JEALOUS GOD- a SUPERMAN story
by JACOB SHADA Inspired by the style of PAUL DINI's SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES
"Obsessive" is what his friends called him. But they couldn't see exactly what Superman was like he could. A god above humanity, and yet managed to belong with humans. Vic knew he was someone among billions of humans. He could look like them, act like them, but he wasn't one of them. He was somewhere walking with them, and Vic knew just who he was, where he was, and who he was with.
Clark Kent, Daily Planet...
Lois Lane.
Nobody ever seemed to think of a resemblance between Clark Kent and Superman, mainly because nobody cared about Kent. He made sure of that, because he was a mediocre journalist. Lois Lane this, and Lois Lane that, but nobody followed up about her partner. Most people wouldn't know him from the millions on the streets of Metropolis. But everyone knew the name of Superman. Superman was popular, Clark Kent wasn't. Take that and a pair of glasses, and it was the perfect disguise to fool the mundane citizens, but Vic was observant. Enough so to know that Superman was weak.
All that power, and and wasting it on helping a flawed species such as humans. Pathetic. They deserved to die, and Vic could make it happen if he too had the powers of a god. The powers of SUPERMAN.
He had been working for Lex Luthor as a scientist long enough to gather the data he needed. He knew everything about Superman's biology, and most importantly, he knew how to replicate it. It only took exactly the right chemicals and balances, drugs and shots and technology.
One pill realigned his molecules to lighten his body enough to be flexible, and a neurodevice to be able to control his own gravity. Flight and speed.
Shots and injections in the arms and legs gave precious strength. The kind that would allow him to lift tanks almost effortlessly. Lexcorp super glasses could amplify sight, and were weaponized with negatively charged lasers. Another pill for ice breath, one more for durability...Now he was another Superman...It was time to claim his Lois Lane...
"Clark!" Lois's voice rang out, shaking Clark from thoughts of sweet Kansas, and his father. "We've got a story to catch. Break in at Lexcorp, missing supplies, that kind of thing. Gotham mystery crap in Metropolis." Lois briefed, grabbing her pen, notepad, and keys. "Have they caught the perpetraitor?" Clark asked, adjusting his glasses. "Nope." Lois smiled.
"But Lois, that's dangerous. Think about it, chasing down a story at an active crime scene?" Clark's voice shook. He didn't fear for himself, of course, but for Lois.
"That's journalism, Smallville. Pullitzer Prizes aren't won by hot women who wait for a scoop to be dropped on a news cone. We gotta get it ourselves." Lois had a look of determination in her eyes that Clark had seen multiple times before. What was Lois Lane's attraction for danger in the search of the answers of Metropolis? It almost seemed like an excuse to see Superman.
"Alright, no use in trying to sway Lois Lane, world's most stubborn reporter." Clark shrugged. "We've been working together for 2 years now, Clark. About time you realized that." Lois smiled. "You amaze me every day, Ms. Lane." Clark laughed. "Still stuff you don't know about me, Smallville." Lois said as she dashed to the elevator.
"Likewise." Clark wanted to say. But if he had, Lois would pry. And there's nothing more dangerous or scary than a prying woman who happened to be a journalist.
"Hello?" Lois called at the crime scene. No guards on watch, no sensors in place. Lois wasn't entirely sure if what her and Clark were doing was legal, but she had a feeling it fell somewhere in the first amendment. After all, she was a member of the press.
No answer. "Seems vacant. Kind of like my night life." Lois rolled her eyes. "I don't like this, Lois." Clark listened closer, but heard nothing. "Stay close to me." "Appreciate your concern, Smallville, but what'll you do if someone attacks me? Play a harmonica?" Lois chuckled. Clark wasn't amused. "Sorry. I'm a little on edge. All the allegations against Lexcorp and even Lex Luthor himself-" Clark started to explain. "Clark!" Lois gasped.
Clark felt dizzy, and saw something strange. A needle in his arm filled with a green liquid...Kryptonite.
The last thing he saw before he passed out was a man in dark blue dragging Lois away.
When Clark woke up, he was in a room covered in mirrors. He was in his Superman costume.
"Go ahead, Superman. Smash through the walls. But Lois Lane is behind one of them. Behind the others is a lethal amount of kryptonite. Now, this is a fun game, because your "Godship" is going to be tested. You either die yourself, or you can destroy Lois, and with that price, stop me from unleashing true power on the people of Metropolis, Gotham City, and eventually the world. These mirrors are all lined with lead, so your x-ray vision is useless to aid your escape. Use your heat vision, and it will redirect to you with the intensity of the powerful omega beams of Apokolips, and the resulting explosion would destroy both you and Ms. Lane. Good luck, "Superman"." A voice calculated.
Superman knew that Lois was bound, gagged, and most likely suffocating. Superman listened closely, searching for her heartbeat...He heard several...
This man had replicated the sound of the human heartbeat behind every mirror. Superman's hearing would be useless as well...
Suddenly, CLICK.
CLICK.
CLICK.
CLICK.
Superman leaned his ear against every mirror, and finally, he reached the one the clicking was coming from...Lois's pen! She was telling him where she was. "Good job, Superman. To you as well, Lois Lane...But the problem remains, you clever specimens...How will you get her out without killing her, Superman? The amount of force it would take to shatter that mirror would kill her, even if you were only human. As previously mentioned, lasers aren't the way to go...you might as well end it now, "God". "Hero". "Super" man. You'll find an end to your misery if you simply destroy the mirror either to Lois's left, or to her right, to bring a quick death by kryptonite." The man was irritated. Nervous. But he was right. How could he save Lois?
Suddenly, it came to him. Superman moved close to the mirror, and exhaled heavily on it. It began to freeze. A minute or so later, it was completely frozen, and Superman smirked. "Close your eyes, Ms. Lane!" He commanded. He thrusted his finger forward, and the ice and glass was no more.
Superman untied her, and she gasped. "You need to find my partner, Clark Kent! He-" Lois stammered. "I know. I'll find him. Get to the police station, and have them send a car to Lexcorp. I'll have Mr. Kent safe soon." Superman ordered. Without a second thought, Lois ran away, and Superman scanned the room.
Suddenly, a blue blur approached from a distance. Superman caught the approaching fist, and slung him into a wall, destroying it. "I know you. You're Luthor's top scientist. What do you want?" Superman asked. "What I want is to demonstrate that you are ineffective, and thusly weak! You're held back by your morality!" Vic cried out, wearing a costume not unlike Superman's.
"That morality is the thing that's going to prevent me from smashing you. Give yourself up, Vic. This isn't worth it." Superman asked. "It isn't worth it, Superman, Kal-El, Clark Kent? Cleansing the world isn't worth it?!" Vic's eyes glowed with contempt and heat vision. He stood up, and zapped Superman into the next room. "While you save kittens from trees, the world suffers from real problems. Hunger. Rape. War. With powers like yours, the world can be rinsed of these problems. Humans can start anew! And I know that you love second chances...so give the planet one!" Vic punched Superman over and over again, and eventually through a window.
Superman took flight, and charged forward faster than a speeding bullet, and knocked Vic into the mirror room... Into the kryptonite...
"How...How could you beat me...I'm you...Every power of yours is mine...Every detail..." Vic groaned. "That's the problem." Superman grunted, stepping away from the kryptonite. "You copied me...You didn't find a solution to the harmful effects of kryptonite..." Superman turned his head back to him, and smirked as he walked away. "And frankly, that's a shame for both of us."
Later at the Daily Planet, Lois reunited with Clark. "Lois. Thank heaven for your friend in blue." Clark smiled. "Yeah, amazing, right? But where did the guy take you?" Lois asked. "Honestly, Lois, I'm not sure. But he mentioned something about bait for Superman. Guess his plan didn't work?" Clark inquired sarcastically. "Nope. He's being taken to some secure prison for metahumans on an island off the coast. Just opened recently. I think it was called "Stryker's Island". Kinda like Arkham, but not abandoned to madness yet." Lois studied her notepad.
"Not yet." Clark mumbled.
THE END...?