Connor Kent and the Revival of Krypton
Chapter 2
Connor flew through the air high above Gotham with the creature slung across his back. His trench-coat billowed around them and the smell of charred meat and brimstone wafted into his nose.
Man, he thought, this thing stinks. Maybe some scenery will help me take my mind off the smell.
He looked down at the Gotham suburbs passing below him. Beautiful and quaint houses of all shapes and styles sat on immaculate manicured lawns.
What would it be like? Connor wondered, to live a normal life and not have to face creatures like this every day. He shook his head, oh who am I kidding, I'm not the type of person to enjoy sitting behind a desk doing repetitious work. I have to be where the action is.
As the neo-man of steel drew closer to the river, the buildings changed from houses to old factories with broken windows glaring out at the world like blind eyes blaming it for allowing this to happen to them.
Connor landed on an empty street and looked around. Most of the buildings in this part of Gotham were falling in. Some had crime scene tape fluttering in their doorways like a serpents tongue tasting the air.
Connor saw someone in rags pushing a shopping cart full of cans and other items of significance to them.
I've been in this world for eighteen years, he thought, and still places like this exist. What have I been doing? He shook his head, stopped that arrogant thinking. You can't do everything on your own, you and everyone else are doing everything you can, but you can't do everything.
Connor walked over to a telephone booth with its windows smashed out and stepped inside. It was crammed with the creature on his back and it smell was even worse in the confined space. Even with the air the vacant window frames let in.
I really need to find another place to put the teleporter for my hideout, Connor thought, not only do I have depressing thoughts every time I come here, but this booth is way too small for more than one person.
After taking a few moments to situate his passenger, the neo-man of steel pressed a certain sequence of numbers on the payphone and disappeared in a flash of light.
CK
Connor appeared in darkness.
Florescent lights switched on, revealing a massive cavern with a domed roof.
Connor stood in the center of the cavern surrounded by tables laden with technology of his own design.
Ever since the defeat of Brainiac five years ago, Connor found that he was smarter, faster, and stronger than before.
At first, he thought Brainiac was somewhere within his body making changes, so he could eventually take over, but after every magical and scientific scan of his body came back clean. He developed another theory.
He theorized that the solar flare that hit his body after the destruction of Brainiac supercharged his cells and permanently changed his body.
Connor looked around. The cavern had once been Gotham's first subway station, but the influential people of that time, excluding the Wayne family of course, did not want a subway. They were making too much money off of the trolley cars, so it was shut down.
Connor turned and walked over to a metal table with raised square bars on each end. He laid the creature down and walked over to a circular collection of computers that set against one wall. He placed both hands on the keys.
"What the heck is that thing?"
Connor turned to see Artemis standing in the center of the lab staring at the creature. She was wearing a formfitting black dress and had her hair done in soft curls that rested against her shoulders. A pair of wire rimmed glasses sitting on her nose glinted in the florescent lights.
He smiled before saying, "That's what we're here to find out."
Connor began typing on the computer. The metal bars at each end of the table glowed green and began moving over the creature's body.
"Was I interrupting something?" Connor asked while reading the data on the screen.
Artemis shook her head and slipped off her high-heeled shoes, "No, I was just on a date with Roy."
Roy, a.k.a. Red Arrow, was Artemis's boyfriend of a month. The neo-boy of steel did not like the man, and it wasn't because he was jealous. It really wasn't.
Connor's shoulders tensed. If only I wouldn't have been such a coward, he thought, I could be the one going on a date with her. He shook his head, no, don't think that just be happy for her.
With a supreme effort, the neo-man of steel push down his jealousy and turned to Artemis with a smile on his face. His stomach dropped. She's so beautiful, he thought. He shook his head, "You look great."
Artemis looked down a slight dusting of pink on her cheeks and Connor mentally cheered.
After getting herself under control, Artemis raised her head, "Do you mind if I change?"
"Of course not."
Artemis turned and walked to a section of the cavern that Connor had converted into rooms for all of those people found in Cadmus.
They were all part of the team that work for the government, created by Batman and Green arrow in their aliases as Oliver Queen and Bruce Wayne.
The dark Knight tasked them with keeping an eye on the government to make sure they didn't move against the justice league without a legitimate reason and battling the justice league should they ever turn evil or come under anyone's control again.
Connor and the rest of the Cadmus projects worked for a woman named Amanda Waller, an old friend of Batman's that wouldn't hesitate to move against the justice league should they ever become a threat. All she cared about was protecting the people of Earth no matter what.
Connor could respect that, but he still didn't trust her.
After taking control of the team, which she dubbed justice league of America, she used her connections to implant each member of the team in a government agency to watch for any type of alien threat that may appear covertly on earth.
"Found anything yet?"
Connor turned, Artemis was making her way through the tables. Her green tights hugged her curves and almost made Connor drool. A crossbow hung on either hip. Below them was a small quiver of arrows. A large bow was slung across her back with another quiver of arrows beside it
Connor shook his head, "No not yet"
Artemis nodded and picked up a piece of crystal technology with wire sticking out of it, "What is this?"
"I've been working on a way to reverse the virus I used five years ago to fix the Fortress of solitude."
"Still not talking to your parents, huh?"
"No it's just too awkward and I don't know how to fix what it. Hopefully someday in the future things will be like they were, but right now I think it's best if I just give them space."
Artemis narrowed her eyes, "You're scared aren't you?"
"No! Of course not."
Artemis gave him a hard look and Connor's shoulders slumped, "Okay, I am scared. I'm just not good with the whole emotional thing, the last thing I want to do is make things worse."
Artemis walked forward and placed both her hands on Connor shoulders. She looked him right in the eye, "Just speak from your heart. I know you love your parents, you don't want your relationship to be strained forever. Do you?"
Two sets of light blue eyes locked together. Man, Connor thought, what I wouldn't give to kiss her.
They stared at each other for a long moment then Artemis looked away.
Connor sighed, "You're right of course…"
"Of course I'm right," Artemis said with a smile, "the sooner you realize that and listen to me the sooner you will quit getting into these situations."
Connor snorted and turned back to the computer screen, "The scans are showing that whatever this creature is it heavily mutated, but it can give me a planet or galaxy of origin."
"Have you tried your mind trick yet?"
Another ability Connor gained after his fight with Brainiac was telepathy. It was one of the reasons he suspected that Brainiac was inside his head.
Connor shook his head, "No after what this creature did on Baker Street I really don't want to go inside its head." He shook his head, "but it looks like I don't have a choice."
Connor walked over to the table the creature lay on and placed both hands on either side of the creature said. His eyes glowed blue.
Images of a planet made of black stone with four holes in it spewing fire flashed through Connor's mind. Time sped forward and the creature climbed out of the sewer. Bright light shined across its form and it turned towards it.
A car slammed into its body.
The woman behind the wheel stared at it with terrified brown eyes. Then it's world went dark. The next thing it remembered was waking up on the ground and Daniel standing in front of it with his back turned.
Connor cut the connection and removed his hands from the creatures head. The last thing I need to see is Daniel's death through the creature's eyes, he thought.
"Did you find anything?"
"Maybe."
The neo-man of steel walked over to his computers. He picked up the pen of a digital drawing pad and began drawing the planet he saw in the creature's mind. He then entered it into the computer along with all the other details the creature's mind had about its home world.
The smell of brimstone, the screams of the tortured and, the smell of burning flesh. Most important the gray skinned man he saw sitting on a throne.
The computer entered all the information and came up with only one possible match.
"Oh, this isn't good."
"What is it?"
Connor turned to Artemis with a grim expression on his features, "According to the computer, this thing comes from Apocalypse."
Artemis's eyes widened, "Then that means…"
Connor nodded with narrowed eyes, "Yes," he gestured to the creature, "that thing is a para demon."
Neither one of them had ever seen a para demon before, but both of them had heard about the terrible creatures that attacked earth before the justice league was formed.
"What is a para demon doing on earth?"
"I don't know."
"Do you think there could be more?"
"I don't know," Connor said walking forward, "but we're going to find out."
The neo-man of steel turned back to his computer and had it scan for the unique energy signature that radiated off the para-demon's armor. He linked his computer with his phone and turned back to Artemis, "I'm having my computer scan for the same energy that's attached to the para demon, but it's going to take a while. What do you say we get something to eat while we wait?"
Artemis smiled, "That would be nice, we haven't gotten to spend a lot of time together lately."
Connor smiled, "Alright then, let's go."
Artemis looked down, "Don't I need to change?"
"Even superheroes need to eat."
CK
Connor picked up a piece of blowfish with a pair of chopsticks and popped it into his mouth. He closed his eyes and pleasure. I really don't like sushi, he thought, but there's just something about Wild Sakura's sushi that makes me love it.
Wild Sakura is an upscale sushi restaurant in the high-end part of Gotham. They serve some of the best sushi in all of the world and stayed open late, so Artemis came here a lot.
"So," Connor said sitting down his chopsticks, "how are things with you and Roy?"
Artemis finished chewing her tempura roll and swallowed, "It's going well. We have a lot in common and I enjoy his company, but he does seem to be a little overprotective."
Connor narrowed his eyes ever so slightly and his hand balled into a fist beneath the table, "What do you mean?"
"It's just small things. Like not wanting me to go anywhere by myself, and wanting me to give up being a hero."
"Sounds a little possessive to me."
Artemis opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by a beeping noise.
Connor reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. The screen showed a map with a red dot not far from here.
"What is it?"
"I have to go. The computer has found an energy signature that matches the residual energy that clung to the para demon."
"I'm coming with you."
"Are you sure? It could be dangerous."
"Now who's being overprotective."
"All right, let's go," Connor said throwing down enough money to cover their meal and rising to his feet.
CK
Ten minutes later, Connor and Artemis stood before a manhole not far from Baker Street.
"Are you sure this is the place?"
Connor nodded, "According to the map, yes. I also saw the para demon climbing out of the sewer when I read his mind, so it matches up."
The neo-man of steel knelt down and remove the manhole cover.
Artemis sighed, "You take me to the nicest places," she said before jumping down into the sewer.
"Down the rabbit hole we go," Connor said rising into the air and floating down after her.