Chapter 58: Revenge of the Villains (Sand - Part 3)
Disclaimer: All things Supergirl/Superman and Justice League belong to DC. No infringement is intended.
"John Corben?"
The cyborg that had once been known by that name looked up, seeing a shadowy figure standing in front of his cell. He could count the number of people who had visited him since his incarceration on one hand with fingers to spare. Metal fingers, naturally. Few people wanted to visit the murderous robot freak with the human brain inside his metal skull.
"Yeah, what about it?" he asked.
He couldn't really see the face of his visitor – what was it with the lack of lights? – but he had the distinct impression that he was smirking.
"I have a business proposition for you, Mr. Corben," the figure said.
"Sounds nice," he replied, "but I fear I am kind of stuck here at Ryker's Island for a bit longer. Twenty to life, so I doubt they'll let me leave after just seven years."
Looking to the side, he gestured towards the generator standing just outside the cell, a cable connecting it to his chest. "Besides, I don't have an extension cord handy."
The shadowy figure chuckled. "Now don't worry about any of that, Mr. Corben. If you agree to my proposal, I will supply you with a few long-overdue upgrades to your hardware."
"What do you want in return?" Corben asked. He might not have been the smartest cookie on Earth, but he knew that stuff was never for free.
"Oh, just something that you are quite willing to do, Mr. Corben. Unless I am mistaken and you are not interested in extracting some payback from the woman who put you here seven years ago."
The cyborg once known as John Corben would have grinned if not for his lack of lips. "Call me Metallo!"
"Rudy Jones?"
Even raising its head was difficult for the emacipated creature that had once been a normal human being called Rudy Jones. For the last four years it had been stuck in this cell, isolated from any and all sources of life-giving energy, being fed just the bare minimum it needed to stay alive.
"What do you want, energy bag?" it croaked, eyes drawn to the shimmer of energy in the shape of a person standing in front of its cell.
"Do you remember what it felt like to feed, Rudy?" the person-shaped energy asked. "Do you remember how it felt when you fed on the world's tastiest energy?"
"Superwoman," it mused, almost moaning in delight. "I remember the glow!"
"What would you do for another taste of that glow, Rudy?"
The creature once called Rudy Jones struggled to its feet. "Rudy Jones is dead! Call me... Parasite!"
The person-shaped energy smiled.
"Joseph Martin?"
The man with the invisible skin looked up from where he was sitting in his lead-lined cell.
"My name is Atomic Skull," he yelled. "Atomic Skull!"
"Of course," the figure outside the cell replied. "Terribly sorry. Mr. Skull, I fear I have bad news. The villainous Doctor Electron is still at large and terrorizing the world. No one has been able to stop her since the day she defeated you and had you imprisoned."
"She tricked me," the Skull yelled. "She and that little brat! It was the only way dastardly villains like that could defeat me!"
The figure outside the cell smiled.
"I think we can arrange a rematch, Mr. Skull."
Sitting in a chair before the large monitor board of the Justice Leage Watchtower, Kara was doing her best not to tap her foot in frustration and impatience. The urge to smash her fist into the monitors was pretty strong, too, even with the knowledge that the damage it would cause right now would be miniscule at best.
Right now all members of the Justice League were scouring the planet, looking for the mysterious sand creature that had vanished from Smallville. Vanished, and taken the largest part of her powers with it, it seemed. Right now, Kara was still quite a bit stronger and faster than even the strongest normal human, but she would not be lifting any ocean liners out of the water anytime soon.
Nor was she able to fly.
She pushed down on the feeling of panic surging up inside of her again. Having lost so many of her powers, especially the one she had come to treasure the most, felt crippling. She felt vulnerable, helpless, in a way she hadn't felt since she had been forced to watch her home world explode. Ever since that day she had known that, if push came to shove, she had the power to protect her loved ones against just about anyone and anything. No longer, though. The feeling of impotence was horrible.
It didn't help that she had also gotten into a fight with Clark, as she had forbidden him and Kona from getting anywhere near that creature. While she didn't think the sand thing could siphon off their powers, too – it seemed to somehow have imprinted on her – she had no intention of taking a risk. Clark had been furious and only been somewhat placated when she told him that she wanted him to watch out for Kona and the Kents on the farm, just in case the creature returned there. She was sure both her children had seen through that weak argument, but had finally agreed, if grudgingly.
"Kara, do you read me?" Batman's voice came over the com.
"Yes, I'm here. What is it? Have you found the sand thing?"
"No, sorry, nothing new on that front. Something else is going, though. I've just received information that three old friends of yours have been sprung from prison by parts unknown. John Corben, Rudy Jones, and Joseph Martin. All three breakouts happened within an hour of each other."
Kara needed a moment to remember the people to whom these names belonged. When she did, she just groaned. "I really don't need this on top of everything else!"
"I hope I don't need to remind you that you are not currently in any shape to face even one of them, let alone all three."
"I know, I know," she waved him off. They had had this conversation already. While she was still a lot stronger an tougher than most of the Justice League except Diana and J'Onn, she was not used to fighting at this reduced level of strength. Something both Bruce and Diana had thought to mention repeatedly.
Kara instead mused over this new information. "The sand thing didn't strike me as the type to spring criminals from prison, but I can think of someone else."
"Luthor," Batman agreed. "This seems right up his alley. He knows he can't face you alone, especially with the League at your back, so he's getting some reinforcements."
"Figures," she muttered. "Doesn't know about my power loss, but still manages to turn up when it's the most inconvenient."
"I'm informing the others to be on the lookout," Batman said. "Hopefully they'll lay low for a while and not get into trouble."
"Don't jinx it," Kara reminded him before signing off. While she had no intention of getting into any life-or-death battles until she had her powers back, the current situation might not give her that option. Leaning back to think, she decided to make some contingency plans, just in case.
A week passed. A week in which the heroes of the Justice League put in long hours to look for the sand creature, the escaped super villains, and Lex Luthor. All without any success. Everything remained quiet. Kara's power levels remained constant, no further power loss, but neither did her missing abilities return.
Then the villains attacked Metropolis.
There were four of them. Metallo, Parasite, and Atomic Skull were easy to recognize, though evidentally Metallo had gotten a major hardware upgrade. He was easily twice his previous size and bristling with weaponry. Parasite was equally huge, which meant the creature had probably already drained some unfortunate souls of their life energy. Only Atomic Skull seemed unchanged.
There was a fourth person with them, someone wearing what looked suspiciously liked a highly-advanced, heavily-upgraded version of the battle suit that Lex Luthor had built and arranged to have stolen during his first face-to-face meeting with Superwoman. The green and purple armor's helmet was closed, no telling who was inside, but Kara would eat her cape if it was anyone but Luthor, or at the very least someone working for him.
They were making a dramatic entrance, just dropping down into the filled-to-capacity Metropolis Stadium, where thousands of people were cheering for one team or the other. The villains didn't care. Within minutes all exits were sealed and an entire stadium's worth of humans were taken hostage. And then the armored guy who was obviously in charge of the group looked into the video cameras that were broadcasting the game live.
"I want Superwoman and her Justice League! If the alien is not here in fifteen minutes, we will start killing hostages!"
Ten minutes later, the League was gathered on the Watchtower and ready for action.
"I am not liking this plan," Kara said.
"They specifically asked for Superwoman," Diana said, zipping up Kara's trademark blue suit and adjusting the blonde wig.
"Which is why I should go with you," Kara protested.
"You really have a spare Superwoman suit and a blonde wig just lying around?" Shiera asked.
"We have pulled this trick before," Diana replied. "Also, I've been making some scattered appearances as Superwoman during the last week, just to keep up appearances."
"Is anyone listening to me?" Kara asked, exasperated.
"We went over this, Kara," Batman reminded her. "If they see a Superwoman who can't fly, they'll think we are trying to trick them."
"We ARE trying to trick them," she said, pointing to Diana, who now looked like Superwoman. If Superwoman was several inches taller, curvier, and with a different facial shape.
"We outnumber them," Adam Strange said, double checking his weapons. "We just need them to be tricked long enough to get into position before they can start killing people, then we're good."
"That's Luthor in that armor," she reminded them. "Or maybe he's remote controlling it, I don't care, but he is the brains behind this, I am sure. You can bet he will have some kind of plan. This has trap written all over it!"
"Of course it's a trap," Batman agreed. "And the best way to figure it out is to spring it."
"I know you do not like being left behind," Diana said, hugging her. "You are a great fighter, sister, but you have not adjusted to your reduced strength levels, never mind your lack of flying power."
Kara and Diana had sparred just yesterday and Kara had never felt more like an absolute novice. Diana had thrown her around the training area like she hadn't been able to years, despite not using anywhere near her full strength. Never mind that Kara had fallen flat on her face more than once, instinctively trying to fly.
"If one of us were similarly impaired, what would you decide?" Diana asked.
Kara swore under her breath, but Diana had a way of making one speak honestly even without that lasso of hers. "I would tell them to stay behind, as they would endanger the others."
"I know you are used to be the one to save the day," Adam told her. "Trust us to do it for you, just this once, okay?"
"Fine," she huffed. "But I'll keep an eye on you and if I think things are going south, I will join you, powers or no powers."
A moment later the rest of the League was gone, teleporting down to Metropolis. The moment they were gone, Kara began to suit up. A ray gun was clipped to her hip, identical to the model her ancestors had worn once upon a time back on a far more war-like Krypton. Indestructible Amazonian bracelets that were a gift from Philippus went onto her forearms. The Kryptonian bodysuit that had once protected her from the ravages of space flight as she sped away from her dying home world was already tougher than Kevlar.
Finally, from her pocket, she retrieved the final item she needed. Something that had been resting at the bottom of her jewelry box in her room in Smallville for years. A golden ring with the letter 'L' engraved upon it. A souvenir from an adventure that she had forgotten she'd been on for over a decade before remembering it again.
"Now let's hope they didn't leave that feature out just because I wouldn't need it," she muttered, slipping the ring onto her finger.
The Legion of Superheroes, protectors of the 30th century, had given her this ring when she had been 16, when she had been Supergirl, stranded in the future for several months. The ring was a membership badge, a communicator, and a symbol of that oh so brief time in her life when she had felt she could just be a teenage girl without being weighed down by responsibility. The ring was all that to her, but there was another thing it could do. A thing she had been able to do without any outside help since shortly after coming to Earth, but could not do any longer.
Focusing her thoughts, the psycho-responsive metal the ring was made from reacted as designed. Lyle Norg aka Invisible Kid, the inventor of the Legion rings, had once told her that he had tried to recreate the fabled Green Lantern rings. While he had never even come close to duplicating the full capabilities of the Oans' miracle devices, the Legion rings successfully replicated two of their features: they responded to their bearer's thoughts. And they made their bearers fly.
She might no longer be the all-powerful Superwoman she had been a week ago. But she was still a daughter of Krypton. An Amazon warrior. A member of the Legion of Superheroes. The leader of the Justice League. And she would be damned before she would allow anyone to harm her friends and family if she could help it.
Lex Luthor was not a happy man.
During the last few months, he had learned much. He had learned that what he had once considered to be the cutting edge of technology was little more than a caveman's sharpened stick when compared to the wonders Brainiac had showed him. He had learned of the worlds beyond Earth, of the great empires that had once been. Brainiac had shown him many things. Hidden many more, he was certain, but that didn't matter right now.
He had also learned that he had been wrong about oh so many things.
Before meeting Brainiac, he had firmly believed that many of the Justice League members were aliens like Superwoman, more of her ilk, masquerading as others to disguise the fact that they were the spearhead of an invasion. Now he knew better. There were just two Kryptonians left in existence, three if one counted the Cadmus hybrid (and if Brainiac wasn't the source of that advanced tech Donovan had used to create it, he would eat his armor). The so-called Martian Manhunter was indeed that, a Martian, also the last of his kind. Wonder Woman was indeed an Amazon from Greek myth. There were so many things out there he had never even considered possible and in his hubris, he had dismissed them as trickery, as inconsequential.
Today should have been his day of triumph. The day when he, armed and prepared, would finally beat back the outsiders that had taken it upon themselves to guide humanity's fate. The self-styled gods who watched from the skies and made the little people worship them. Humanity's fate should be in the hands of humans, he firmly believed that. Humans like him. He should feel happy today, for now he could finally fight them.
He was about as far from happy as was possible.
The high-tech armor he now commanded, the one that made him more powerful than just about anyone else on Earth, was little more than a prison. He had seen the codes Brainiac had embedded into the operating system, he knew that the armor would turn on him, refuse his commands, the moment Brainiac decided it should. The three criminals he had freed believed that he was calling the shots, but he wasn't. He was just a patsy, a strawman.
The Justice League had come, just as he had planned. Like the pure-hearted protectors of humanity they pretended to be. Certain of their inevitable victory. It should be enjoyable to show them the error of their ways. He should feel elated. The only thing he did feel, though, was frustration.
"The Martian is vulnerable to fire," Brainiac whispered in his ear and he quickly relayed the order to Metallo. The cyborg, now equipped with weapons far more powerful than any ever built on Earth before, quickly activated flame throwers and drove the green-skinned hero back.
"Atomic Skull's energy blasts can empower the Parasite," Brainiac supplied, and once again Luthor relayed the orders. A moment later the Parasite was twice his previous size and Batman and the Hawks could do little but try not to get caught by him, even as the Skull did his best to fry them.
The energy bolts Adam Strange was firing at him harmlessly ricocheted off his armor's shields, the technology of Rann no match for what Brainiac had supplied him with. He almost laughed as an arrow broke against the metal covering his chest. Not even the explosives embedded in the arrow head could rattle him.
As the woman pretending to be Superwoman began to engage him, Luthor mused on another mistake he had made. It was so easy to see now, in hindsight. Such a simple trick to fall for. Superwoman and Wonder Woman had switched costumes. He had been fooled by a catsuit and a wig. The great Lex Luthor, brought low by a simple change of clothes. How they must have laughed.
"The Amazon's strength is near Kryptonian level," Brainiac cautioned him. "Direct engagement not advised."
A brief burst of his inbuilt rocket boosters widened the distance between him and the disguised Wonder Woman, then he began to blast her with energy beams from his gauntlets. The illusion of Superwoman was shattered when the Amazon had no choice but to deflect his attacks with her bracelets. It was maddening that she somehow managed to do this again and again, but not as maddening as the one burning question that plagued both him and Brainiac at the moment.
Where was the real Superwoman?
Despite her determination, Kara was not stupid. Charging directly into the midst of battle would have been foolish, as she was still far weaker than she had been. Being able to fly again, though slower than before, did a lot to boost her confidence, but it wouldn't do to become too confident. If her friends were able to finish this without her, she would just watch from the sidelines and congratulate them afterwards, no sweat.
Arriving at the battle in progress, though, she could see that her friends were in trouble. The Parasite was gigantic and brimming with power. Metallo seemed to have become a walking arsenal. Atomic Skull seemed more deranged and reckless than before, blasting radioactive energy beams every which way. And the armored figure seemed impervious, no matter how many hits Adam and Green Arrow landed on it.
She was certain that Diana's masquerade had failed, as she was currently busy deflecting energy beams with her bracelets. Just about the only good news was that her friends had managed to open up the emergency exits of the stadium and, even as they fought, the hostages were pouring out at a steady pace. Inevitably some people were stupid enough to stay and watch the fight, but at the very least the largest part of the crowd seemed to have some smarts.
Staying out of sight, Kara considered where she could do the most good. Parasite was almost impossible to beat in a direct fight, the only way to defeat him was to trap him somewhere and wait until he ran out of energy. She smiled as she saw Shiera use her Nth Metal Mace to bring down an empty part of the stadium, doing her best to bury the Parasite under debris. The Hawks seemed to be doing okay for now.
Diana and the armored figure seemed to be stalemated, as Diana deflected every energy beam, but couldn't get close enough to bring her strength into play. Adam was assisting her, even as Green Arrow had switched around and was currently fighting the Atomic Skull alongside Batman. Skull, despite his powers, was still human, so she was confident that her friends could take him.
J'Onn was in trouble, though, as Metallo had flame throwers.
Focusing on the Legion flight ring, Kara shot down into the arena and directly toward the Cyborg, who was distracted trying to kill her friend. The Kryptonian ray gun was in her hand and firing before he ever knew she was there. The energy beam from the weapon reduced the flame thrower on his left arm to scrap metal. A moment later Kara landed next to the surprised Cyborg.
"What the...?" the metal man began, but she didn't wait for him to finish.
She was neither as strong nor as fast as she had been, but she was wearing indestructible bracelets on her forearms. In a move she had seen Diana use more than once, she used all of her still considerable strength and speed to clash the two bracelets together. Metallo's right arm, sporting one as of yet unbroken flame thrower, was caught between them and shattered like glass.
"Finish him off, J'Onn," she ordered her teammate, even as she shot back into the sky to survey the battle field.
Luthor did not miss the arrival of Superwoman. He was surprised at the speed with which she disabled Metallo's weapons, but even more surprised at the methods she used. A ray gun? And were those bracelets on her arms, like Wonder Woman's? Since when did Superwoman need such tools to aid her?
"Parasite, Superwoman is here," he ordered. "Drain her powers!"
"That's not Superwoman," the creature roared back, currently half-buried in debris, but making his way out.
"What are you talking about? Of course she is!"
"No! Superwoman glows like a star! That one does not!"
A moment later Luthor understood. Parasite saw the world only in terms of life energy. If Superwoman didn't "glow" anymore, if she needed to use weapons, than that could only mean one thing.
"Superwoman is powerless," Luthor smirked, feeling happy for the first time in a long time.
The Brainiac node embedded into the armor of Lex Luthor stalled for a moment, uncertain of how to proceed. It had reached the same conclusion as Luthor. Somehow Kara-El was currently weakened, lacking most of the great power bestowed upon her by the yellow star of Earth. How this was possible could be analyzed at a latter date, but it definitely impacted the parameters of this mission.
The Brainiac master program had programmed this node with clear directives. One – The existence of the Brainiac master program must be protected. Two – A new Kryptonian Empire must emerge, unless this impeded directive one. Three – Kara-El must survive to become the ruler of this new Kryptonian Empire, unless this impeded directives one or two. Sub-directives for this particular mission were to ensure that Lex Luthor and his task force would do as much damage as possible without endangering any the prime directives.
Given the unexpected and unknown state of Kara-El's powers, though, it was impossible to properly calculate when exactly the prime directives should come into play. It was impossible to calculate at what point this arranged confrontation would endanger the survival of Kara-El. For all its sophistication, the Brainiac node was still just a computer program. Faced with an unknown and unforeseen variable, it stalled.
Lex Luthor, on the other hand, improvised.
Kara had roughly two seconds to register that a) someone had managed to get their hands on another piece of Kryptonite and b) that her reduced power levels did not make her any less vulnerable to it, sadly. Then the pain drowned out all rational thought and she tumbled to the ground, only the flight ring's automatic safety feature preventing a very hard impact.
"What do you know," she heard a mechanically-altered voice right next to her. "It does work after all!"
She opened her eyes, her entire body throbbing with pain, and saw the armored figure standing over her. A compartment on one of its gauntlets had opened up and a small glowing green rock was now visible inside.
"Don't tell me...," she forced the words out. "Are you still… calling it... Lexonite, Lex?"
The figure laughed and a moment later the opaque visor of the armor slid back, revealing a familiar face. Lex Luthor had lost a lot of weight compared to the last time she had seen him and what little had remained of his red hair was now completely gone, but it was clearly him.
"I do like that name," he said. "I can understand why you don't, of course."
He looked at the rock in his gauntlet. "Now I've been told that this tiny little rock will not be enough to kill you, merely cause you a whole lot of pain. It will neutralize your powers, though, what little is left of them. In other words…"
A long blade slid out of his other gauntlet, gleaming in the stadium lights. "I can make you bleed!"
Kara's eyes widened, even as they flitted around the stadium. Diana had been about to come to her aid, but had been tackled by the Atomic Skull. J'Onn was still busy with Metallo, who was proving to be very tough even without flame throwers. Parasite was also not contained yet, keeping the others busy. No one was close enough to aid her. Fighting past the pain, she tried to get a solid grip on her ray gun.
A searing red beam came down from the sky and reduced the entire right arm of Luthor's armor to so much molten slag, including the Kryptonite rock. Luthor stumbled back, looking more surprised than hurt, and Kara quickly got back to her feet. She already had a reprimand on her tongue, figuring that Clark had come to her aid – probably with Kona in tow – despite her having given them both firm instructions to stay home. The words died before she could utter them, though, as someone else dropped down from the sky. Something else.
A thing made from sand.
"What are you supposed to...," Luthor started, but couldn't finish. In a blurr of super speed the sand thing was right in front of him and a moment later its right fist burst free of Luthor's back.
Shocked silence spread over the battle field for a second, but then Luthor laughed. The armor toppled over as the sand thing withdrew its fist from the clearly entirely robotic figure and the hologram of Luthor's face flickered out.
"Bastard was never here?" Metallo yelled. "He sent us into danger and stayed safely home?"
"The glow!" the Parasite crooned in delight, its eyes fixed on the sand thing.
The Justice League overcame their surprise more quickly than the villains and a short time later it was all over. Metallo was disarmed – literally – and helpless. Atomic Skull was knocked out cold by a blow from Diana and Parasite was buried in rubble, Adam using his ray gun to melt it into a single solid mass. The damage to the stadium was extensive, but it seemed that there had been no loss of life, not even among those few idiots who had refused to leave until the very last minute.
Kara never took her eyes off the sand thing that was still standing over the destroyed robot.
"Why did you help me?" Kara asked, her hand still clutching her gun.
The sand thing looked back at her. She noticed that it looked... more real. Last time she had seen it, it had appeared like an amateur sculpture had done a quick and dirty job of modeling a likeness of her. Now, though, it looked almost real. There were even hints of color visible through the sand, the red and blue of her costume, the pink of her skin, the blonde of her hair.
"Superwoman helps people," it finally said. Apparently its vocabulary had expanded, too. And its voice sounded almost like her own.
"True, but you are not Superwoman! I am!"
The sand thing shook its head. "You were Superwoman. I was nothing. No more. Now I am something. I am Superwoman."
It took a menacing step towards her. "You will be nothing!"
End Chapter 58
Author's Note: Looking into how long some of the villains in this chapter where in jail in my story actually motivated me to set up something like a timeline for Adventures of a Super-Family, if for no other reason than to keep everyone's ages consistent. Caused me to spot one or two minor inconsistencies where Kara's or Clark's age was off by a year, but overall I've actually managed to keep everything straight. For reference, we last saw Metallo in chapter 4, Parasite in chapter 10, and Atomic Skull in chapter 7. They've all been locked up for years at this point. I'm trying to avoid the whole revolving-door prisons we see in comic books all too often.
I actually planned to have the Sand story concluded in this part, but it ended up being far too long for that (Lex took up more space than planned, that's just the kind of guy he is). So up next: the conclusion of the Sand story.
