Superman: The Ark of Krypton

Chapter 17

By

Jason Richard

Rudy Jones was let free of his restraints once he calmed down, but that didn't mean he was happy. He was given a better room, with a comfy bed and a TV, but that didn't mean he was happy. He was served a bigger meal than he had ever had in his life, but that didn't mean he was happy.

How could he be happy, looking like a freak?

He kept going to the mirror in the bathroom, his hands resting on the side of the sink, and looking at himself, at his purple skin and white veins, and thinking how he would ever recover from this.

Finally, his lawyer, or rather Bruno Manheim's lawyer, entered the room.

"Mr. Jones," said the lawyer. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I could throw up at any time," said Rudy. "I also feel...weird...like I'm hollow inside...even though I've still got all my guts. You know?"

"No," said the Lawyer. "Not really. But that's why I'd like to have a doctor I selected check you out."

"The Star Labs guys already did," said Rudy.

"Yes," said the lawyer. "But I'm certain they sugarcoated it to avoid any legal ramifications. We'll get you checked out by a more...thorough doctor who'll run some tests and see if there are any long term side effects. Those, of course, would be the bad news if there is any. The good news is that with even just the disfigurement, the settlement you get from this case would leave you set for life. You'd never have to work again."

Suddenly Rudy felt a lot better, a goofy grin spreading across his face. "Well alright!" he said, stretching out his hand.

The lawyer backed off and said, "Um...the Star Labs doctors did clear you for human contact right? I doubt even they'd be stupid enough to let you out if you were dangerous to others, but still..."

"Oh yeah," said Rudy. "Dr. Hamilton said I should be fine."

"Okay," said the Lawyer, giving out his own hand.

As Rudy would soon find out, however, he wasn't quite as safe as he thought. Everyone else he had been in contact with before had been a doctor wearing rubber gloves. This was the first moment his skin came in contact with someone else's. Upon contact Rudy felt even stranger than before. The emptiness he had been feeling suddenly became not unlike the empty vacuum of space, pulling some force into him, a force that Rudy couldn't identify.

That force came right out of the lawyer in front of him, whose face became shocked before he passed out, falling to the floor, completely comatose.

The next thing Rudy felt, which he somehow knew was the last thing the lawyer felt before passing out, was a draining sensation, like something being ripped out of him, and a sense of panic.

But that passed quickly. The next thing he felt was confusion. What had just happened? The doctor said he shouldn't be dangerous! And this guy on the floor...oh no! What if he got blamed? He didn't even know how it happened!

It's okay, he thought, remembering his years at law school. Given his unique medical condition he'd just claim that this was a result of a perfectly consensual test of his condition, to see if he was really as safe as the Star Labs doctors claimed. If he claimed different, then it was his word against Rudy's, and reasonable doubt had to be allowed.

Wait...thought Rudy. When did I think like this? Normally other people talking like this made his head swim. And when did I ever go to law school?

Then it hit him. He never did. This lawyer had. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he had a bunch of memories swimming around in his head that didn't belong to him. A law school rudy had never attended, friends he had never known, people he'd never worked for, self defense classes he'd never taken, a wife he'd never romanced, another man's entire life swimming through his head.

For a few moments he was disturbed. What was going on? Then, however, he came across a certain memory involving Bruno Mannheim.

"Don't worry," said Manheim in the dream. "Mr. Luthor says that the process shouldn't make Rudy dangerous. Wouldn't want our guinea pig blowing up in our face. You just make certain eyes are on STAR Labs so that Mr. Luthor can run his experiment on Rudy Jones. Got it?"

He'd been set up! It was the only explanation! They needed a human guinea pig, and STAR Laps was just a corporate patsy. Of all the…

He needed to know what was done to him...of course that would take more brainpower than Rudy normally possessed. Then again after touching this lawyer he had a bunch of legal terms flowing through his brain that suddenly made sense so maybe if he touched a scientist…

There came a knock on the door, "Rudy," said Dr. Hamilton. "It's me. I need to talk to you."

Perfect timing, thought Rudy. "Just a minute," he said, taking time to drag the unconscious lawyer into the bathroom and close the door. He then let Dr. Hamilton in and closed the door behind him.

"Rudy I…" began the doctor in a worried expression before Rudy touched his forehead. The good doctor went down in seconds.

Rudy, of course, felt the same sensation as before. A life that wasn't his own flashed before his eyes, but this time he concentrated on what he wanted to know. Specifically what had been done to his body.

But for a moment, he reflected on his he was able to understand math and science for the first time in his life.

"Huh," said Rudy, rubbing his purple chin. "So this is what being a genius feels like...I don't like it. It comes with unpleasant college memories. Ugh!"

Then he focused on the procedure. Apparently the device he had been trapped in was designed to both extract and insert cells into a living thing. The idea was that you could extract healthy cells from a donor and insert them into a patient with diseased cells. The process would inevitably weaken the donor, but only temporarily, as their body would eventually replace the cells on its own.

In Rudy's case, however, things had gone wrong. His body now did this automatically, and in addition seemed to absorb a bit of electromagnetic energy as well, which probably accounted for the memories.

What Rudy had done was absorb enough cells and electromagnetic energy to imitate the abilities of the men he had just touched. The Dr's scientific mind, and the lawyers savvy of course. Rudy also realized that the lawyer had taken self defense and exercised regularly. Feeling his stomach it was no longer pudgy and soft, but hardened by effort Rudy never bothered with.

Rudy would never have figured out the truth on his own, but with the brains of smarter men swimming through him he understood the truth quite clearly. Lex Luthor had provided the materials Rudy injected into the formula he had tried to steal, and this had made the transformation possible. Unfortunately he had made this formula before Dr. Hamilton made changes to the device's makeup, increasing its potency. Rudy, in all likelihood, wasn't supposed to be able to do this, just have the potential so Luthor could dissect him.

This was why no one expected Rudy to be dangerous to others. Dr. Hamilton only found out recently when test results got back, and he only cleared Rudy for safety because of the lawyer fuming down his back. He covered everything legal, including toxins, poisons, radiation and the like, but since cell stealing was new, it wasn't covered by law.

It was a fact sheer accident that Rudy had gotten the jump on these people at all. No matter. He had the advantage now, and he had figured out what the end goal of all of this was. A person who can steal abilities by touch? Only one reason anyone would try that.

They wanted to engineer a way to take Superman's powers, and now Rudy had that ability. He grinned, getting the feeling that he really was about to go up in the world.

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And We're Back! Sorry for making you guys wait so long, but as I thought I didn't have time to write on vacation. But I'm back now, with chapters for both stories I'm working on. Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!

Jason.