Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 71
by
Jason Richard
For a moment, just a moment, it seemed like the onslaught of massive flaming meteors falling towards the city were coming to an end. Just a little bit longer and Superman would be done, but just as he threw a meteor away he saw something. It came right out of nowhere, and it was big. One giant meteor, as large as the city itself, and as it materialized the city grew dark as night.
"Seriously?" said Superman as he flew to another Meteor and threw it away.
And when this massive, city sized meteor hit the atmosphere, you didn't need super hearing to know it was there. You could hear the sonic boom for miles. The sun disappearing was another clue.
…
"Oh really?!" demanded Lois as they massive shadow fell over the city. "We're doing this now?!"
Lytener, from the back seat, just watched the alien probe get closer and closer to the car until it was right on top of them. He trembled with fear, not knowing what this thing would to do it when it got to him. He would have preferred to think 'if' it got to him, but that was getting more and more unlikely.
That is, until something struck the alien pod and exploded, sending the object flying off to the side. Lytener looked over and saw a drone, though this was clearly of human origin. It was a high tech drone, certainly, but it was definitely human.
It seemed Mercy Graves worked fast.
Within moments the two flying devices started shooting at each other, the drone using micro explosives and the probe using some sort of lasers. If people had just barely noticed a probe flying through the street, they definitely noticed the two pieces of technology shooting and dodging each other's deadly weapons.
With the probe distracted Lois was finally able to put distance between the car and the probe. That was a relief.
…
Superman gave occasional glances to the car below, and saw that a Lexcorp drone was now assisting. He wasn't certain what that meant, but he was glad Edward Lytener and Lois Lane were safe. As he threw away the final of the smaller meteors, he looked up to the big one. This would easily be the biggest thing Superman had tried to move.
He took a deep breath and flew up. When his fingers collided with the meteor he pushed the massive object with all his might. He could feel it slowing down, but it wasn't stopping just yet. Throwing all his strength upwards he could feel the rock beginning to crack under his hands. Finally the meteor stopped, and after a few moments of staying still it very...very slowly began to go upwards as Superman pushed it away.
…
The probe and the drone continued to shoot at each other, but the probe, scanning this new threat, discovered that it was significantly heavier than the drone, and flew to the side, smashing into the other device and sending it flying away. The drone recovered, but the probe manage to put some distance.
Within minutes it turned a corner and found the vehicle it's true target was fleeing in. It zoomed up to the window from the driver's blind spot and hovered next to the window, smashing an arm through the window and sticking the target's head with a thin needle.
"Edward!" cried Lois, resisting the urge to swerve and rip Edward Lytener's brain to shreds.
After a moment with Edward Lytener's eyes rolling in the back of his head the probe retracted it's arm and flew away, leaving the poor scientist limp and unconscious. The probe began a transmission, but before it could finish the drone, recovered from the impact earlier, finished it's own scan of the enemy and found a few weak points, which it targeted.
It shot some micro explosives at those points and the alien probe fell to pieces, falling to the street below. Lois Lane didn't notice, however. All she could do was stop the car, run to the back seat, and try to rouse Edward, who wasn't moving.
"Edward!" she said, shaking him. "Edward!" But no matter what she did he just wouldn't wake up.
…
Out in the cold depths of space they got the transmission, but it was only partial. They didn't have all the data they needed to construct weapons to battle Superman. However, what they got wasn't worthless either.
Perhaps they could move forward after all. It was time to contact Lobo once again.