Superman: The Ark of Krypton

Chapter 84

by

Jason Richard

With an imminent threat of Kryptonian villains on the horizon, Superman had to see what he could do to prevent it. The exit point was several miles above the atlantic ocean, just within the Earth's atmosphere. Superman flew out to where Braniac said it would be, accompanied by two of the AI's probes, and waited.

It would happen soon.

…

"Hey!" said prisoner angrily from the top bunk. "What are you doing down there? That scraping is getting on my nerves."

"Sorry," said Lytener as he scribbled away furiously on a notepad with a marker. He mostly ignored his cellmate, but did try to write more quietly so as not to anger him. He was trying to recreate whatever it was he had given to Lex Luthor. It had to have something to do with his specialty, the study of light particles, but he just couldn't remember what it was.

He had this vague impression that the power of light was somehow related to Superman's power, so he went over equation after equation trying to figure it out.

Of course even if he couldn't figure out specifically what he made that countered Superman, if he could come up with something that could give him that kind of power, he'd take it.

He didn't know how long it would take, but he would succeed in doing it.

…

Superman finally saw a portal opening. He didn't know what would happen when it did open, but he was ready to do something. It manifested as a ball of blue light as small as a penny, and slowly but surely began to grow. Eventually it resembled a ring of blue light with other colors in the center, mostly red and orange. Soon those aggressive colors formed shapes, a barren wasteland of rocks and sand.

And within that barren wasteland was an army of people clad in red uniforms, running furiously towards said portal.

"The portal should close on it's own after about twenty minutes," said one of the Brainiac probes. "We will need to keep them away from it until then."

"But they're already being exposed to Earth's sun aren't they?" said Superman. "They're going to get more powerful the longer this drags on. Aren't they?"

"I'm afraid so, Kal-El." said Braniac.

Superman steeled his determination and prepared some heat vision. Hopefully a line of fire could hold them back for a few minutes. Before he did, however, he saw something. There was a young, blonde haired girl at the forefront of them, holding a pair of devices under her arms. She also wasn't dressed in the same sort of red uniform that the army behind her wore, but a white jumpsuit.

"Braniac," said Superman. "That one at the front, what do those devices do?"

"Scanning," said Braniac, then after a moment. "It seems we are in luck sir. Those devices, when placed on both sides of the portal, will cause it to collapse."

"She's trying to close the portal?" asked Superman, though he didn't wait for an answer. It didn't matter if this one was a criminal or not, and he decided not to question his luck.

He aimed his heat vision, and blasted a line of fire between the girl and the army. As the army was held back the girl was surprised by the raging inferno, but quickly recovered, reached the edge of the portal and set one of the devices down. She was about to jump out when she noticed Superman, and was momentarily surprised to see a man flying high up in the sky.

"Come on!" said Superman, holding his arms out. The girl hesitated, but then hugged the device to her chest and jumped out. Superman caught the girl in his arms just as the fire within the portal disappeared and the army started running forward again. The girl fumbled with the second device for a few moments, tweaking some controls, until both devices emitted a harsh green light.

And then the portal disappeared, everything going silent.

Superman was stunned. Given the prospect of fighting people steadily reaching his strength he hadn't expected thing to go this easily. He looked at the young girl he held in his arms, and she looked at him in astonishment. She said a word he didn't recognize, but it was followed by something he did recognize.

"Jor-El?"

She knew his biological father? Realizing she was waiting for an answer he shook his head and replied, "Kal-El."

"Kal-El?" That seemed to confuse her greatly, and she started a sentence in an alien language, presumably Kryptonian, but before she could finish she seemed short on breath and passed out.

"What's going on?" asked Superman in a panic.

"Earth's atmosphere," said Brainiac. "Jor-El may not have had much time to program your pod, but he had just enough to program the atmospherics of the pod to slowly shift from Krypton's atmosphere to Earth's, allowing your body to adjust to the differences during your journey through space. It seems she came directly from a kryptonian atmosphere."

"Will she be okay?" asked superman.

"She's be fine," said Brainiac. "Such methods were necessary for your as you were a baby. She, however, has matured to a point where her powers have kicked in. She's already absorbing solar radiation, which is keeping her alive in an unfamiliar environment. It will take time for her body to fully adjust however. All of her body's resources are being redirected towards this task, but once that is done she should wake up. Shouldn't take more than a few days."

That was a relief. This girl, whether she knew it or not, had helped saved the Earth from an army of alien criminals with potential unworldly power. Now that it was over only question remained.

"Who is she?" asked Superman.

"A relative of yours if my scans are correct," said Braniac. "May I present you Kara Zor-El, your cousin."

…

In the far reaches of space they saw, and were not pleased. However, they were still optimistic.

"The path is closed," they spoke to each other. "But it may yet be opened again. Patience and perseverance. The prize may yet be ours."

"We will open the portal again at the first opportunity."