Superman: The Ark of Krypton

Chapter 78

by

Jason Richard

Lobo had finally had enough. He didn't know what Superman was doing making all that racket, but it was time for it to stop. He got up out of the cockpit, strolled over to the box in the center of his ship, and cracked his knuckles.

He wasn't that close to a yellow star, so Superman couldn't do anything right?

"Hey Looper Man," said Lobo, pressing a button on the outside and opening the box. "I'm going to have to teach you a…"

When the panel opened, Superman wasn't inside.

"What the…" Lobo began, but the moment he stepped inside the box to investigate his foot slipped. It was then he noticed a very thin layer of ice covering the floor. As he slid inside and looked up at the top of the box he then saw Superman, who sat on an ice ledge just over the entrance to the box.

Superman then jumped down and used just a little bit of flying to get outside the box. He quickly landed and started pressing buttons on the outside of the box. Eventually one of them closed the panel, trapping Lobo inside.

It didn't take Lobo long to get up and start pounding on the door.

"Okay Looper Man," said Lobo. "I can't care how much money you're worth. You're gonna pay for that!"

Meanwhile, above the box, a kryptonian probe said, "Nicely done sir."

"Thanks Brainiac," said Superman, relieved. "Can you pilot this ship?"

"I have already begun hacking into the ship," said the probe, and it was then that Superman noticed a line connecting said probe to the wall. Lobo also continued to pound the inside of the box, causing dents in the strange material.

"Better do what you're going to do fast," said Superman.

"I already have us on a collision course with a nearby yellow star," said Braniac's probe.

Superman ran up to the cockpit and sure enough a large ball of yellow fire was getting close and closer as Lobo continued to bash his way out of his prison. Despite seeing it he still couldn't feel the energy flowing into him yet. Something in the hull of Lobo's ship must block the radiation, Superman figured.

Now if the energy would get to him before Lobo…

CRASH! The door to the box flew away.

And Lobo stepped out...while Superman groaned.

Lobo sneered, and Superman resisted the urge to look at the probe over the box. He needed to keep Lobo distracted so the probe could do it's work. Lobo, however, noticed, out the window above the cockpit, that they were approaching a yellow sun.

"How did you…" Lobo asked before Superman ice breathed him in the face.

Scraping the ice off his face, Lobo said, "Okay, time for a beating."

And he lunged at Superman, who sped out of the way. Not as quickly as Superman would have liked, but he was still faster than Lobo. He zigzagged back and forth as Lobo grabbed at him in a futile effort. Lobo, however, then picked his foot up and slammed it down, shaking the entire ship and knocking Superman down. Before he could get up Lobo had Superman around the neck.

Not this again, thought Superman as he felt the air leave him. He struggled, but of course he didn't have enough energy to go up against Lobo. The heavy metal alien, meanwhile, just laughed.

"I don't know how you steered my ship," said Lobo. "But the jig is up little man. Now it's time to be a good little prisoner and go to sleep."

Superman, not really listening, did the only thing he could think of. He used his heat vision on his own hands, heating them to superhuman degrees...and he cried out as the heat hurt his hands before grabbing lobo's face, putting fingers in each of his eyes.

With a hiss and cloud of steam Lobo screamed and dropped Superman cradling his face.

Superman got up, but he felt weak, and his hands really hurt. His hands healed, but when they finished that was it. He'd used the last of his energy. Lobo, it seemed wasn't terribly hurt by the heat, even as he cradled his face.

But once he removed his hands, Superman could tell he was furious.

"That does it," said Lobo angrily, "I am going to beat you so hard your own mother wouldn't recognize you."

He took a few steps forward, and Superman took a few steps back. If only he had more time. If only…

And suddenly a crack appeared in the glass over the cockpit. The solar radiation was breaking through. Lobo saw this and then looked back at Superman, who just grinned.

"Seriously?" asked Lobo.

"Yes," said Superman.

The cockpit window broke apart, and as air rushed around them pouring into space Superman felt that life giving energy flow into him, filling him to the brim with power once again. Lobo, meanwhile, ignored Superman and jumped to the cockpit, steering his ship away from the star. The Braniac probe no longer had any reason to stop him now that Superman had his powers back.

Once the air finished rushing out of the ship and the ship was steered away from the sun Lobo got up and looked at Superman with with a very...unpleased look on his face. Superman couldn't help but be amused by this. Also it somehow didn't surprise him that Lobo could survive in the vacuum of space

Superman then flew up, grabbed the Braniac probe and flew out of there. Lobo didn't even bother to try and stop him. He really didn't look forward to cleaning the ship.

All this being said, he did look back and give Superman one little grin. As upset as he was about the ship, he couldn't help but be just a little impressed.

But only a little.