Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 34
By
Jason Richard
Superman flew back as the crystal Parasite attacked, the villains translucent mouth grinning over his visible skull. Just one punch had nearly broken Superman's hand, so he knew he couldn't fight him head on. At that moment all he could do was dodge the Parasite's incredible fast barrage of punches.
But then one connected with his torso. If Superman thought a hit from the Parasite hurt before, this was completely different. As Superman flew through the air, skidding through the sand, he had to cradle his stomach, confident he now knew what it was like for a normal person to be hit with a crowbar.
And the Parasite came again. Superman quickly flew away, shooting heat vision at his attacker. They flew across the desert at high speed, Parasite effortlessly dodging the twin beams. Then Superman tried ice breath, spreading at as wide as possible so Parasite couldn't dodge.
Parasite countered with his fire breath again, and in his more crystalline form one could see the flames forming in his lungs and travelling up his throat and out his mouth. The flames, once again, proved to be equal to Superman's ice breath.
Parasite, however, had absorbed power from two other fire breathing animals as well. There was a giant firefly looking creature, and a batlike creature with four legs and two wings. Tapping into their power, as well as the dragon like creature, Parasite soon had an inferno pouring from his lungs, that overwhelmed Superman and sent him crashing into the ground once more.
Superman, feeling the heat, quickly stood as Parasite flew on. He was running out of ideas on how to defeat this monster, so he did the only thing he could think of. He used ice breath and heat vision on his own hands, making a massive cloud of steam. Parasite tried to attack Superman in that cloud, but lost sight of him. As the steam cleared he looked around, but couldn't see Superman. He tried to track him with telepathy from the hounds, but that apparently had limited range, for Superman's thoughts were nowhere to be found. He tried to use super hearing from some of the animals, but Superman had that power, and knew how to keep quiet enough to escape that. Parasite had no way to track Superman.
But Superman had run from him, Parasite realized with a grin.
"Oh come on Superman!" cried Parasite, grinning as he looked around. "You're not done yet are you? You might want of rethink how 'super' you really are. Or if you're even a man." and he chuckled.
Superman hid behind a rock formation on his knees, panting for breath and hugging his stomach from the pain. Superman was used to hiding his identity as Clark Kent, but hiding for his life was knew to him, much like this kind of pain. He didn't know what to do. He might have had a chance before, but that crystallized form was too strong.
He was just wondering what he could do when his pod hovered up next to him.
"My apologies Kal-El," said JLAI 13. "I wish I could render you more assistance, but neither this pod nor the Ark have any kind of weapon systems. The best I can do is scan for any vulnerabilities."
"Found any?" asked Superman hopefully, his voice hoarse from labored breathing.
"Only one," said the AI. "There are no currently exploitable weaknesses inherent to the creatures he absorbed power from, but his ability to absorb powers will diminish soon."
"I already know he loses his power," said Superman, rubbing his chin. "And weaknesses…" thinking of how Lois Lane had helped him before. "What if I deliberately gave him my power, and you opened the hatch with your power source? That green crystal I gave it?"
"It is called kryptonite," said the AI. "And yes. If you give Parasite all your power it will give him your vulnerabilities and I can expose him to the kryptonite. Calculating...such a tactic might overload this individual's power, making him lose the energy he's collected."
It's a risky play, thought Superman, but it could work...then…
"No," said Superman, shaking his head. "I figured out he stole telepathy from something. He physically reacted to my thoughts. I try this and he'll see it coming a mile away."
"From the telepathic hounds no doubt," said the AI. "Calculating...upon further review of the scans you will not need to give him all your power. If you get a hold of him for just a second the kryptonite should interfere with the power transfer itself, and that should be enough to overload him. He can see you coming, but I am artificial, therefore immune to telepathy."
Superman was still feeling pain in his stomach, and he just shook his head. "I don't know if I can even do that." he said honestly. Superman had never met a challenge he couldn't handle. For so long he'd always been the most powerful person in the room, even if he kept that fact hidden. Now that he met someone he couldn't handle, he felt guilty for not being prepared for it, as if he was letting down anyone the Parasite might harm.
"Kal-El," said the AI. "I have not been able to observe your development, but if you are in any way similar to your father, my creator Jor-El, then I cannot fathom you giving up at this point. Jor-El was never one to back down from doing what he considered to be the right thing to do."
"I saw," said Superman. "And he failed. He wasn't able to save his planet."
"But he saved you," said the AI. "Not much compared to an entire race, but if he had given up, would he have even achieved that?"
Of course, thought Superman. How could he have forgotten that?
Superman had to laugh a little at himself as he replied, "No. Probably not. Sorry. I've gotten too used to being more powerful than my problems."
The next moment an explosion rocked a nearby rock formation. The Parasite was trying to flush Superman out with his flame breath. Or inferno breath as Superman was inclined to call it at the moment. Superman had to admit he was feeling nervous about this.
"There might be another way," said the AI. "We've already established that this Parasite cannot hold onto power indefinitely. You, however, are another story. Your body absorbs it's power from a nearly infinite source. No matter how much energy you use in this fight, you can always absorb more from the sun."
Superman was surprised. He got his power from sunlight? Then again it kind of made sense. Surely this much power required a source, and doubted he got it from simply eating food or breathing air.
"A yellow sun such as that on Earth has energy as yet undetected by Earth science," said the AI. "Your body can store massive amounts of that energy. If you can feel this energy within, you can not only use more of it than you naturally do, making you stronger, but you can even learn to absorb that energy more quickly, recharging yourself faster. If you drag this battle out and conserve your energy, Parasite will run out of steam long before you do, and such a tactic wouldn't require deception, making telepathy less of an issue."
It was a good plan, but Superman decided, "And if Parasite tries to reverse this by stealing my power, you get out the kryptonite. I'll accept the risk."
"As you wish," said the AI. "Now, just imagine that well of power inside you filling up from an outside source, then imagine it filling up faster. It may take a while to really master this kind of control over your power, but against this Parasite that knowledge alone will have to do."
"I understand," said Superman, concentrating. "And when we get out of this, I want to learn more about my birth parents and Krypton."
"Kal-El," said the AI. "All the knowledge I possess is at your disposal whenever you need it."
…
ParasiteParasite was worried. He'd start losing his power soon, and returning to the ship to drain those alien animals again would leave him vulnerable to an ambush. Part of him wanted to believe that Superman had just fled, effectively making him the winner, but a shrewder part of him was certain Superman was just buying time.
A fear that was confirmed when Parasite's telepathy picked up Superman.
Parasite turned around, his purple, crystal face frowning. He wasn't losing power yet, though from his mind reading he realized Superman was counting on the fact that he would. Parasite also read that Superman was drawing in more power than before. So Superman was solar powered? Interesting, but maybe two could play at that game.
Parasite tried to absorb sunlight the same way, and while something in him apparently did this, his rate of absorption was slow, and the harder he tried the harder it was to hold onto his crystal form. Apparently increasing the power of one creature decreased the power for another. If Superman could continue to absorb energy faster than Parasite, he was guaranteed to get stronger.
And with that ship flying around with Superman's weakness inside, he couldn't afford to just absorb Superman's power.
Oh well, thought Parasite, grinning maliciously. Who needs it?
He flew towards Superman at top speed, attacking him relentlessly. In a incredible barrage of punches, each of which Superman dodged as best as he could, zig zagging through the arrow and narrowly missing the Parasite's knuckles. To anyone watching the pair were a blur high above the ground as the pair moved at high speed.
Then Parasite got a hit in, catching on Superman's torso, making Superman cry out in pain. Parasite grinned with glee at his success, until Superman immediately used heat vision to force him backwards...if only for a few seconds. Parasite immediately began attacking again, and Superman dodged again. For a minute or two this went on…
And Parasite hot another hit in, right in the stomach. Superman, feeling like he could black out at any moment, tried to use heat vision, but Parasite just flew out of the way and kept hammering him with everything he had. Superman actually felt like his ribs could crack at any moment.
So in the air he lay back and kicked the Parasite back with both feet. It didn't send him very far, and Parasite wasn't very hurt, but Superman used the force to send him flying away. Parasite pursued, but at least Superman had some distance now.
Parasite immediately flew forward, ready to take down Superman once and for all. Superman wasn't even flying that fast now, and soon Parasite would be able to grab the cape that billowed in the wind behind him. Any moment the Parasite would catch him and beat him to bits. Closer and closer the Parasite flew, a wicked grin on his face...
And then he felt it. Parasite was starting to get weaker, his own well of energy beginning to disappear. His ability to absorb power was running out, and he realized he had to seal his victory. He'd have to go back and absorb more power, even if it meant endangering the animals he intended to use.
Parasite immediately flew away, and Superman turned around to pursue, realizing what direction he was going. He was stil hurting from the pain, but he imagined that well of energy inside him flowing to his battered torso, hoping to heal up. It started to feel like it was working..
Superman was able to match Parasite's speed, but only just. Knowing he couldn't let Parasite steal more power, he took a deep breath as he flew. Of course a deep breath for Superman made a gale force wind that slowed Parasite down significantly. Frustrated Parasite tried to pick up the pace, but Superman was able to grab Parasite's ankle and swing him around unleashed the full torrent of his ice breath.
Parasite countered with fire breath with the power of all three fire breathing animals he had absorbed power from, but with time to prepare his blast Superman was able to counter it completely. When their breath's ended Superman hit the Parasite with heat vision, blasting him back several feet. Parasite, grimacing, moved out of the way of the blast and tried to fly forward.
He dodged around Superman's heat vision again, hoping to get around the red and blue man, but Superman wasn't going to let himself be on the defensive again. He focused on that well of energy the AI told him about, forcing all of it to go to his eyes, making a much wider beam of heat vision than before, which the Parasite was unable to dodge. He was blasted back once again, his crystal body slamming into the sands as the heat vision melted the sand.
Suddenly Superman felt weak. He had to shut off the heat vision and let himself float to the ground. That well of energy he had started to feel wasn't' as bright as before. It seemed the heat vision used a lot of it, and it would take a few moments of standing in the sun for it to recharge. He gave a worried glance in Parasite's direction.
Parasite, meanwhile, lost his crystal transformation, turning into a man with purple skin. He was starting to lose his power as well. He realized he wouldn't be able to make it to the ship in time. He only had one choice.
He flew towards Superman at high speed, and with Superman's own energy running low he wasn't able to get out of the way in time, and Parasite got his hands on Superman's' face. Superman tried to pry the villain off, but Parasite was already beginning to drain his power. With no other option available, Superman shouted, "Now!"
And his pod flew up, a hatch opening to expose both of them to kryptonite. As the pain shot through both of them, they both gave out an incredible yell.