Superman: The Ark of Krypton

Chapter 48

by

Jason Richard

The next morning, three men got ready for work. Clark, of course, got ready to go to the Daily Planet, getting dressed in one of his usual suits, while the Clone did the same. Jonathan Kent, meanwhile, got ready to fix the hole in the roof that the Clone smashed through. He had only had time to nail down a tarp before sundown the previous day.

The Clone easily had the most trouble out of all of them. After all, it wasn't easy finding a suit that fit him in that boy's closet, though he did find one that was acceptable...if a little tight. The sleeves of this suit barely came up to his wrists, but it was a suit.

Then, of course, it couldn't actually find it's superman suit, so it made due with what it could. A blue sweatshirt and sweatpants with a red bedspread from the closet. It also drew a red S inside a triangle on the sweatshirt with a marker. It looked pretty ridiculous with this getup under his barely able to fit suit, but looking at itself in the mirror it just grinned.

For a moment the Clone almost got ready to fly and burst through the roof, but then remembered itself.

"Oh!" he said, slapping his head. "Silly Clark, I can use the front door."

…

Jonathan Kent hammered away as he got to work fixing the roof. This was something he hadn't had to do in a while, and it felt much more tiring than before. He really was getting too old for this sort of thing.

Suddenly below him the house shook as something burst through the frost door, knocking it completely off its hinged and sending it tumbling into the front yard. Jonathan found a handhold, fortunately, and when he calmed down he took a look at the door lying in the grass and heaved a heavy sigh.

He didn't need to be told what was responsible for that. He was getting too old for this sort of thing too.

…

The Clone flew through the air, a happy, cheerful smile on his face, and soon landed on the sidewalk so he could walk to The Daily Planet. He would soon be at work where it could write newspapers and...write newspapers. He had trouble recollecting what he actually did at the Daily Planet, but he worked there, so it had to be important.

Also with his blue sweatclothes bulging under his dress suit, he got a lot of looks from people, but he didn't' seem to notice.

Upon getting there he was going to burst into the office, when he saw something with his telescopic vision. Right there, about to enter through the front door, was Clark Kent. Who was this strange man who had his face? Did he have something to do with why he looked white and pasty? Whoever he was, the Clone was certain he was an imposter.

"Imposter!" he cried out, ripping the suit off to reveal his very clumsy attempt at a Superman costume.

…

On the street Clark heard the cry of imposter and turned around. Apparently the Clone had tried to go to work. Great, thought Clark, I should have figured he'd try that. Then the Clone then flew straight at him. While everyone around him was distracted by the clone Clark quickly pulled his suit off to reveal his Superman costume underneath, making sure to grab the communicator for the Ark in case he needed the AI's help, and the Clone crashed into him, sending them both flying into the distance.

And through it all the Clone kept yelling, "Imposter!"

…

Lois was right at the front door of the Daily Planet when it happened. She was just thinking about her front page article showing Superman confronting Lex Luthor. Even from a distance she could tell the conversation was antagonistic. This story would raise a lot of questions people would demand answers to. Why was Superman confronting him? Is Superman going out of character and just being a bully, or does Lex Luthor have something to hide?

Since when does Lex Luthor not have something to hide?

She figured she'd be hard pressed to top that story any time soon.

But when she got to the glass doors she heard the shout of, "Imposter!" and saw in the reflection the Clone dive bombing Superman.

She turned around, grinning slyly. Apparently an even bigger story had just landed in her lap.

…

Flying through the air at blinding speed, buildings seeming to rush past them in a blur, the Clone managed to get behind Superman and wrap his arm around Superman's neck. The pressure around his neck surprised him.

Superman flew against the Clone, stopping them midair. Them he grabbed the arm, spun them both around, slipped out of the Clone's grasp, then threw him away. As the Clone flew backwards it struggled to stop and regain its control. When he finally stopped he hovered upside down, and took a second to reorient itself. When The Clone was finally hovering straight up, it saw Superman, who put his hands up cautiously, trying to keep things calm.

"Listen," said Superman. "This isn't what you think."

"Imposter!" cried the Clone. "I'm Superman! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!"

"Calm down!" said Superman, but the Clone would have none of it.

"You replaced me!" cried the Clone, who looked over his strange, pure white skin and said, "You do something to me! What you do?! What?! What?!"

Superman was at a loss. How could he explain this? There was no way to explain this so that the clone would understand, or even believe. Clark said the only thing he could that might diffuse the situation.

"Whatever's going on with us," said Superman. "It has to be Lex Luthor who's behind it."

The Clone tipped his head to the side curiously, "Luthor? He there when I wake up."

"And he's a bad man," said Superman. "You know? Everyone knows he's up to know good, but he hides that he's behind it all."

The Clone did remember that. It remembered Lois Lane always trying to expose Lex Luthor. It remembered that smug smile Luthor always gave. It remembered the way Luthor spoke.

"Yes," said the Clone. "Luthor bad man. I deal with him. But first, deal with you. IMPOSTER!"

"Oh come on!" cried Superman as he dodged. Superman then flew up, hoping to lead the two of them away from the city. The clone followed, and within seconds they were high up in the sky, right next to the clouds.

…

From below Lois Lane stepped out of a taxi and got out a small camera. Looking up through the camera her zoom function could barely make out the two figures flying above. Oh how she wished she could see more, but this would have to do.

She couldn't help but wonder what it was like up there.

…

Spiderman and the clone circled around each other, making whirlwinds in the clouds. The clone flew in close and tried to land a few punches, but Superman dodged and twisted around, getting behind the clone and grabbing his arms, holding on as tight as he could.

"I don't want to hurt you!" cried Superman.

"Liar!" cried the Clone," breaking free, turning around, and hitting Superman with all his strength, enough to make a shockwave that blasted away nearby clouds and made a sound like thunder.

As Superman, dazed and feeling the hurt from that blow, knew he needed a way to subdue the Clone, but nothing came to him. Anything he could tie the clone up in he could just break out of. Whatever he did, he would have to do it fast.

Thinking back, what was it that JLAI 13 had said about his powers? He got it from sunlight. The more energy he had, the more power he had. It stood to reason that the clone's powers worked the same way. If he could get the clone into a dark area and get him to drain his energy…

As he dodged more punches from the clone Superman scanned below him for any area of the subway or sewage tunnels, looking somewhere far away from people. At last he found a sewer area that would do it. Knowing the clone would follow him he dove straight for it.

And follow the clone did.

Superman, quick as lightning, flew down, pulled the manhole cover off, and dove in, the clone whooshing after him. They flew through the sewers, the force of their flight disturbing the water beneath them. As they flew the Clone realized that there were no people nearby, so it decided to pull out the big guns.

Heat vision...or what it thought was heat vision.

Whatever came from the clone's eyes was a blue energy that, instead of heating things up, left a thin trail of frost over whatever it hit. Superman dodged the blue energy beam wondering just how an ice beam could possibly work. This was fine though. He needed the clone to eat through energy faster anyway.

Finally Superman saw another manhole cover above him. He quickly inhaled and used his breath to blow the manhole cover off...though not with enough force for it to fly up and land on someone. Them Superman turned around and charged his heat vision.

The clone saw this and, with his face twisted in rage, shot his ice vision right at Superman. Their red and blue eye beams collided, making a mist in the air. Superman made sure to hover right under the manhole cover, where he had a steady stream of sunlight giving him energy. The clone, meanwhile was still in the darkness. If Superman was right the clone would run out of energy long before he did.

After a few moments, it happened. The Clone suddenly started losing it's beam power and Superman's heat vision caught it in the chest, sending it flying backwards and splashing into the water. Superman let off his heat vision immediately, worried he'd burned him, but the clone stood up moments later. Angry, it tried to fly, but couldn't get off the ground. The Clone was out of power, but Superman still had his.

Seeing Superman still flying, the clone realized this, and started to back away in fear. Superman felt more pity for this thing now more than ever, but he had another problem. He needed to get this clone to the Ark so JLAI 13 could examine him, but the moment this clone stepped into the light he'd get his powers back. He might even be getting them back now, even in his limited light.

So, what to do?