Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 127
by
Jason Richard
The talk of Kryptonite did die down after a while. Superman kept saving people from things as simple as car accidents to things as big as a flood during a storm. There was still suspicion everywhere, but it was hard to be angry at Superman when he was doing so much good. There were a few conspiracy theorists who held out, saying it was all an act, but they did have less credibility after a particular day.
The day Intergang robbed a bank using Kryptonite.
…
Bruno Mannheim felt good. Today was going to be the day he'd do it. He was going to rob a bank just like the good old days. The good, no superhero in sight old days where all you needed was a bunch of guns, a getaway vehicle, and a good plan.
Now he needed a glowing green rock, but hey, if it got the job done, he wasn't going to complain about how eerie it was.
The gang drove in a windowless van, the Kryptonite in the middle of them, shedding its green light over everything. Mannheim looked at it gleefully. Yes, this was going to be different.
The first part of the bank robbery went as it usually did. They put on hockey masks, stormed the building, and put the hostages in a corner while they looted the vaults, all the while the Kryptonite lay resting next to the hostages. It was a simple plan, and Mannheim preferred it that way.
…
Superman, meanwhile, flew outside the bank and examined the area. It would be tricky. He didn't just have the kryptonite to contend with. If he focused his attention on that the hostages could get shot. But that kryptonite would, in turn, make it harder to save the hostages so he couldn't ignore it. He needed a plan.
…
Back in the bank, as the robbers kept emptying the vault, Mannheim started to get a little nervous. Where was Superman? He should have shown up by now, and Mannheim was anxious to finally beat him. Maybe Superman had gotten scared, that once you introduced something that could hurt him he'd run away with his tail between his legs. Yeah, thought Mannheim smugly, that was it.
…
Superman took a deep breath, holding a baseball he'd quickly bought at a nearby store.
He'd have to throw it and fly in perfectly. Timing was everything. He'd end up breaking something, but so long as the hostages made it out alive, he'd live with it. Aiming through a window he just had to hit the kryptonite and sending it flying away to another part of the room. The moment the kryptonite was out of range, he'd put himself between the hostages and Intergang.
He pulled back his arm, thinking back to all the times he played catch with his Pa, and threw.
The ball sped through the air and hit the Kryptonite, sending it flying. Superman flew in and put himself between the hostages and the bank robbers. He felt the Kryptonite a little as it crashed into the far wall, but it was far enough away for Superman to deal with. He ran back and forth at high speed, catching bullets before they could strike the hostages. Each bullet stung his hand as the Kryptonite interfered with his powers, but he did it anyway. When the bullets finally stopped Superman used heat vision on the guns to surgically slice them in half, leaving sizzling, red heat where the beams cut them.
He then used heat vision on the Kryptonite in the corner, making it glow brightly and then burst apart into dust, dispersing the radiation into nothingness.
Mannheim, however, had planned for such a move, and each robber pulled out a smaller piece of Kryptonite from a lead-lined box in their pockets. Superman immediately felt weaker and fell to his knee as the pain washed over him.
Then the robbers pulled out handguns from their jackets and started firing. Superman moved back and forth in a blur, knocking away each of the bullets, feeling pain through his body and feeling every projectile hit his hand like tiny little hammers. It wasn't, however, as much Kryptonite as before, so Superman was able to use a different ability. He took in an enormous breath of air and let it all out, sending the gang flying away. Furniture moved backward, papers blew up, and the gang landed in a heap towards the back of the bank.
As the gang picked itself up, Superman used heat vision on a nearby wall, making an opening.
"Go!" he shouted. The hostages complied, but not before looking at Superman's hands, which were covered in blood and bruises. Soon they were out of the building. All Superman had to do now was tie up the…
"BANG!"
Superman felt
As a slightly disoriented Mannheim approached Superman, clutching a larger than average revolver with a smoking barrel, he grimaced as he held up his small piece of Kryptonite.
"Give me a break," the thug said through clenched teeth. "Just what is it going to take to get you out of my hair for good? Huh!?"
Superman fell to one knee, and Mannheim looked at him in shock. The gang's face, however, slowly shifted into a grin, and as Mannheim began to laugh, they got up, walking over uncertainty with their kryptonite and guns in hand.
"So," said Mannheim. "Even you run out of steam eventually. Finally. Open fire boys!"
The guns roared throughout the room, and Superman felt pummeled on the outside of his body as the radiation filled him with pain from within. He closed his eyes and looked away, putting all his energy into his indestructibility, even as reaching for that power made the pain even worse. He wouldn't be able to hold onto this forever. There was only one thing he could do, and it was going to hurt.
With a scream of agony, Superman flared his power as high as he could and smashed his fist into the floor, causing cracks to ripple across the stone tiles and make the entire room shake, knocking the gunmen off balance. As they staggered Superman rushed forward, screaming in pain as he leaped right into the cloud of radiation as he grabbed the burning pieces of Kryptonite as they fell from the thug's hands and threw them and the guns away. It was like handling fragments of red-hot metal, but Superman gritted threw it as he threw the pieces out the window and into the woods outside of town.
It was done within moments.
The gang members got up unsteadily, then looked around for their Kryptonite and guns before turning to see Superman with two very burned hands and an angry look on his face. While most of the gang looked nervous, Mannheim just sighed in irritation.
"We'll go turn ourselves over to the police," said Mannheim.
"Glad to hear it," said Superman.
…
As he stood atop the steps to the bank, he could see grateful looks from the hostages, each of their eyes drawn to the bruises and drops of blood on his body, as well as the burns on the palm of his hands. Those would heal soon, but it still sent a clear message of what Superman stood for. Those looks of gratitude meant a lot of him.
Of course, even Superman couldn't underestimate human cynicism. He could hear a few conversations that weren't quite so positive about him.
One person that stuck out to him said, "You know, Superman has so many powers it wouldn't surprise me if shapeshifting wasn't one of them. He could fake injuries so we'll sympathize with him."
Good grief, thought Superman, what does it take to convince some people that I'm on their side?
But his thoughts were interrupted by a single utterance that caught his attention.
"Kal-El," said Zod.
Superman didn't hesitate. He flew off, towards the sound of the voice, and within minutes Superman landed in the woods outside Metropolis. He found himself face to face with Zod, who was looking a little ragged, his beard and hair a little longer than Superman remembered. Superman clenched his fists and glared at the Kryptonian general.
"Calm down Kal-El," said Zod. "We need to talk. This world of yours is in danger."
"I assume you're not talking about yourself," said Superman.
Zod chuckled a little and said, "No. You see those that offered to help me and my people escape The Phantom Zone finally revealed their identity to us."
"They offered to help you and didn't tell you who they were?" said Superman, crossing his arms. "Sounds like a scam waiting to happen."
"I was desperate," said Zod defensively. He then, however, sighed and said, "But then again, you're absolutely right. The benefactors who offered to help us were from Apokolips."
"What's that?" asked Superman.
"A planet," said Zod. "One of two, and it has a rather…divisive reputation."
"What do you mean?" asked Superman.
"Well," said Zod. "Depending on who you ask they are heroes who rescue nations that have fallen to tyranny, or they are despots who take advantage of those in dire straits."
"I'm guessing you think the latter," said Superman.
"I don't think this," said Zod. "I know it. They often take control of a planet by overthrowing a tyrannical force already in power, whether it is native to the planet or not. While they get heralded as heroes at first before the native population even realizes it, they're under the control of a new tyranny." He grunted. "I've seen footage of people who are clearly starving to death praising the people of Apokolips for their heroism. Whether it was from denial or coercion or both, I don't know. What I do know is that my investigations into other worlds, when I was still a general of Krypton, show that the original despots in control were often put in power by subtle manipulations originating from Apokolips itself."
"They manipulate things behind the scenes to make an oppressive government, then ride in as heroes only to turn around and oppress the people themselves?" asked Superman skeptically.
"That's the gist of it," said Zod. "And worse, they're powerful. They were one of the reasons I wanted Krypton's ancient powers in the first place."
Superman frowned, "If they're really that powerful, why the subterfuge?"
"They have a deterrent," said Zod. "New Genesis is a planet in close proximity to Apokolips and has beings of the same power. It is largely a peaceful planet but has taken exception to its sister planet at times. Apokolips did try to take the direct approach long ago, and New Genesis opposed them, or so my sources tell me. What I know for certain is that the two planets have a peace treaty. They leave each other alone so long as Apokolips doesn't try to enslave worlds. That apparently worked for a while, until Apokolips started exploiting a loophole. If the people of a certain world invite Apokolips there, and they often do to overthrow the regime currently ruling over them, then New Genesis cannot intervene. They actually have a general policy of not interfering with the business of what they were term lesser beings, unlike Apokolips."
"So," said Superman. "This Apokolips wanted to let you take over Earth so they could ride in, pretend to be our saviors, and then take over themselves."
"I believe so," said Zod bitterly. "I swear by the remains of our home planet if I'd have known who I was dealing with I'd have never gone along with it."
"I can believe that," said Superman. "But you shouldn't have been trying to take over Earth in the first place."
"Perhaps," said Zod. "But don't you ever get tired of it? Not being in control? I saw what you did, how you defended these people from those criminals. I can also hear the whispers, the conspiracies, people who can't see that you're trying to help them. You could shut them down, stop that sort of talk from even happening. You have the power."
"Is that the kind of rule you would have given us?" asked Superman. "Policing people's thoughts?"
"You have to admit," said Zod. "It would make things a lot easier for you."
"The right thing is rarely easy," said Superman. "And coercing people into thinking the way you do is never right. Those people are free to think that way. I'll just have to convince them that they're wrong about me."
"Good luck with that," said Zod. "Well, anyway, you really don't have anything to worry about from me right now. Unless Apokolips loses interest in Earth I'm going to keep my head down."
"I can't just let you walk away," said Superman. "Not after what you tried to do."
"Yeah," said Zod. "I figured you'd say that."
Zod immediately took a breath and let out a blast of cold air, shrouding the area in an icy mist that left frost over the ground, the trees, and the grass. Within the mist Superman tried to grab hold of Zod, but missed him. When the fog cleared Zod was gone, leaving a very frustrated Superman behind. He would have kept looking, but Zod was probably long gone by then, and besides.
He'd need to get some second opinions on this place. This Apokolips.
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From the Author,
Thanks for all the positive feedback. It really keeps me going :)
Jason.