Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 14
By
Jason Richard
Rudy Jones got the signal on his pager from Manheim and groaned. He had just finished cleaning out the restrooms at STAR Labs and this mission would cut into his break. He realized that was exactly the point, as it gave him an excuse to be out of sight, but he decided to be sour about it anyway...despite telling himself that he'd get more money out of it.
He put away his janitorial equipment in the storage closet, locked it up, and very carefully made his way to where the storage container he was supposed to steal was located.
…
The robot's torso turned, leaving it's legs to walk in the same direction. The turn wasn't really faster than Superman, but it was at least fast enough to catch him by surprise. Equally surprising was the force of the fist-sized bullet that struck him in the chest. The bullet, leaving behind a trail of spiraling smoke, sent him flying backwards and rolling across the pavement..
What he had been hit with was a railgun, a weapon that shot a titanium projectile not with a gunpowder explosion, but with electromagnetic force. The bullet, when shot, travelled at a speed of Mach 10, the latest in military technology.
Of course, despite the wide-eyed look on his face at the point of impact, it didn't really hurt Superman that much. He might have compared it to a punch in the gut, had he known what that felt like to most people, but since most punches to him hurt the attacker more than him the thought never really occurred to him.
As Superman got up he saw the robot crash through the front door of the bank, and with his X-Ray vision saw people in the lobby about to be crushed by falling debris. With a determined look on his face, Superman flew at high speed, grabbed the three civilians in his arms, and dropped them off outside the bank. He then flew back in, eager to take this thing down before people really did get hurt.
…
When someone was already within a security system, even in a limited capacity like Rudy Jones, it was easier to hack them security clearance undetected. Rudy Jones was sometimes allowed into restricted areas to clean, but only under supervision. This meant that Rudy did have access codes, but someone with the right clearance had to unlock them. All the intergang hackers had to do was hack that particular line of code, and sure enough when Rudy got to the room where the storage container was being kept his codes were unlocked. He put them in and went inside without any hiccups whatsoever.
Inside he actually found quite a bit of storage containers lined on shelves, but fortunately, he was able to find the one he was looking for very quickly. Good thing too. It was cold in that room, and he wanted out of there quickly. He took out the syringe he had been given, injected the substance into the port on the container, picked up the container by handles on the side, and tried to leave the room.
He couldn't leave by the same route, however, as his codes would lock themselves the moment he used them. He knew other doors would be temporarily unlocked, however, so he made his way to them.
As he went, it occurred to him that the route Manheim's instructions laid out was a rather indirect path to take, but figured the guy knew what he was doing.
…
For a moment Superman allowed the Robot to move towards the vault, and he focused on flying in, picking up civilians and getting them to safety. When there were no more civilians in the bank Superman flew back in, only to find that robotic tentacles latched onto the massive vault and began ripping it from the wall.
It then turned its torso again, throwing the massive titanium vault door directly at Superman. Superman braced himself and caught the vault, the force of it sending him back a few feet, before Superman gripped the metal, leaving indentations in it, and swung it around in a circle, going faster and faster until he threw the massive piece of metal back at the robot.
The robot, which for a few moments had been taking bags of money with the tentacles and putting together into a container in its chest, quickly stopped when it was doing and turned its torso again. One of the gun arms spun around in its socket until the gun was hidden inside the arm and a giant, electromagnetic jackhammer took its place.
The robot pulled its arm back and used the jackhammer to hit the vault door with an incredible amount of force, sending it crashing to the floor and flattening various pieces of furniture.
At that moment Superman flew at incredible speed and punched the robot right in the face, making a sound like a large bell being rung and sending it staggering back. With that one punch Superman could tell it was durable, so he made a move to disarm it, grabbing the barrel of one of its guns and bending it back on itself, making a creaking noise as it did.
Unfortunately, that gave the other arm time to attack. The electromagnetic jackhammer whammed Superman right in the chest, sending him flying back. Superman recovered, and hovered for a moment, but the Robot just switched the same arm back to a gun and blasted him again, sending him crashing back through the wall and tumbling out onto the street.
In a dark room, controlling the robot with virtual reality equipment, Bruno Mannheim grinned, realizing just how much fun this all was.
Back outside the bank Superman got up quickly and flew back in as the robot grabbed a few more bags of money with its robotic tentacles and then started stomping out.
Meanwhile, out in the street, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane got out of a Taxi, ready to report on this. Jimmy immediately got out his camera and started taking pictures, a big grin on his face.
"He's fighting a giant robot," he said. "A...giant...robot! This...is...AWESOME!"
"Just don't get too close," said Lois, crossing her arms. "I know it's cool and all, but I'd hate to see you get squashed because you did something stupid."
"Aww," said Jimmy. "Don't go wrecking my fun."
"Have as much fun as you want," said Lois, cracking her knuckles and grinning as she watched the fight. "Just make sure the fun doesn't wreck you."
"Wait," said Jimmy. "You're not one to miss out on the action any more than I am. You aren't going to give me that warning and then get closer yourself are you?"
Lois crossed her arms, deliberately looked away, pursed her lips and said, "No."
Jimmy eyed her suspiciously.
It turned out that keeping a distance was sound advice, as Superman began pummeling the robot, sending it staggering backward as he attacked it relentlessly with his fists. It switched the bent gun arm to the jackhammer and tried to strike back, but Superman was too fast for it, and soon Superman's fists left indentations in the titanium.
The robot, however, had one final trump card. Throughout the metal frame grooves opened up, revealing little lights and other devices, which immediately turned on. The effect was blinding, and anyone who looked wouldn't see a robot, but a big ball of bright light. The other small devices were worse, as they emitted a high pitched whine that began to shatter glass on cars and windows and force people to cover their ears.
With his super sensitive eyes and ears, Superman was even more vulnerable to this than everyone else. The ringing that went through his head was so unbearable he wasn't able to register the jackhammer knocking him to the ground until it was too late.
Superman stood up and grimaced as he tried to use x-ray vision, but I seemed the robot accounted even for that spectrum of light, for he was still blinded by a white radiance. Unable to see or hear as he was, he realized he couldn't fight safely without destroying everything around him. His next thought was, now what?
...
Rudy Jones carried the container through a few doors where his codes were unlocked, before entering a room with a giant machine in the middle. Inside that machine was a chamber with two exits. Rudy would have to pass through this machine to get out of that room.
Now an intelligent man might have realized what was going on at this point. Rudy Jones, however, was no such man. He walked blindly into that machine and sure enough, it closed in on him. The intergang hackers were busy at work alright. Confused he dropped the container and tried to pull open the glass doors with his hands. No such luck.
When the machine hummed to life, Rudy forgot he was not supposed to be there and started yelling for help. Little did he realize that the storage container he had been carrying began to release a vapor into the air due to chemical components he himself place in, activated by the machine around him.
That is until he started coughing...and felt a burning sensation in his chest. Fearing for his life, began calling for help even louder.
…
Superman was knocked over as another railgun bullet hit him. He stood, only to be knocked over again. He might have avoided the bullets or even knocked them away, but he still couldn't see through the light and sound the massive robot was giving off. The robot, however, could see him as it had a connection to several satellites in orbit. The satellites, using scanners at multiple angles to detect absences of light (AKA shadows), were able to pinpoint Superman's approximate location as well as nearby terrain, meaning the robot could see, but Superman couldn't.
As he was knocked over by another bullet, Superman realized he'd have to go full power to take this thing down. That, however, was dangerous, and someone could get hurt if he really cut loose. He'd only done so a couple of times, and the results had been disastrous. Once he threw a ball with all his strength, just to see how far it could go, and it had dented someone's car. Clark was lucky no one had been hurt. The second time he had tried to see how fast he could go and, well, that had broken the sound barrier. The impact sent him landing on his face, and glass nearby shattered from the boom. Clark tried not to do that, but he might have to do something like that in order to take this thing down.
He had to get it away from the city, and in a moment of inspiration, he knew what to do.
After another bullet sent him rolling across the pavement, Superman, instead of standing up, kneeled and smashed his way through the ground into the sewers below. The robot looked around, unable to find him, but keeping the light and sound show going just in case.
Under the robot, in the sewer, Superman floated and looked up. With his X-Ray vision, he still saw a blinding light above him but was able to make out a darkness where the robot's feet met the pavement. Taking a deep breath Superman gathered up the force that allowed him to fly, making water flowing beneath him ripple, and then he flew up. In an instant, he burst through the concrete pushed the robot into the air.
With his hands on the cool metal, he flew upwards with the giant robot, still blind and deaf from the devices the robot was using. The robot struggled to move its arms and legs again the wind but was paralyzed. Faster and faster they flew until Superman felt the familiar resistance of the sound barrier above them. That was the moment to strike. He pushed his flight even faster and punched the robot right through the sound barrier.
KABOOM!
Almost all of Metropolis heard the blast, and the force of it shattered the robot's lights and sound devices. The robot, not designed for breaking that particular barrier, also released sparks everywhere, shorting out from the impact, until it went limp and motionless. Superman then stopped flying and held the robot above his head, looking out over the city from above.
For a moment Superman took it in, savoring his victory and satisfied that no civilians had gotten hurt. However, for a moment he looked towards STAR labs. For just a second after the blast, when the noise finally died down, Superman could have sworn he heard someone screaming for their life...but now heard nothing except the cheering of people below him.