Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 40
by
Jason Richard
As Bruno Mannheim looked away, contemplating Superman's warning, Superman took a moment to quickly scan his immediate surroundings with x-ray vision. He found three people in buildings that had a view of the alley, each with a communicator at the ready, and Superman though it safe to assume that there were three groups of hostages.
Before he could look for them, however, Mannheim looked right back at Superman and made a threat.
"Oh yeah?" said the gangster in a suit. "Well, I'll just have to keep hostages on hand at all times, won't I? You may be the most powerful man in the world, but all that power won't do you any good if you can't afford you use it. Isn't that right?"
As he listened to Mannheim Superman was still searching for zones of silence that typically came with Intergang's sound dampening devices. He found several, but he would need to distract Mannheim again before he started looking at them.
"Maybe you will," said Superman. "But how do you think Lex Luthor is going to feel about kidnappings?"
"What's he got to do with me?" asked Mannheim smugly.
"I might not have solid proof," said Superman. "But I know whenever Lexcorp weapons make it into the black market it's always intergang that sells them, so if Lex Luthor is involved with any criminal organization, it's you. Now bank robberies and weapon sales are one thing, but if you keep abducting random people off the street, sooner or later someone is going to see or hear something that connects you to Luthor, and then escape. One slip up, one mistake, and the police have evidence against your associate. What do you think that man is going to do if that happens?"
Mannheim felt himself beginning to sweat. Superman had a point. As Mannheim looked down nervously, Superman took a look around in the blink of an eye, getting a look at all the silent zones. He found three separate hotel rooms with people tied up and guards watching them, the same number as people watching that alley. Now he had to confirm that these were really all the hostages.
"But it doesn't matter," said Superman. "Because you're going to jail today."
"Really," said Mannheim, trying to sound confident. "You know where the hostages are?"
Superman figured he'd need to play this carefully. He'd listen for Mannheim's heartbeat, which at the moment was beating quickly from stress
"I know where both groups of hostages are," said Superman.
Mannheim's heartbeat slowed. Clearly if Superman didn't know about one group of hostages, Mannheim could surprise him with it. It was time to step things up.
"One in Motel 70 to the north, and the other is in Lincoln Lodge to the east," said Superman.
Mannheim got a little more nervous, and his heartbeat sped up just a little. Both those locations were correct it seemed. Now that final piece of the puzzle was ready. If he revealed the last location and Mannheim panicked, then that would be it. If he remained calm, then there would be at least one other group of hostages.
"Oh, one more thing," said Superman, his eyes narrowing. "There is one other group of hostages, in the Twilight Inn and Suites southwest of here."
Though Mannheim himself tried to blank his expression, his heart slowly sped up until it was pounding. This was it, Superman thought. He had Mannheim right where he wanted him.
As quickly as possible Superman used a narrow beam of heat vision to fry any cell phones or communications devices on Mannheim and his car, making Mannheim step back and scream. Next Superman flew into the air, spinning around and using precise blasts of his laser eyes to destroy the communication devices of the men watching that alley before they could make their calls. When them out of the way Superman flew at high speed to the first group of hostages.
He quickly burst through the window, untied the hostages, and tied up the men holding him. Their guns he crushed between his fingers before he flew at blinding speed to the other two locations to repeat the process. Soon all three locations had untied hostages, tied up thugs, and crushed guns.
Once all the hostages were safe Superman flew back to Mannheim, who had just barely had time to get into his care before Superman landed in front of it.
The Driver, who hadn't managed to even put his foot on the gas pedal, turned around and said, "Well boss? What now?"
Mannheim took one look at Superman, sighed, and said, "Just drive me to the police station."
Outside, Superman gave an approving nod.