Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 93
by
Jason Richard
Clark waited behind the barrels as the men started unloading the truck. Looking through the barrels with his x-ray vision he could see that the barrels were marked with a biohazard symbol. He used his vision to zoom in on the clipboard the driver of the truck now carried. The line that caught his eye read:
Twenty Four Barrels of Prometheite. That was a banned substance. Definitely incriminating evidence.
Superman waited, and most of the barrels were brought off in one direction, but one barrel was carted a different way. Which to follow? Leaning out he already had footage of most of the barrels, so numbers weren't an issue. On a hunch, he decided to follow the single barrel. Chances were the other barrels would go into storage, while the lone barrel was about to be used for something.
Taking a deep breath Clark blew and knocked over some tools of a nearby workbench. As the men in the room looked over at the distraction Clark sped as quietly as possible towards the door the barrel disappeared behind before the electronic locks could shut him out.
Tracking the barrel with x-ray vision Clark used his hearing to keep clear of anyone patrolling the corridors. Quietly Clark flew a few inches above the ground to keep from making a sound as he followed that barrel and making sure to keep out of sight of any security cameras.
Eventually, Clark saw the man taking a barrel to a lab...a lab coated with lead, it would seem. Whatever went on in there was fit for extra precautions.
And the Barrel headed straight for it.
Clark had a hunch that this was it. This was the secret of this facility, the thing that Lytener was so afraid of. He took a deep breath, waited for the man carting the barrel to go inside, then rushed inside at the last-second before the electronic locks could engage.
The man carting the barrel, in dirty overalls, looked around as he heard a whoosh, but Clark was already hiding behind some sophisticated equipment, so the man just shrugged it off.
Still no red sun traps or anything like that. Clark was actually very surprised he was able to get this far undetected.
In that room, he saw many different machines, the purposes of which eluded him. He also so a row of large metal boxes in the back, each as large as a shipping crate. He still couldn't see through them due to lead, so he'd have to wait to find out what was in them.
The man he'd been following left the barrel next to one machine and then turned to leave. Soon Clark was alone in the room, and he had the perfect opportunity to snoop around, keeping out of sight of the security cameras of course.
He sped to another corner, then another, then another, taking a look at each of the machines in turn. If course that didn't accomplish much. He couldn't really discern what the machines were for. Nothing is this room advertised it's purpose.
Except for one thing. In the exact center of the room, Clark realized, was a chair covered leather straps. There could only be one reason to have something like that.
And then suddenly the doors to the room began opening and Clark sped back to a hiding spot.
Four men came into a room. Two big burly security guards dragging a man in a lab coat, obviously a scientist, by the arms, and another man in a lab coat following them. Within moments the struggling scientist was strapped to the chair with a gag in his mouth while the security guards stood back and the other scientist coat stepped up to a control console.
"Let's see," said the scientist. "Ah, this one." and he pressed a button.
A moment later one of the machines, a giant laser looking thing, moved over with a lot of mechanical whirring and pointed itself at the scientist strapped to the chair. The man, struggling and whimpering through the gag, was absolutely terrified.
"Now," said the scientist at the console, grinning. "Let's begin."
As the laser hummed to life, Clark knew he couldn't just stand by anymore. He quickly changed into Superman, sped up, tied up the guards and the scientist to a column with some nearby metal rods, and punched the laser, smashing it to smithereens. The man strapped to the chair cringed, even as Superman sped up and ripped the restraints off him.
"Can you tell me what's going on here?" asked Superman.
"They were about to experiment on me," said the terrified scientist. "If he needs someone to disappear he experiments on them first. Please, you have to get us out of here?"
"There are others?" said Superman. "Where?"
The scientist went over to the console and pressed a button. A moment later the metal containers in the back opened up.
Out of those containers came the most horrifying thing Superman had ever seen.
It was people who had obviously been experimented on, deformed and broken. One man had extra arms and legs and couldn't walk straight, another had scar tissue all over his body, one had slimy green skin, and many more had equally disturbing traits.
This was it, thought Superman. This is what scared Lytener. The scientist these people were about to experiment on must have been a whistleblower or a malcontent like Lytener, and this was Luthor's way of getting use out of people because making them disappear for good. Test subject for whatever twisted curiosity Luthor's experiments needed to satisfy.
This had to stop.
Unfortunately, right at that moment, a wall began to open up, alarms blaring at full volume. As it raised, the hinges groaning from the weight, Superman saw a gigantic pair of metal legs, and as the wall continued to rise it revealed a truly massive armored robot.
Well, it was too be expected. If they hadn't known he was there before, destroying that laser before meant that they knew he was there now. Superman raised his fists, ready for a fight.