Chapter 10

Defying Gravity

Clark looked down the long hallway. It was quiet, too quiet. Being cautious, he continued walking.

Instantly, toxic gas came spurting out on either side of him. He covered his mouth and held his breath, trying his best not to breathe the gas in. He got up, and punched both gas exhausts until they both shut down. He continued to move.

Blasts as fast as machine guns then came at him from the front. He covered his body, stepping back, and took the source out with his laser vision.

It was then that Clark realized something: Brainiac isn't a living being, he's a computer. This entire ship must be connected to Brainiac, and he literally controls everything here. He ran to the next door, kicked it open, and then continued his escape.

"We have an escapee in the sixth corridor. Destroy him," said Brainiac's voice.

Instantly, Brainiac's sentries came rushing in on every entrance possible. There were about a dozen in the corridor. He knew he couldn't get by them without fighting, so he grabbed one and slammed it into another. He then grabbed another, ripped in apart, and used the two halves to crush another one. He burned a few, punched once, kicked one, and right when he felt sure he was okay, another one grabbed him from the back. He kicked and slammed it into a wall. He went into another corridor.

"All sentries to the fifth corridor. Contain the Kryptonian."

The place filled with sentries once again. Clark was now overwhelmed by the amounts of targets. Two grabbed him on either side and one in front of him was about to gore him with some kind of blade. Not allowing this to happen, Clark slammed the two at his sides into each other and burned the third. He then froze another. The robots began to fire lasers at him, which didn't do much but they did hurt. Two shock cables then came at him from the ceiling, which was one of the most painful things ever. Clark could feel the damage being dealt to his body; he had to act fast., He grabbed the cords and pulled them out. He dropped to the floor. Brainiac's henchmen grabbed him, and started doing whatever damage they could to him. Clark was still weak from the Kryptonite. He still wasn't in the best shape to take on all of these robots, but he got up, shaking all of the robots off of him.

With one final blow, he fired up his eyes and shot all around him, destroying all but one robot. He then froze the last.

Clark went to the next corridor, where he was met with more robots. He was now smashing them left and right, unaware of his other surroundings. How could there be so many of them? An electric blade jabbed Clark in the stomach, but surprisingly didn't do any major damage to the suit, even though Clark could feel the cut. Whatever the suit was made out of, it was designed to absorb the damage, and not rip. Another robot hit him with so much force it knocked him into the wall, which he recovered from pretty fast. Clark had to escape, he just had to. He then ripped the automatic door off the wall and used it to crush all the robots.

He then headed to the last corridor. This was it, he was about to be free.

"Do not let the Kryptonian escape," said Brainiac. Sentries began piling on top of Clark, as he was trying with all his might to fight them off. He eventually destroyed them all, and he thought for a moment he was free.

The walls were moving, closing in on him. He was about to be crushed in a minute.

"It is too late, Kal-El. You and this planet are doomed."`

Clark tried, but he couldn't figure out a way out of this. The walls were almost on him, and, as a last resort, he did the impossible.

Using all his might, he stretched his arms and legs out to stop the walls. It was working, it was slowing it down. Clark saw the entrance, and he knew if he was fast enough, he could make it. Pushing against the walls, he got ready, and with one big charge, made it out of the ship.

Clark felt so good. Adrenaline was rushing through him. The Kryptonite had almost completely worn off by now. He felt almost like he could fly.

He hoped to God his crew was smart and left immediately. He was right.

But then he hit another obstacle. How exactly was he going to get back across the ocean? He was sure he could leap over canyons, but that wasn't enough. He couldn't swim it. As far as he's tried he isn't that fast in water and also might drown.

Then a thought occurred to him. Would he be able to get back home to save everybody? He had to get back. He knew he had to.

Clark just recapped everything he just witnessed, that he could fight off all of those robots at once. He wasn't even badly damaged. He felt so strong, much more than he originally assumed was his limit. It appears Clark had only tapped a fraction of his power.

He felt all this energy in him, all of this power. What he did next was just natural instinct.

With one mighty leap, he jumped a hundred yards, only to fall back down again on the cold ice. He tried again, and got the same result. Each time he did it was with increasing force. More and more strength, it was like there was a force that was powering him, making him go farther. This was a long shot, but he tried it, and he fell back onto the ice.

Clark thought about the future, and how it can go both ways: either the world dies in fire, or the world would somehow defeat Brainiac. And he wasn't going to let the first one happen. That strange force, Clark tried to use all of it he could. He closed his eyes, knelt on the ice, and focused. He could feel gravity lessening around him, nothing was holding him back. And summoning everything in his power, kicked off.

Clark was going higher than ever before, moving faster than a speeding bullet. He was soaring above the clouds, propelling himself forward. He felt a kind of power he had never felt in his life pulsing through him. He slowed the momentum down, and hovered over the terrain, his cape majestically blowing in the wind. This first time was one of the greatest things anyone could feel.

With that, at full speed, Clark raced off back to Metropolis.

It was amazing, really, the feeling of flying. All Clark had to do was kick off from the ground, and he was soaring. He soared past the clouds at speeds above jet engines, the wind on his body. He couldn't guess how fast he was going, but he did know that he was going above the speed of a rocket lifting off. But he had a mission: he had to get back to Metropolis.

After flying for what seemed like a couple hours, Clark found the plane, and sure enough, it had the Daily Planet symbol on it. But something didn't seem right…

Looking back, Clark could make out two things that looked like planes, but they didn't look normal. They came closer, and closer, and closer, and Clark knew exactly what they were.

They were small fighter ships in the same style as Brainiac's ship. They looked like A-Wings from Star Wars, but more exotic and organic. Brainiac must have sent them to destroy either Clark or the plane, but either way they need to be stopped.

The first one started to fire on the plane, which Clark blocked with his arm. He then charged full force into the ship, knocking it out of the sky.

The second ship started to charge up. Clark rushed behind it and took the thrusters out with his laser vision. But it was too late. It had already reached the plane.

The plane was falling into Metropolis. It was falling fast, really fast. Clark was faster, though. He dived down, and looked inside the windows. People were panicking. He had to keep going. He reached the nose of the plane, and pushed up on it. It was slowing down, but not enough. He pushed harder, right when he was only five hundred feet from the ground. They were just about to crash when Clark gave one last push, and the plane had stopped. He then set it down..

It took a while for everyone to get out, but they eventually did. They all came out of the entrance, looking as though they didn't know what just saved them. They then looked over to Clark, but didn't seem to recognize him. Did glasses make that much of a difference? Apparently. Clark thought about telling them what he was, but then imagined what would happen if they knew. He might lose his job, or they might be afraid of him. No, they couldn't know. For now, anyway. After a few minutes, they walked over to him, looking amazed.

"What the hell?" said one camera man.

Lois then walked over to Clark, who was hiding his face. "Who… who are you?" she asked.

It took a while before Clark started to say "I…"

He instantly heard guns load behind him. Clark didn't know what was going on.

"Hands up!" cried someone.