Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 65
by
Jason Richard
Superman got up, feeling a little dazed from the laser blast. The next thing he knew a giant chain was wrapping around his torso, pinning his arms to his sides. A hook at the end caught, and then the entire chain tightened. Looking up Superman saw Lobo attach the chain to some sort of spiky hover bike.
The big man looked up, grinned, and said, "Let's go for a ride."
And he gunned the engines, pulling Superman forward through the city at high speed. Lobo laughed and screamed, "Yeah!" as he shot his laser rifle in the air some more.
Until his Hover bike jerked to a stop. Not that the thrusters weren't firing. They were, but something was holding the ship back. Lobo looked around and saw Superman, his arms crossed within the chains as he hovered there, the bike struggling to pull him forward but not budging him an inch.
"Huh," said Lobo, a little surprised by this.
The next moment Superman pulled his arms out, grabbed the chain, and flew up, dragging Lob's bike along with him. Lobo held on as Superman, high above the city, began spinning, swinging the bike around at incredible speed. Soon they were just a circular blur in the air until Lobo held onto the bike with hand and aimed his laser rifle with the other.
Lobo fired, and the two extra terrestrials went flying in opposite directions. Superman managed to stop himself before he landed, but Lobo's bike spun out of control and crashed in a field just outside city limits, kicking up dirt and making a small trench in the ground.
Lobo fell to the site, making a small crater where he landed. He got up, dazed, but the moment he was on his feet something whooshed around him at high speed, and suddenly he was wrapped in his own chains. Looking up in surprise he saw Superman hovering a few feet in the air, arms crossed and face stern.
Lobo laughed, "Okay, you're pretty tough." Lobo grunted, flexed his muscles, and broke the chains clean off. "Good. Haven't had a real fight in while now."
He lifted his Laser rifle, but within a split second Superman was behind him, holding that rifle while Lobo blinked in surprise, holding nothing but air.
"This weapon's laser blasts are fast," said Superman, bending the laser rifle in half and dropping it to the ground. "You aren't."
"You want speed?" said Lobo, pressing a button hidden in his glove.
Suddenly the bike roared to life and flew, smashing into Superman and sending him crashing into the ground. Lobo then ran up, jumped on the bike, and said, "I'll give you speed," as he pulled a laser pistol from his jacket and sped through the air, going at high speed in a circle as he began firing.
Dazed for a second, Superman flew up, hoping to lead Lobo farther away from the city. Lobo pursued, his hover bike surprisingly able to keep up with the Kryptonian. High above the city Lobo fired his laser pistol, his shots hitting surprisingly close as Superman dodged in the air. Superman turned around and shot his laser eyes at the bike, but despite lacking Super Speed himself Lobo had excellent reflexes, and was able to dodge on his hover bike.
The shot at each for a while as Lobo pursued Superman. They were far from Metropolis when Lobo managed to shoot Superman in the chest. With a flash as the red light collided Superman felt like a boulder had hit him and fell through the air, dazed. He tried to stop himself, but was hit by another blast. He tried again, and again, and again, but each time Lobo managed to shoot him.
Finally Superman landed in a field, making a small crater as he did. He got up, a little dazed, but Lobo pulled his hover bike up behind him and put his arm around Superman's neck. Superman could feel the heavy metal alien squeeze his neck, and though Superman struggled to pull the arm off Lobo seemed to equal him in strength.
"Nighty night Looper man," said Lobo, grinning from his bike as he pulled even harder. "Oh sorry, but you gotta earn a name like Superman. Heck, maybe I'll start telling people to call me Superman. How's that sound?"
Superman couldn't speak with Lobo's arm around his neck, so his reply was to grab his cape, twist it into a rope, throw it backwards over Lobo's head, and yank the alien forward, tossing him into the ground.
As Lobo lay there wondering what just happened Superman quickly grabbed the laser pistol to crush it in his hand and rushed the bike, punching it away and letting it crash and explode into oblivion.
Lobo got up and yelled, trying to punch Superman, but without his bike or the element of Surprise he had no way to keep up with Superman's speed, and as Superman blinked form one place to another Lobo's fists his nothing but air.
Lobo quickly realized he was out of options and stopped, chuckling. Superman just stood on the ground with his arms crossed and that same stern expression.
"Had enough?" said Superman.
"For now," said Lobo as he pressed a button on his glove. "But I'll be back...Superman."
And Lobo disappeared in a beam of light, surprising Superman. Some sort of teleportation technology? It didn't matter. Superman then heard a ship roar to life and take off far in the distance. Before he could decide what to do, however, the ship activate a faster than light drive and zipped out the Earth's atmosphere and into space. It was too late to chase it, so Superman was left to wonder where this alien came from and prepare for his next attack.
For surely, this guy wasn't about to quit now.