Chapter Nine – This is a Job for Superman
That same afternoon was full of chaos as phones all over the newsroom were ringing like a choir of Cathedral Bells during Sunday mass. Clark Kent was in Perry White's office.
"Anyway, I'm sick about what happened last night. It was downright embarrassing. There he was, trying to build a relationship with this city and that snake, Luthor, pulled some green rock out and started waving it around. We need to find out what this Kryptonite stuff is. Where did it come from? Why is it that this guy can fly and is super strong yet some rock harms him?" Perry White stated with urgency in his voice.
"Lois told me this morning that Luthor already mentioned that it was a piece of Superman's home world," Clark offered. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there last night, Perry. I was at home working on this new human interest piece," Clark apologized.
"Don't apologize, Kent, but you sure did miss a great speech. That Superman fella is as genuine and kind hearted as they come."
"Say, where is Lois now?" Clark asked.
"She's with my copy boy, Olsen, somewhere on an investigation about drug smuggling."
"Already?" Clark asked, knowing she had just turned in the story on Superman's speech and the kryptonite fiasco at City Hall. "That's fast work."
"That's why she's this city's best reporter, Kent. She never stops," Perry informed proudly, putting his feet on his desk and leaning back to light a stogie.
"If you don't mind, Perry, where did her investigation take her?"
"The South Harbor I believe."
"I better get back to my desk. Thanks Perry," Clark interrupted, opening the editor's door and exiting quietly.
As he moved with a cautious speed through the newsroom, Clark's mind raced, contemplating Perry's words and the trouble that he knew Lois might be involved in. After all, the South Harbor was a rough part of town. Leaving the newsroom, he entered the hallway and moved towards a storage room down the hall.
Entering the storage room, Clark quickly removed his glasses and closed the door.
The docks were quiet as Lois Lane and copy boy Jimmy Olsen were inside the South Harbor's most famous bar, the Ace O' Clubs. They were interviewing Bibbo Bibbowski, a friend of Lois, former sea captain and current owner of the place.
"So what of the smuggling drugs on the docks, Bibbo?" Lois asked. "This has been going on for years, hasn't it? Why all of a sudden are things heating up?"
"Miss Lane, this ain't just about drugs. We've got everything smuggled to and from these docks: drugs, guns, exotic animals, you name it. Now there is serious speculation that these terrorist scum have upped the ante by smugglin' in bio-terrorism weapons. It's been goin' on for months. Tragic really."
"You're telling us that the docks of our great city are becoming fronts for bio-terrorism?"
"Yup," Bibbo offered nonchalantly.
"How often do you suppose this happens," Jimmy Olsen spoke up.
"Well, if you ask me, kid, it ain't often. One of the reasons they be gettin' away with it is by being shady. Nobody but me and a couple other fishermen know about this."
"Well, Bibbo, I certainly -." Lois was cut off by a noise.
Without forewarning, the pair of old wooden doors serving as the entrance to the place flew open. Three heavily armored, masked men, each carrying assault rifles quickly entered. Two of the thugs went for Lois and Jimmy, each grabbing them. Lois and Jimmy each tried to struggle but were ultimately knocked completely unconscious by the men. The third thug moved quickly towards Bibbo, firing a few rounds into the fisherman's shoulder. Suddenly, the three men left the place as quick as they entered, with Lois and Jimmy in tow.
Bibbo, frozen in shock, fell to the floor and began inching his way to the entrance of his bar. As he reached the doors, he opened one and peaked out. He glanced all around and saw a massive container ship docked at the peer. Seeing what appeared to be the three men with the hostages in tow, boarding the ship, he pulled out a flare gun and fired. The flare shot through the air as the container ship began departing the dock.
From out of the sky, Superman eyed the flare and raced down to the side of the ailing fisherman. As Bibbo looked up to see Superman couldn't believe his eyes.
"You're the one they call Superman. The flying man from TV."
"Yes," the Man of Steel replied. "It appears you've been severely shot. I've got to get you to a hospital."
"Aww... C'mon, it's just a flesh wound. You gotta catch the bad guys. They've got my reporter friend Lois Lane and some kid on there."
"On that ship, yes, I know. But first we're getting you the attention you need. Now hang on," Superman offered, picking the portly sea captain up and blasting off into the sky.
The massive container ship was far out of the South Harbor of Metropolis as Lois and Jimmy Olsen were tied up to large cargo crates and being guarded by a single armed thug in the ship's hold. A figure, obscured by a dark trench coat and a broad slouch hat, entered the hold area and instructed the lone guard to return to deck. Approaching Lois Lane, the figure removed the broad hat and revealed himself to be the man with the kryptonite heart, Metallo.
"Good afternoon, Miss Lane."
"Who the hell are you?" Lois questioned angrily and curiously.
"My name is John Corben, Miss Lane. I'm the one who abducted you and your friend, Mr. Olsen."
"Why? What have we done to be held hostage by terrorists? Is it because we're in the media?"
"Terrorists? Miss Lane, there are no terrorists here? This little get-together is just baiting," the man informed.
"Baiting? You're using us as bait? For what?" Jimmy chimed in.
"We're having a party in your honor. We're waiting for Metropolis' new golden boy to show up."
"You mean you abducted us to get to Superman?"
"Bingo, Miss Lane. Do you know where he is?"
"No. He seems to just come out during a crisis."
"Well, we just captured two fine members of the media and shot the fat boy at South Harbor. Now that is a crisis, but I just -."
John Corben was cut off in speech as a giant bang was heard all throughout the ship that triggered a small tremor and momentary silence.
"What's that sound? Someone knocking at the door?" Corben joked.
"It's me," a voice from nowhere sounded.
Suddenly, Superman flew into the hold and stood tall, directly in front of John Corben.
"Wow! You are even more impressive in person."
"Why did you abduct these people?"
"You're here, Superman, and that's all we wanted. Enough talk," Corben declared, shedding the trench coat, exposing his bare chest.
"Is that supposed to scare me?" the Man of Steel asked.
"No, it's supposed to kill you," Corben announced as his metallic chest separated in two parts revealing the radioactive green glow of kryptonite.
Superman instantly began to feel weak, just as he had during the press conference with Luthor. This time the nausea, dizziness and pain seemed much stronger. Stumbling back, it was all he could do to not collapse. His body ached; head felt heavy and vision began to blur.
"What… are… you? That's kryptonite," Superman observed, barely able to speak. "Stop. No more."
Without a word, John Corben began sauntering towards the ailing Man of Tomorrow, and, upon reaching his foe, threw a hard punch into his chest. Superman soared across the room as a result of the massive blow.
"The name's John Corben. But you may call me, Metallo," the metal man spoke, jumping across the room to Superman's body and delivering another hit to the stomach.
Superman could barely see, but did manage to notice the kryptonite in Corben's chest being hardwired to the rest of Metallo's circuitry. Metallo continued his assault on Superman with punch after punch and constant exposure to the kryptonite.
Superman was nearly dead, suffering temporary blindness and was not breathing. As Metallo was about to deliver the final blow, a voice came from across the room.
"Hey, Metallo." It was Jimmy Olsen who had somehow freed both himself and Lois Lane from the ropes that bound them to the cargo crates.
As Metallo turned around, he noticed a large object coming at him. Abruptly, the object, a metal pipe, struck him in his stomach region. Unfazed, the metal man closed his chest and charged towards his annoyance, grabbing him by the neck and tossing him behind the cargo crates, knocking him out cold. He then turned his attention to Lois Lane, who had by this time gone into hiding.
As Metallo searched for the tenacious reporter all over the ship's hold, Superman began to twitch. Suddenly his eyes opened and his fists tightened. A moment later he was even able to stand. His strength was returning rapidly.
Metallo glanced from across the way and noticed his foe had returned to health. Enraged, he raced towards the Man of Steel. As the adversaries met, Superman's fist crashed into Metallo's body, tearing the flesh completely off of his chest, exposing a metal shell. Corben's body flew backwards and crashed into one of the crates. He quickly rose, opening the panels to his chest. As soon as the kryptonite was visible, Superman shot unrelenting heat vision, from a distance, directly into Corben's chest. Corben fell slowly to his knees as his circuitry went haywire. The machine man barely had time to speak before his kryptonite heart fell to the floor.
With that, Lois immediately came out of hiding, having stored herself inside one of the cargo crates at the back of the ship's hold. She ran into Superman's arms and the two embraced in a tight hug.
"You were wonderful," Lois uttered.
"Thank you, Miss Lane. Could you?"
Lois smiled, the looked around, noticing the chunk of kryptonite on the floor. "Oh, of course," she mumbled, running to pick it up.
Lois threw the rock as far as she could to the back of the hold as Superman raced to get Jimmy, who was finally waking up.
"What did I miss?" the copy boy wondered, rising to his feet.
"Oh, nothing," Lois offered. "Only the greatest story ever!"
"Jimmy, I'd like to thank you. You saved the day," Superman decreed. "If it wasn't for your distraction, this Metallo character might have killed me."
Oh, it was nothing. Hey, watch out!"
All of a sudden, a small army of thugs appeared at the entrance of the hold, all heavily armed. Before anybody knew what was happening a colorful blur and a violent gust of wind overtook the hold, as if a rainbow and a tornado had combined. A few moments later, Lois and Jimmy saw what was a pile of firearms separated by a pile of unconscious men, neatly distributed near the entrance of the ship's hold.
"Wow," Jimmy exclaimed. "You really are a Superman."
"Thanks, Jimmy. And for my next trick, I think I'll deliver this cargo ship to the police."
"What? You're not gonna?" Lois
"Sure, I'll fly this ship back into port and we'll notify the police. After all, there is a lot of evidence on board. You guys might want to get comfortable."