Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 26
By
Jason Richard
Not wanting to cause a scene with people in the city Superman helped Lois find a cab, then flew nearby as it went to the Daily Planet, extremely glad that his powers were coming back. Hopefully that would make dealing with this Rudy Jones character a lot easier.
As excited as he was to be flying again, he was still careful to stayed above in the clouds, keeping out of sight. It would only take him moments to fly down again if he saw trouble with his X-Ray vision or heard it with his super hearing.
As he flew, Superman casually noted that the suit his pod gave him seemed to be repairing itself, the bullet holes closing. It was as if this suit could mimic his abilities, being as durable as he was or healing like he could. That was convenient, he thought, then kind of wished it was self cleaning as well. He'd been afraid to put this piece of alien technology through the washing machine when he got dust on it during his fight with a giant robot.
Finally the taxi arrived at the Daily Planet without any trouble and Superman saw Lois go in. Superman then quickly flew down, changed into Clark Kent in the blink of an eye, and also went inside.
Now that Lois was probably safe, he turned his thoughts to the two problems he still faced. What to do about that green crystal he needed from Lexcorp, and what to do about Rudy Jones.
…
Lex Luthor observed the purple skinned man in front of him. Strapped to a gurney, unconscious in one of Lexcorps more...private labs, Rudy Jones had to be the most fascinating thing Luthor had seen all day.
"And you're certain?" Said Luthor. "He was able to absorb Superman's power?"
"I saw the whole thing myself," said Mercy, arms behind her back. "I'd never seen a fight like it. Then again, I doubt we can really weaponize this when all you need to stop it is a lizard."
Luthor just laughed, "No no Mercy. The prototypes always have bugs. No one gets anything right on the first try. Not even me. The point of this is not the mutation you see here, but to prove that Superman's power can be stolen. We get more information from this Man's DNA, and we might even be able to make the change theft of power permanent. Of course, I have to know…"
"No," said Mercy, pulling out her clipboard and looking at a file. "No one is looking for Rudy. Quite a character this one. He's been thrown out of house by just about every member of his family and anyone who's tried to take him in. From what I dug up he usually gives some sob story about nowhere to live, but his lazy habits eventually catch up with him. He even tried to apply for food stamps, but quit that because, and this is a quote from his landlord, 'the paperwork was too much work.'"
Luthor laughed, "He doesn't even sound real," said Luthor. "Seems like getting a job would be more work."
"Says the man who hires someone to do his own paperwork for him," said Mercy, smirking. "Namely me."
"Touche Mercy," said Luthor, chuckling. "Touche. Now, let's keep a tight eye on him. It's only luck he did what we wanted and went after Superman after escaping. Don't want him causing any more trouble."
"I don't think that will be any trouble," said Mercy, walking over to Jones. "First, he's obviously lost Superman's powers already. His muscles have gone from rock solid to nice and squishy. Second, I'm pretty sure his escape was little more than a fluke. Look at this."
She showed him a spot on Rudy's skin that was an even darker purple than the rest of him.
"That's a gunshot," said Mercy. "When I first put him in the limo I figured I see just how much power he was able to steal, and the bullet bounced right off of him. Yet when I shot Superman it actually penetrated his skin. Rudy Jones actually had more power than Superman for a brief moment, and still couldn't catch him. I saw. Superman managed to keep him just out of arm's reach. Who knows? He might not have needed Lois Lane's intervention."
"Sure he was grateful enough for it all the same," said Luthor, shaking his head. "But still. You have that much power and can't even make use of it? Surely he got enough of Superman's memories to use the power effectively. He didn't think to take advantage of that? He seriously thought his own brain would be enough? Mannheim was right. What a pathetic little man."
He then turned to leave, discussing other things with Mercy. Rudy, however, had not been as unconscious as he seemed. He had woken up midway through the conversation, at the word prototype he had pretended to still be unconscious. So he was set up huh? Whatever.
But when he heard that he had gotten most of Superman's power and had still failed, that was a heavy blow against his ego. Had he really been outmatched os easily? He lay back and stared at the ceiling in shock. Now what was he going to do?