Speeding Bullet

by Cookirini

At his moment of peril, Superman is saved by an unlikely ally. Who is it? Manga based oneshot.

"Well, well, well."

The hairless head seemed to shine in the dim light as Lex Luthor paced back and forth in his secluded warehouse. It was one of many that Luthor own in Greater Metropolis, one of many that the police wouldn't be looking in. After all, he was rich enough to evade their suspicions, and the only person he had in his hands was someone who had no human identity that was known to the police.

"My my my, what a sight this is." Luthor stopped his pacing and turned towards the subject at hand, looking down at the tattered red cape in disgust. "You know, this is the first time I've managed to capture you without any outside interference. It's a very exhilarating thought, if somewhat depressing. Depressing that I was unable to capture you sooner."
"Is that why you have me here?"

At this, Luthor's hostage looked up at him. His blue eyes, quite piercing, could have gone right through the multimillionaire and shot out enough heat to boil his insides. Unfortunately, the chains that bound Superman to his metal chair were made of the dreaded mineral known askryptonite.The amount welded into the bondage wasnot enough to killthe hostage– from years of conflict Luthor knew how much it would take to do that job, and he had not wanted that just yet- but it was just enough to reduce his powers to that of an ordinary man.

To be on par with an ordinary man was more than enough to debilitate the Man of Steel, and thus Superman knew his situation was precarious, with or without all of Luthor's henchmen pointing guns at him. Though it had started out as a normal day, where Superman was helping save a bus load of people from a bomb threat, he had been tricked by an old lady into chasing a purse thief into a dark alley - who then proceded toknock him unconscious with a kryptonite-powered taser.

Now, he had to hope that someone - Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Mxyzptlk, anyone - would be coming around to aid him soon. He was doing his best to help that moment along by stalling, but the outcome did not look promising.

"To have me hear you gloat over me?"
"Oh no, Superman." Luthor gave a chuckle as he put his hands into his coat. "I captured you...to kill you."

At this, he took out a gun from his pocket, and very slowly began to load the bullet cartridge into it. For Superman, it was like nails on a chalkboard - he was completely helpless to stop Luthor from killing him, and Luthor knew he could get away with it. It made his heart freeze as the time slowly dragged on, when escape seemed less like an option and more like a pipe dream.

"And now, Superman." Finally, Luthor was ready. "You've been...quite the burden to me for many, many years. Despite my best efforts to..do what I could to avoid this tragic outcome, it appears this is my last option. As long as you live, my plans will never succeed. As long as you are...faster than a speeding bullet, I will neve be rid of you."
"And the others?"
"Oh, oh...the rest of the Justice League will get theirs." Luthor took several steps back. "But right now, I want to savor this moment. Now is the time when the bullet outruns you. So...any last words, Superman?"
"Go to hell, Luthor."
"After you, Superman." The gun was cocked. "Good bye...Man of Steel."

Luthor didn't waste any time after that adieu to do his job. Without another word, he raised the gun, aimed at Superman's head, and fired a fatal shot.

It took a half a second as Superman closed his eyes.

BLAM!

Superman felt no pain. He felt nothing as the bullet ripped through his heart. It was as, at the moment of death, everything turned into nothing. Even the air held an eerie silence around him, without an echo of the gun ringing in his ears.

Death. I guess this is death...

Yet there was no life. Nothing flashed before his eyes. Superman thought that odd. Perhaps it was because his eyes were closed.

So he opened his eyes...just in time to see the boomerang, the bullet intended for him embedded in the center of a crescent-shaped pattern, fall to the floor with a clatter.

"What!"

Luthor's eyes widened as the boomerang lay still on the ground. With quick movements, his henchmen began to eye the area, searching for shadows,

"You don't think anyone has been following you?" An uncomfortably young, halted voice echoed through the room. "Unfortunately, you've thought wrong! For love and justice, the sailor-suited soldier, Sailor V!"
"...What the..."

On cue, the main lights were hit by one of Luthor's men, causing Superman to squint from the glare. After the initial brightness, which lasted several seconds, the hero's eyes adjusted, and he looked up towards the source of the voice. Whathe found did not give him much hope.

There she was, barely a teenager, not even American. And while Superman knew his share of young superheros - after all, he'd had plenty of time with Batman and his child companion, Robin - this girl was completely unknown to him, andlooked even younger than Robin. And ten times more ridiculous.

Even in heels, she was short, barely up to Luthor's chest, and she was shivering in the Metropolis winter. No doubt it was due to the blue skirt she wore that barely to her thighs. Or the high heels that only covered her toes, or her thin halter-and-sailor top that barely went to her stomach, though it covered her noticable lack of cleavage. Straight, unnaturally blonde hair went down to the waist, while a very large yellow moon crescent sparkled on her forehead, and a red mask covered her large, innocent-looking eyes. On top of her head was a red bow; white gloves covered her forearms, which were stiff in a silly pose.

That isn't a superhero. At this, Superman's head went down, almost in shame forthose thathe considered the true superheros, who were no doubt searching in vain for him. That is a trick-or-treater that wants to die.

At this sight, the henchmen began to laugh as one of them started to advance towards the girl, their guns lowered. They had good reason. The girl looked less like a superhero and more like a rejected cheerleader from the local pop warner team.

"What the hell?"
"That's not Batman!"
"Man? Man!"
"Hoohoohoo..."

Luthor wiped the tears from his eyes as one of his men went towards the girl. The girl, on her part, started to look annoyed as her eyes shifted and saw all of the laughing that was directed at her. Superman could even swear that he saw her eye twitch at one point.

"Now, now." As he approached, the fodder that came forth took the girl by the wrist. "Little girl, this is grown-up business. You should really leave before you...get...huUUUU-"

The grunt didn't have time to finish his sentence before the girl had grabbed his hand and twisted it at a ninety degree angle. Before anyone could react, he was flipped straight onto his back.

"Aaaugh!" The man struggled to get up from the unexpectedly powerful move. "You little-"
"KICK!"

As soon as the man got up from the ground, the girl braced herself and leaped up to amazing heights. She was four, five, six feet off the ground - with plenty of air time before she hit the ground to deliver a bone-crushing roundhouse to the face of her attacker.

Superman's eyes widened as the girl landed on her feet, a look of satisfaction on her face. It was difficult for him to imagine a girl leaping that high without any help, and yet there it was.

Impressive...

"What the hell!"
"She just...Arthur..."
"She just kicked his ass!"
"No way. That little girl?"
"Huh." The only one that seemed unaffected by the show of power was Luthor. "You're a little tougher than you look, Sailor T. Or E. Whatever your silly name is. Go on, boys."

There was a sneer on his face as he gave a snap of his fingers. On cue, the rest of his men rushed straight at Sailor V, who gave a squeal as the men held out guns and aimed towards her torso and head.

"Aaaah!" The girl quickly turned her head about frantically. "Oh no!"
"Really." Luthor turned towards Superman, a confident smirk on his face, as his men surrounded the newcomer. "Stupid kid. She is quite naive about your business, eh?"
"Urgh..." Superman glared at Luthor as he approached. "I thought this was just between me and you."
"It was supposed to be, but, well..." Luthor shrugged as the clicks on the barrels of his henchmen echoed in the room. "Interruptions should have been expected no matter how incompetent the interrupter is. Anyways, as I was saying..."
"Compact!"
"Hmm...?"

Suddenly, gold light came from beneath Lex, almost blinding him. Looking down, Lex could see that the gold boomerang was beginning to glow and float off the ground. Before Luthor could grab it, the item flashed and disappeared in a flurry of bright bubbles. All that was left of the boomerang in that spot was the crumpled bullet, which fell harmlessly to the ground.

"Damnit..."
"Crescent...Beam!"

Luthor turned back to the fray to see his men being blown back into boxes, onto tables, and into the walls by a burst of gold light. Their guns - locked, loaded, and ready to go - melted in the light, becoming puddles of goo in front of the young silhouette.

"All right!"
"What!" Luthor took a step back, taking out his own gun. "What the hell is this! How did you...!"

Taking quick aim, he shot a bullet straight at the upstart's head. In response, Sailor V quickly jumped in the air, landing on a pile of boxes. As she stood, she gave the shooter a wink.

"You missed!"
"You...!" Luthor fired again. "That's not possible! No one else could possibly be that fast...!"

Superman, weakened from the kyptonite, could only watch in awe at Sailor V's fluid movements in avoiding the projectiles that were coming towards her. She did cartwheels, back flips, splits and fantastic leaps. She did a somersault like a gymnast to dodge a hit one moment, then twirled gracefully like a ballerina on high heels to avoid certain death the next. Her hair flew like a thousand tiny flags around her as a bullet ripped through several strands, but there was so much hair that it made no difference.

"Come back here!" Finally, Luthor ran out of bullets and began frantically searching for a new cartridge in his trench coat as the girl disappeared into the shadows of the room. "No. That's impossible. That's impossible! You can't be a Kryptonian..."
"Sailor V!"

Suddenly, without warning, she was in his face. With a desperate growl, hoping he was quicker than the child could be, Luthor swung wildly at his juvenile adversary. In that vicinity, Sailor V was in no condition to dodge, and she flew back several feet from the impact, flopping like a fish as she landed on the ground.

"Hmm..." Luthor's confident demeanor returned at her fall. "I guess you're not a Kryptonian, then."
"No!" Even if it was to no avail, Superman struggled against the green chains, hoping that he could somehow regain his super-strength again in time. "Sailor...Sailor V!"
"Heheh." Finding his cartridge at last, Luthor locked the gun into place and turned to Superman with a smile. "I'll be with you in a minute, Kal-El. Let me take care of this one first."

With that, he turned back to his intent and walked towards Sailor V at a brisk pace. The girl was holding her chest with a slight groan as she got up onto her knees, readying herself so she could take a leap back into the shadows. To buy herself time to recover was her plan.

"You've got promise, sweetheart." Instead, the young girl found herself staring face to face with the barrel of Luthor's gun. "But that's not going to help you now."

At this, the girl shut her eyes, as if to brace herself for what was to come. As she did, though, Superman noticed her hand slowly sliding into her dress. A glimmer of gold shimmered into view.

"Good bye..." This hope was tampered by Luthor's pulling the trigger, which was going along much faster than V's shifty move. "Sailor D."
"RRRRRAARGH!"

Then, without warning, a white streak suddenly leaped across the room, landing on Luthor's head. From where he was standing, Superman could not see what exactly was happening, but the next thing he knew, the trigger was pulled, and the bullet richoceted of the furthest wall and on the floor of the warehouse.

"AAAUGH!" Luthor dropped the gun and pulled angrily at the large white mass, which wasn't giving way. "Damn mongrel..!"
"Sailor V...KICK!"

Though she herself was at first stunned at the sudden turn of events, the girl nevertheless took quick advantage. Springing into action - and unable to hit Luthor in the face because of the white mass - she instead got Luthor in his groin, which dropped him straight onto his side with a groan. From the angle he fell, Superman could see the large, thick, bloody claw marks that became the villain's downfall.

"Ow!" The white mass was, in turn, squashed by Luthor's head. "Sailor V-ee-ee!"
"Hmph."

Instead of gloating or celebrating the obvious victory over such a vaunted opponent - which most superheros, including Superman, would have done - the girl just crossed her arms and turned away in a huff.

"Stealing my thunder once again," she growled. "I had him, Artemis."
"Oh, sure you did!" Superman watched as the white mass freed itself from underneath Luthor, revealing itself to be a cat, its tail lashing angrily. "That's why he was holding a gun to your head!"
"I had the mirror in my hands!" The girl pouted. "I was going to surprise him with it!"
"When?" The cat slapped its head with its paw. "When you were dead?"
"I wasn't going to die! I had the situation under control!" The girl turned back to the cat, and - in an act unbecoming a superhero - stamped her foot on the ground. "I took out all his men, and they all had guns!"
"Well, you should be lucky you have me because he really was going to kill you!"
"I should feel lucky!" Sailor V retorted. "I keep wonder why I haven't died yet because of some of the things you do to me!"
"...What have I done to you?" The cat was screeching. "Other than train you to be a better person?I take offense to that comment, you know!"

"You nag me, that's what!"

"Nag you...?" The cat's green eyes bugged out. "Nag you?"

"All the time!" Sailor V turned her nose up, agitating her companion even more. "You're worse than my mom!"

"How terrible of you...!"
"That's right. Nag, nag, nag..."
"Minako-chan, you really are such a baby...!"
"Naaaaaag nagnagnag nag nag...nag naaaaaaag..."
"Stop it! I don't nag!"
"Do too."
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"Do not!"
"Do TOO!"
"I DO NOT-"
"Ahem."

The arguing suddenly stopped as Superman's voice echoed in the warehouse. The two turned to see the venerable superhero, wrapped up in kryptonite chains, his eyes looking from the cat to the girl and back again, waiting for the reaction to his predicament.

Promise...You've got more than promise, Sailor V. Sailor V gasped, and her cat turned bright red from embarrassment, as they realized that they had effectively abandoned a fellow superhuman. You're faster than a speeding bullet...

"Eheheheh..." Sailor V began to sweat. "Ooops."

Hell, you are a speeding bullet.

"Sorry to interrupt your little pow wow..." Inner thoughts aside, there was an amused look on Superman's face as he wiggled weakly in the chair. "But..mind helping me now?"

fin