Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 80
by
Jason Richard
Flying through space at such speeds meant Superman had to stop moving in a straight line. He found himself swinging towards yellow stars periodically to make certain he kept up his energy reserves. He couldn't afford to run out of energy in the cold darkness of space after all. That would kill him for certain.
But he had to keep up his speed as well. He had to get back before something happened...and something was bound to happen.
As he flew, he gritted his teeth. Just a little bit further…
…
Lytener was not the kind of man to put all his eggs in one basket. Even though he had lost one prototype laser pistol when the alien probe attacked he had managed to make another and keep it at his apartment. He may not remember how it worked, but he knew it was there and he remembered how to use it.
It was with this laser pistol that he went to Lexcorp, snuck in the back, took the elevator up, and made his way through a service entrance to Mr. Luthor's...well...Mrs. Graves office. He was going to get her to talk, to confess everything about what Lexcorp was doing. He'd give the information to Lois Lane and everything would be better.
Now if only his head would quite throbbing...and if he could stand up straight without swaying that would be nice too. He was really missing those hospital painkillers.
He cautiously approached the door, looking around to make certain no one was watching. Of course the two security guards in front of the office would be a problem, but fortunately his laser pistol had a secondary setting.
He turned the dial, rushed up, and shot the laser pistol, making a huge flash which blinded both the guards. As they rubbed their eyes in a daze he ran up, entered the door, closed it behind him, turned the dial back to lethal, and pointed it at a very surprised Mercy Graves.
Two things happened. First Lytener had been feeling dizzy before, but after all that they started to tremble, and had to hold onto the doorknob just to stay up. The second thing, which hurt a lot more…
Mercy Graves started laughing. She laughed loud and long.
"Oh are you serious?" she asked, still laughing. "You come up here, along, to threaten me and you're in this condition?"
She continued to laugh, which made Edward Lytener more and more frustrated.
"Shut up!" he cried.
"Or what?" asked Mercy, reclining back in her chair. "What exactly do you think is going to happen here? I'm going to confess and you'll no longer be the bad guy? This room has a camera. Even if I did confess that Lexcorp is still working for Lex Luthor I could claim it was under duress, which...yeah. It would be. Regardless of any other circumstances you are breaking so many laws right now I could pull out a gun of my own and shoot you and walk away scot free. You'd still be considered the bad guy, and I'd be the poor helpless victim defending myself. Face it Lytener. You're only digging yourself deeper into your own grave."
"I said shut up!" said Lytener, who was feeling lightheaded as he tried to wrap his head around what she was saying.
"So what's it going to be?" she said, smirking as he rested her hands behind her head. "Are you going to shoot me or what?"
"I...you...uh…" Lytener stammered, and then several things happened all at once.
The door opened behind him, and in a panic Edward Lytener turned around and shot the laser pistol. It wasn't, as he feared, security, but a fellow scientist. The scientist fell down, a burn on his lab coat. Edward Lytener recoiled in horror at what he had just done, but suddenly a hand reached around and crushed the laser pistol while a second hand grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up, smashing him back against the wall.
As he grabbed the arm holding him up, struggling to breath as his feet kicked uselessly against the air, he looked down and saw that the person holding him up with one arm like he weighed less than a teddy bear was none other than Mercy Graves herself.
It suddenly occurred to Lytener that this was no ordinary woman, and that it had been a grave mistake to threaten her.
"What...what are you?" he stammered as he began to black out.
Mercy Graves, surprised by the question, thought about it, and said, "Don't know what I am honestly. I've always been this strong. But who I am is Lex's employee, and that's good enough for me. Though really, you should be more concerned about yourself right now."
He didn't hear her. He had fallen unconscious. She sighed and threw him to the ground, going over and pressing a button on her desk to have the annoyance removed from her...well Lex's office.
Also, she had a very interesting piece of video footage that the press would find...interesting.