Superman (Volume 2) #194 is an issue of the series Superman (Volume 2) with a cover date of August, 2003. It was published on June 25, 2003.
Synopsis for "Secret Identity"
Inside LexCorp Tower, a chubby blonde man named Ed shows off the Superman symbol taped to his chest. The rest of the employees just ignore Ed as he asks them all who he is. To give them a hint, he runs to an open elevator shaft and dives in. The panicked workers rush to the open door, but they find Ed holding on to a service ladder, grinning widely.
Inside the boss' office, Ed is yelled at for his behavior. LexCorp will not tolerate his antics. However, at that moment Ed's supervisor comes into the room and calls the boss outside. He pleads Ed's case. He may be eccentric, but he is the best technician they have. Alone inside the office, Ed quickly dashes to the computer and looks up the current information and location of Luthor's bodyguard Hope. Finding it, he logs off and turns away from the desk just as the boss reenters. Ushering Ed out, his supervisor tells Ed not to try anything else.
Meanwhile, Lois stands a midst the chaos of Clark's secret hideaway in Suicide Slum. She looks over the articles and clippings hanging from the wall. She comes across a picture of Luthor with his two bodyguards, and Hope is circled in red. The door creaks open and Lois turns, expecting to find Clark, but instead Perry White walks into the room.
Back at LexCorp, hanging upside down in an elevator shaft, Ed and his boss discuss Ed's fall from position to position until he was finally just maintenance. Ed says he doesn't mind, what he is doing now is closed to his real interests. They begin to discuss Superman, when suddenly a cable snaps and his boss starts to fall. In an instant Ed swings out and catches his supervisor's foot. He just tells the thankful man that it's his other job.
Lois is incredulous that Perry knew about Clark's investigation, and Perry is surprised that Lois didn't know. Perry tells Lois not to get mad just because she didn't get the story that Hope has gone missing, but Lois tells him that it is something else entirely. She doesn't deserve to be kept in the dark, by Clark or Perry. Perry just tells her that sometimes there are things that even those closest don't know.
At a deep subbasement, Ed forces a door open and proceeds into the bowels of LexCorp. He is suddenly surrounded by a group of robots prepared to eliminate him. A voice suddenly tells them to deactivate and Ed turns to find Talia Head standing there. She tells him to stay in his approved areas, or else.
Returning upstairs, Ed finds a panicked crowd. An elevator car is stuck and its supports are beginning to give way. Ed says he'll handle this, and dives into the elevator shaft. A moment later the car plummets after him. The doomed people in the elevator scream as they plummet downward, and then look around shocked as they begin to slow and then stop. Below the elevator, Superman, with the shards of his disguise as Ed still clinging to him, slowly eases the elevator down to safety.
In Clark's office, Perry explains to Lois how Clark got a job at LexCorp to infiltrate their building.
His disguise now gone, Superman speeds to the subbasement and powers through the guard robots. Tearing into a cell, Superman finds Hope lying on the ground. Half of her head is shaven and she continues to write "Lex" on every inch of her cell. Picking her up, he carries her out of the building.
Arriving on the scene, Talia finds the words "I know" burned into the wall of the empty cell.
Back in the Daily Planet, Perry congratulates Clark on his story about Hope. He tells him that he wants him back on staff, but he's going to have to keep it quiet for awhile so he doesn't attract anyone's attention. Just then Lois walks into the office. She tells them that she has made a decision. She is leaving the Planet to work for Channel Three. Perry and Clark are both shocked, but she just tells them that there are always things even the closest people don't know.
Appearing in "Secret Identity"
Featured Characters:
- Superman (Disguised as Edward Sheasholtz)
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- LexCorp robots
- President Luthor (In a photograph only)
Other Characters:
- Mercy Graves (In a photograph only)
- Walt
- Yorda
- John Paul Crawford (LexCorp senior director of human resources)
- William "Billy" Hillin (LexCorp maintenance supervisor)
Locations:
- Metropolis
- LexCorp
- Suicide Slum
- Clark Kent's secret office
- Daily Planet
Items:
Vehicles:
See Also