Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 39
by
Jason Richard
Twelve Months Later.
On the Eight O'Clock evening news, and newspapers the next morning, it was reported that STAR Labs had a break in. Nothing physical was taken, but head scientist Dr. Hamilton reported that information had been downloaded off their computers. The digital thief covered his tracks well, unfortunately, but during the newscast one could see Dr. Hamilton rubbing his chin carefully. He couldn't be certain, but he suspected that he knew which piece of information the thief was after.
…
Lex Luthor sat in his office, going over blueprints on his personal computer. He was scanning through every weapon his company had developed, but had never brought to market. This first attempt to crack Rudy Jones's riddle wasn't going very well, however. Could Lex Luthor really have thrown away something powerful enough to take on Superman? Not a single weapon he had previously dismissed seemed promising.
As he mused over this problem, someone entered his office without knocking. Since it clearly was not his assistant Mercy Graves, the one personwith whom he'd been forced to tolerate this sort of thing, a vein in Luthor's forehead began throbbing.
"As much as I respect my associate Mr. Mannheim's partnership," said Luthor irritably, still looking at his computer screen. "That does not mean his hit men can barge into my office whenever they please, Mr. Corben."
John Corben, Intergang's top hit man, was a tall, broad shouldered man who was normally seen with a cocky grin and guns hidden in every corner of his coat. He was especially cocky today, irritatingly so.
"Oh come on Mr. Luthor," said Corben, pulling a flash drive out of his coat, "You can't even make an exception for the guy who got you Superman's DNA?"
Lex Luthor looked up to see Corben holding a flash drive between his fingers. The business man grinned and said, "Well, I think I can make an exception...this time."
Corben handed Luthor the drive and said, "Found it on Star Labs main computer. I took the liberty of encrypting it and verifying its contents."
"And it's Superman's DNA?" asked Luthor eagerly.
"Some of it," said Corben admittedly, sitting down. "What they could get from the Parasite's...uh...flexible DNA structure. I'm not really a scientist, but from what I could gather it's mixed in with a bunch of other species."
"Really?" asked Luthor, rubbing his chin. "What I wouldn't give to see what Rudy found on that ship...oh well. I wish we could have gotten Superman's entire DNA, but I'm sure this will be a start. Mark my words, we'll find a way to replicate Superman's powers soon."
"I hope so," said Corben, crossing his arms and putting his feet on Luthor's desk. "Do you have any idea how hard it is for Intergang to conduct its business with that Super guy flying around?"
Luthor was only half listening, as a vein began throbbing in his forehead at the sight of Corben's feet on the table. "Mr. Corben…" he began warningly.
"Cause you know," said Corben. "Even with the machine's that dampen sounds he always hears something that sends him flying. We've had too many bank robberies and black market trades interrupted by that guy. If he keeps it up, well, you're going to have to find someone else to illegally peddle your weapons, cause Intergang will be sunk."
Lex Luthor put his hands out and pushed Corben's feet off his desk.
"I understand your predicament," said Luthor, perturbed. "But rest assured, I'm doing everything I can to deal with the problem. Patience, Mr. Corben. Superman has powers the likes of which no one on this planet has ever seen before, and he practically dropped out of the sky yesterday. It's going to take time, but I will solve this problem."
"I hope so," said Corben, shaking his head. "Cause frankly, given what we've seen from Superman, I'm not certain Bruno's idea to solve the problem is going to help for long."
…
Bruno Mannheim paced back and forth within the alley, surrounded by armed guards. He was supposed to sell a package of Lexcorp weapons to a gang from Gotham city, but the customers hadn't shown up. Had they gotten cold feet? No surprise really, what with Superman busting every illegal sale that went down. How had he been doing it? Superman had admitted that he found crime with super hearing, but was his hearing really so powerful that not even Lexcorp sound dampening devices could stop him?
Well, he was about to find out, as Superman landed right next to Mannheim, making him jump and then freeze like a deer in the headlights.
"So," said Superman, a confident grin adorning his face as he crossed his arms. "You're Bruno Mannheim. I would be polite and say it's nice to meet you, but I'd be lying. Kind of a lose lose situation for my manners really."
"Now now," said Mannheim, taking an uncertain step back as his guards turned their guns on Superman with all the confidence of a mouse standing up to a lion. "Don't do anything hasty. I've got men watching this location in three separate buildings. Anything happens to me, and they all start making calls to men with hostages, each in a different location scattered around the city."
Mannheim didn't need to elaborate any further. Superman understood what he meant. As superman frowned, Mannheim straightened his collar and began to feel a little more confident. Obviously without knowing where the hostages were there was no way for even Superman to save them all, even with his incredible speed. He might be able to disable the men watching, but that was a shot in the dark, and of course Mannheim had safeguards in place. If the men watching didn't report in every few minutes, the men guarding the hostages would assume the worst.
Actually Superman did have a way to find them. He didn't just have super hearing after all. With his telescoping X-Ray vision he could scan the area to find them, but that would take time. He had to narrow it down, but fortunately he had a way to do that.
The sound dampening devices Intergang used were annoying, but if Superman listened carefully enough he could hear dead zones where no sound came. An object he was hearing would suddenly go silent only to sound again, or even the wind, if it was blowing, would have a silent zone. He was difficult hearing such subtle cues with all the things he could hear at once, but Superman was getting better at it. This is why he'd been able to stop several of Interchange deals when they got started.
He could use this method, as well as his X-Ray vision, to search for any hostages. In the meantime, he needed to keep Mannheim busy.
"That's very clever Mannheim," said Superman. "But you made one mistake."
Mannheim frowned nervously, "What's that?"
"You let me hear your voice," said Superman. "I'd only seen pictures or footage of you from afar before today, but now that I know what you're voice sounds like, everything has changed. I'll be listening for that voice, and you'd better hide behind your sound dampening devices every second of every minute of every day, because if you so much as lean outside the field to ask someone for salt at the dinner table, I'll know where you are and come for you. How angry I am when that happens depends entirely on how many people you hurt."
And as Superman started listing for dead zones within the city, Bruno Mannheim hesitated, feeling nervous as he wondered just how true Superman's words were.
….
...
I feel like I've been forgetting to wish people good holidays, so I figure I'd better start now.
Happy Independence Day everyone.
And if any of you don't live in the United States I wish you a happy day too.
Jason.