucked up.

"I'll join you three in Smallville. Get there and find someplace to rent. Use a new set of identities. I want nothing tracking to us from Metropolis."

"You got it, Miller," Emily said.

Steve Savage had been silent the entire time, but he was the team's wild card. The man was smart and should have been in a job that would save the world, but his fuck-up childhood fucked him up so much. Adam knew how to handle him, and that was the only thing that mattered in the grand scheme of things.

"How long until you arrive?"

"I'll take the first flight I can get using whatever identity set you pick, Emily. I'll pack now. The ass-kissing here in Langley is over with."

"Good. I'll get you that information as soon as possible. I need to research Smallville and what the place is like. I don't want to stick out any more than a set of outsiders will."

"Work on accents, try and pick a place we can come from for reasons. I don't want to stick out like a sore thumb. I think Iowa might be good. Keep me up to date."

Adam closed the connection to the software they used to talk to each other securely. He kept the secure connection up and pulled up the news articles that Clark Kent had published with the Daily Planet. He didn't think he would find anything. He had no idea of other operations that were going on. He did his job and didn't question things, at least not until this one. He was just trying to figure it all out. He had hoped his team would et the first hit off, but Kent just didn't want to die.

As he was getting ready to close the connection, his email pinged. He looked at the two emails. The first was the video of the miss, and the second was the information he needed. He had the name he needed to use, so he got ready to get that out of his safe.

The video was loaded by the time he finished prepping what he needed. He sat down at his desk and played it. There was no audio, but there was no mistaking the way the hit was set up. Adam could see the point. There wasn't any need to be discrete about it. Their ammo was hand-made by them, and it changed for each hit. There would be no way to track them to anyone else.

Kent was walking down an alleyway, and just before when he crossed the point of the team taking the shot, he stopped and crouched to tie his shoes. He looked around as the little bits of brick rained on his head from the bullet lodging in there, and then he was gone. He was waving his arm and screaming at someone. Adam thought something was wrong until the angle changed to show him kissing his wife. This was something that was the work of an idiot. His team looked to have set it up correctly. The thing was that they were only allowed to take long shots. They were restricted by that.

Adam hadn't looked at the videos from the other teams. He had never thought he would need to. He pulled his laptop from his bag and started to download what he needed to watch it all when he was flying to Kansas.

The stash of phones he had in his house was something that rivaled a tech store, but he needed to move identities all the time. He got it registered to his new fake name and set about booking the flight. He needed to make a trail just to be safe. All their identities were well set up, and his team used them as needed. This name was new. He would have to become Alan Stewart and wear him like a skin.

Smallville was small enough that Adam was sure they would stick out no matter what they did. It was just the right kind of sticking out they needed.

---

Clark Kent was the most boring man in the world, Adam thought as he watched the man enter the Smallville Farm & Seed store. There was one window that would give them the chance to do what they needed to do, and Adam hoped that Kent would walk past it. It was one of the main ones, so it would hopefully be a good spot.

Steve had a camera that was feeding into Adam's laptop, and there was also a thermal feeding back as well that had been placed by Emily.

"He runs hot," Adam said.

"Yes, he does. Not too much hotter but hotter," Emily said.

"How is everything, Steve?" Adam asked.

"Clear. There are not a lot of people inside the store. Collateral?"

"There is allowed to be some. Especially if it takes it off the fact that it's Kent that we are after, even just long enough for us to get out of town." Adam hoped that no one looked at them.

Greg and Emily had the perfect spot, and with Smallville's size, it was hard to get any place where they could actually set this up. This was the only place that they had been able to figure out. There was a microphone that they were listening to the inside of the Kent house that allowed them to know he was headed here. There were no good spots at the farm that had a good enough line of sight to take out Kent without someone seeing them.

Smallville was the worst place for this, but no one had been able to kill him in Metropolis. There were two other places that Adam thought they might be able to set up a hit on, but he wasn't sure what the hell they would do if those all didn't pan out. Metropolis and another new set of identities.

"Hold," Greg said.

Adam paid attention as Kent headed toward the window they lined up on. There was a woman already there, so hopefully, it would work in their favor.

"And three...two...one...dead" Greg took the shot.

And the bullet hit a bag of feed as Kent stopped. The woman had moved just at the last second as well, looking like she was trying to get away from something.

"Are you okay?" Kent asked, the audio picking him up since he was in the edge of the window opening.

"Yeah, I got a chill. I thought someone pressed something frozen into me," the woman said.

"Well, it's spring; it might just be a cold wind."

Adam wanted to rip his hair out.

"Spit out the shells and let's pack up," Steve said.

Adam flipped the man off even though he couldn't see him.

Packing up, Adam looked down at the pile of sunflower shells that were on the ground. He kicked at them and spread them around. No one would be looking here for something to link them to the shot that went wrong. Even if someone found the shell buried in a bag of feed, there was nothing to link them to it.

The house that Emily found for them to rent was empty when Adam walked into it. He had taken the long way around town to get here, and he hoped that the others not being here just meant they were taking their sweet time. Adam had stopped for groceries on the way into town so they would not have to leave to go anywhere to get them.

"We have an issue," Emily said when she entered the room.

"What?" Adam asked.

"We missed something in the file about Kent. There is a military guy at the Kent house right now."

"It might have to do with the DoD. His wife's father runs that show."

"Really? I guess I never paid attention to her. I looked at the file on him but didn't on her. So that's not something to worry about?"

"No, not from what I know right now. I know Kent has little to do with the stuff that happens with the DoD and their working with Superman. The man just isn't interested in it at all. It's like he's the least curious man in the world unless it's a report he's working on. So if it's something to do with that, I assumed that he would just disappear. Whatever Kent is working on has someone scared, and it's our job to kill him."

"So why are we only allowed a sniper kill?" Greg asked when he came into the living room with Steve on his heels.

"The second team, half of them are in the hospital."

"Kent put them there?" Greg looked shocked.

There wasn't much that shocked any of them anymore, but times when it happened, things were scary. This wasn't scary, this was just strange as fucking hell.

"No, there was a car accident as they left the scene the second time they tried. It was caused by what they had tried, so the decision was made for long-distance. I understand it. If we are far away, there is less chance of being caught in the crossfire. I would rather the team be safe. At least here, we can't run the risk of having Superman just happen to be around. Superman has a hard-on for Kent's wife."

"I still don't understand how much low self-esteem someone has to have to marry Lois Lane when Superman is right there pining for your wife," Steve said.

Adam grunted in agreement.

This was the worst kill they had ever been sent on. One day into being in Smallville, Adam was pretty sure they were fucked.

"There is a huge festival tomorrow, well I say huge, but this is Smallville. I have audio that has Kent's mother talking about him taking her. Steve, you and I can go out to the area it's being set up tonight and go on a date. We can scout things out. There is a restaurant which I think will work. Well, it's a diner. This place only has a diner."

"Go and do that. It'll be a good way to go about things. No one will think anything of you. Make sure that you take all notes digitally." Adam looked at Emily, and she nodded her head. He moved to sit down on the couch and go over the videos from the other attempted kills.

Once the kill was complete, they would be sectioned off to a hard drive or just gotten rid of. Adam never cared what happened to his files. He did his job, and that was all that mattered.

---

Adam felt like something was wrong. He looked into the house's backyard and tried to figure out what was wrong. He looked at his pile of sunflower seed shells and sighed. He knew they were an issue, and he had been told repeatedly by his team to go for the already shelled ones, but there was something about cracking them in his mouth that helped calm him down.

"There is something wrong," Greg said.

"That's what I feel as well. Get things contained to one laptop, wipe the rest, get the weapons ready." Adam debated going into the city where Emily and Steve were going on their date, but he worried about that. Something was coming, and he wasn't sure he knew what it was. "Call Emily."

Greg pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed. It went unanswered. He dialed another number, and Adam knew it was also unanswered. Their phones could not be answered without putting in a code to stop random people from answering them if the phones were dropped on purpose. There was no reason that was good that the pair of them wouldn't answer the phone.

"Is everything backed up?"

"Yes."

"Then wipe it all, and let's go."

Adam moved to start to pack everything up. He wasn't sure what the hell was going on, but he wasn't going to leave Greg to the hands of whoever had taken out Emily and Steve. He had no thoughts other than those two were dead. There was no other option. They would be disavowed and something created to give the American people their scapegoat when it came to why there were two killers in Smallville, Kansas going after one of the Daily Planet's better-known reporters.

"Ready?" Adam asked when everything was done. The prints were there, but theirs wouldn't tag anything to who they really were if they could get the hell out of there. Someone would come in and take care of things.

"Yes," Greg said.

Adam headed to the back door with his things over his shoulder. There was a reason they packed light as hell. He stepped outside and stopped in his tracks at the man standing there with two others behind him with their guns trained on him.

"Mister Miller, I would like to have a conversation."

Adam looked at the man to see he was a four-star general and that he looked like he was serious as hell.

"About what? You cannot detain me," Adam said.

"Son, you tried to kill my son-in-law many times. Yes. I can detain you."

"You are General Lane?" Greg asked.

"I am, son, and you had better start talking."

Adam shook his head, and Greg clammed up. There was nothing good that was going to come of this. Adam felt they were going to be killed at the end of this. Whatever Kent was involved in, it had the DoD in it, and that meant that if they weren't killed to keep the secrets, they would disappear into a hole somewhere and never come out.

"They wiped everything," someone said from behind.

"That's okay. I have more information on them already than they think I do. Take them to the facility; I'll be there as soon as I check on Lois and Clark."

---

The holding cell that Adam was put in was strange as fucking hell. It was some kind of plastic, and there were more than enough men around that made him think that this place was usually used to hold people who were not normal humans. Everyone knew of the DoD and the kind of things they worked with when it came to Superman.

Adam had been treated a lot worse when he was caught in things. They were given food and drink, and despite everything, Emily and Steve had already been in cells when Adam and Greg were brought in.

"Adam Miller, CIA black ops handler for one of the best assassination teams the CIA has had for decades," Lane said as he came into the room with Superman behind him. Every single camera in the place had its lights go off when the doors shut.

"We ain't saying anything," Adam said.

"No, I didn't think you would, honestly. It's the kind of loyalty that I expect from a man like you. You got your orders like normal, given the proof where it was brought on time and again. You would have succeeded one of the times, but the thing was that you were never going to actually get what you needed from it."

Adam knew it was bait. It was good bait because Adam had never failed.

"And?" Adam asked.

"Your boss disavowed you, but I'm willing to take all four of you in. I don't need assassins, but I need people who can slip in and out of places all around the world. Your team is the best for good reasons. I need someone who can ensure I get what I want."

"Which is?"

"Safety for Superman."

"He's impossible to kill," Adam said.

"No, I'm not, but there are few that truly know how to do it. There have been attempts to kill me."

"Your boss was someone who was trying to get an end-run around doing things. He wanted to kill my son-in-law to get me to hand things over. He's tried four times to get control of Superman. It's never worked. Yet, he thought that this would."

"You think I'm going to turn on him?"

"Well, turn on him is a strong word. He's currently in FBI custody for setting a hit on a US citizen with no cause."

"We didn't know," Emily said.

"No, that much was understood. So, turning on him is not what you will be doing. You'll hand over the evidence to CIA superiors, and then you will be brought into my job."

"How can we explain any of this?" Greg asked.

"Any of what?"

Greg pointed at Superman.

Adam was lost on what Greg meant.

"I wondered about that. You were too good there at the store. You put two out in the time, and the second would have been where I would have gone if I hadn't stopped that woman from moving."

"You were there? And you didn't go after us?" Emily asked.

"He's Kent."

Adam looked at Superman, and he didn't believe it. Greg was smart. He saw all kinds of things that others did not, but there was no way that Kent was Superman. It was impossible. Then it all started to fall into place. How a bumbling reporter had four teams going after him, and none of them succeeded. Kent could never trace them to where they were from a distance.

Then Lane's words hit him. How they would have gotten the shot off but not been able to actually seal the deal. Their bullets were normal. There was nothing in them that would kill him. They had been set up on a job they couldn't do, and his boss never knew it. The man had courted war with the DoD, Superman, and worst of all, Lois Lane.

"When the hell did you figure this out?"

"When I took the shot."

"And you didn't say anything?"

"I wasn't even going to tell anyone ever. That's the way to end up dead. I might have a death wish, but I don't want to be taken out by some Army sniper because I was stupid enough to try and kill Superman with a plain bullet and talk about it." Greg just shrugged his shoulders. "I'm in for whatever you want me to do. I'll sing your song about my boss to the rest of the CIA, and then we can go from there."

"We want you to tell the truth."

"I can do that."

"So what is on offer for not telling the world?" Emily asked.

"Breathing free air," Lane said.

Superman winced, but he didn't seem to fight on that. He shifted just a little, showing his displeasure in the only way he would. He didn't like it, but he would do it.

"You have anything in writing?" Adam asked.

"I do. I have a lot of things in writing. I can also ensure that your whole team never works together again, even if I'm not allowed to throw you in a hole."

Adam didn't believe that. He was pretty sure that none of them would leave here, but politics were politics. He and his team were the lowest people in the hierarchy, so they would be screwed. He had enough to be able to fuck his boss over.

"Emily, give them the code to your laptop. The real one."

"It's Superman is hot, all one word with a dollar sign for both Ss, a one for the I, an at symbol for the A, and zero for the O."

Lane laughed, and it looked like Superman started to blush, he turned his head away from where Emily could see him, but Adam could.

"Thank you. The guard will step out, and the chambers you are in will open, but the larger one will not." Lane turned perfectly on his heel and headed out the door. Superman followed behind him.

The cameras turned on again as soon as the guards shut the door in the larger room. The next thing that happened was their doors opened. Adam was first to step outside of the chamber. Nothing happened. There were benches along the back of the room, and he headed back that way.

"We safe?" Greg asked.

"As safe as we can be. What happened?"

"Actually, a sedative in our drinks. We were both thirsty and drained the Coke. By the time we realized it, we were already fucked with how fast we drank it. Everyone in there was army guys. I've seen their faces working guard duty. These guys are all about protecting the USA and Superman. I am pretty sure that we would never see the light of day."

"He knew that one of us had figured it out," Adam said.

"I'm not shocked it was Greg." Emily looked put out that it wasn't her.

"I see shit no one else does; it's part of what names me a good sniper. I wonder if I'll be allowed to kill anyone who might just have bad intentions."

Adam closed his eyes. They all knew that they were being recorded. There was no privacy in a place like this. There was no escaping either. He just hoped that no one did anything worth getting Lane actually pissed at them.

"Is this truly what you all want?"

"After the clusterfuck, that is this? They were willing to kill a reporter and made up shit just to try and get control of Superman. The CIA does not need control of Superman," Greg said.

"No, and I'm glad we didn't get a shot off."

"Did you watch any of the other attempts?" Emily asked.

"I watched them all. They were exactly like the store. He would just dodge right at the last second, usually right after the gun went off or the trap was caught. Once, he tripped and knocked over the guy who was supposed to stab him. It was just the worst thing over. I mean, everything would have fit in a comedy routine if it wasn't trained assassins trying to kill a reporter."

"He knew," Greg said.

"Yes, and it's why he came here. He put us into his place. He knows this town like the back of his hand, and we let him draw us in."

"They all waited for us to just get here," Steve said.

Adam knew his guys were just trying to figure it all out. There was nothing but an after-action report that was taking over the whole of the thing.

"When did you know?" Adam looked at Greg.

"Know? Here in Smallville. I wondered in Metropolis when the brick bits rained down on him. It was too good and Lane being there was too much. He played us, and I know it. He was probably trying to see what would happen if the teams kept on failing. His wife had to be in on it as well."

"I'm more scared of her in this than anything else. I wasn't when I was just going after her husband, but now that her husband and Superman are the same person?" Adam shuddered.

"I always thought he was an idiot for marrying her with how she is about Superman. I guess she got her cake and got to eat it too," Emily said.

Adam wasn't sure that being the wife of Superman was worth it.

---

Adam stared down the barrel of the gun of a woman who wanted to kill him. He knew she did. She wasn't because of the fact she was alone, and if she killed him, Emily behind him would kill her. It was a standoff.

There was nothing to stop Adam's death once her backup arrived.

"Do you like your odds?" Emily asked.

"Not really, but all I have to do is hold you off, and then you'll be caught and tortured for information." The woman's Russian accent was thick, which meant she wasn't in her home country either.

Adam was going to yell at the others for not figuring out that this place was in Russian hands. Emily was the main one who did the looking into it, and while he knew that if it was there, she would have found it. Yelling at them made him feel a little better. They never took it to heart because when he yelled, he didn't mean it. It was when he was stern and speaking low that they paid attention.

"I think our back-up got here first," Emily said.

Adam looked off to the side just a little, and he paused when he saw Superman behind the woman.

"Funny, I know your backup is not anywhere near here at all," the woman said.

"I wouldn't say that," Superman said.

The woman gasped and spun to get a shot off at Superman, but Adam moved first. He disarmed her and let Superman take her after that.

Superman was back in seconds, and he grabbed Emily first and then seconds later was back for Adam as well. The place where Adam, Emily, and the woman were dropped was full of Interpol agents.

"What happened?" Adam asked.

"There is a huge squad of people headed right for where you were. The decision was made to just get you out. We have her, and she can't tell anyone anything. I wanted you out of the way before I went after everyone headed in there."

Adam looked over at the building, and he waited to see what was going to happen. The sound of a few shots going off echoed around the area, and then a few men ran from the building.

"That is never going to get old," Emily said.

"Yeah. Overwatch, you there?"

"Here. Superman is kicking ass and taking names," Greg said.

"What does your eagle eye see of the target?"

"No one is getting into the room. He's making sure of that." Steve sounded pleased as hell about all of that.

"He's a badass," Emily said with a smile.

Adam wondered how long his team would have the hero-worship of Superman. He didn't figure it was going to end soon, but there would be hell to pay if anyone ever actually hurt Superman. No one would survive if they could kill them.

The End