Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 132
By
Jason Richard
The article on the front page of the Daily Planet Read:
New Alien threat.
Superman has warned the U.S. army of yet another alien invasion speeding towards Earth. A race of cyborgs known as the Colu have set their sights on us and will be here soon. Both the armies of the world and Superman are preparing our defenses, but the question lingers on all of our minds.
Will it be enough?
Lois felt guilty for writing it, feeling like some sort of fearmonger, but she had no other words with which to describe what was going on. As she sat at her desk, reading over the paper she had sent out earlier, she was getting weary. First Lobo waltzes in and steals Superman away, then the Kryptonians invade, and now this Colu...and apparently, according to Superman, there was another planet behind it all, this Apokolips.
When would it end?
And to top it all off Lex Luthor had made himself more relevant than ever. Lois had devoted herself to taking down men like him, and yet no matter how many men she'd taken down in the past this one just wouldn't quit.
And no matter how threats Superman took down, there always seemed to be another just around the corner.
Where would it end?
…
The Colu ship was close, very close. It was...confident? No. That wasn't the right term. Confidence implied emotion, and emotions were a waste of cognitive resources that impaired logical thinking. It was...certain...that it would conquer Earth. Despite this certainty, Colu never did anything without information, so it would gather information first.
The ship halted in space, a relatively small opening forming at its front. A Colu probe left and then sped off, moving towards Earth. With that, they could learn everything they'd need.
…
Both Lexcorps's and Brainiac's scanners detected the probe, and both Luthor and Superman decided that it was best to stop the probe from reaching earth, as the less information the Colu could get from Earth the better. Superman flew out into space while Luthor launched a rocket containing a robot designed for combat in space.
Naturally, Superman intercepted the Colu probe first.
He and the alien weapon stopped at almost exactly the same time. It was a perfect sphere, green with lines of light running across it. It was about twice as tall as Superman and hummed ominously.
"Colu," said Superman. "I know who you are and I know your intentions. Right now, I'm asking you to leave this space and return to your planet of origin. If you don't, I'll have to do something more drastic than ask nicely."
The probe didn't respond for a moment, but then on one of the glowing lines two points of light flashed, got closer together, and a blast of pure energy hit Superman square in the chest and sent him spinning through space.
Superman righted himself, glared at the probe and said, "Something more drastic then."
He flew forward and punched, but his fist collided with some sort of energy shield that absorbed the blow. He kept pounding, however, and eventually the energy shield burst, letting his punch through and sending the sphere careening through space.
The sphere, however, began to shift in shape, forming into a cannon. Superman flew through space until he was behind it, only to find it already pointing to him by the time he got there. It fired, and though this blast of energy was much bigger than before he found it easy to dodge now that he was prepared for it. Superman dodged a few more of these massive blasts, and yet the cannon itself seemed to follow him perfectly.
Suddenly another part of the device shot something out, something faster than the cannon blast. It hit Superman, but so far as he could tell nothing had happened. But then another energy blasts shot from the cannon and it was so fast not even Superman could dodge it in time.
Superman was knocked backward through space and as he slowed himself he realized what was going on. This probe had technology to manipulate time. It had a field around itself where time moved faster than normal, and that earlier blast put a field around Superman where time moved more slowly.
This meant that the probe had successfully eliminated Superman's speed as a problem. If it had countermeasures for Superman's other powers, then he was in serious trouble.
He began to fly through space, dodging projectiles. He was just barely able to keep himself from getting hit, but no matter how fast he flew the cannon seemed to be one step ahead of him. He zigzagged, flipped, and used every move he could think of, but the more he dodged the farther away he got from the cannon.
Superman found an opening and unleashed his heat vision, but it dodged at high speed and kept firing. Superman felt himself running out of options until he had an idea. He could feel things around him beginning to slow down, meaning that the time field around him was degrading. He could use that.
He flew in a circle around the cannon, sticking to that path unless it was to dodge more energy blasts. He pushed himself as hard as he could, and in the meantime, it seemed that time was returning to normal. Fast and faster he went, watching anything moving around him carefully. Finally, when he seemed to be at normal speed, he stopped and turned around, flying in the other direction as the cannon failed to reverse its own rotation in time. Superman flew in and right as the cannon was pointing at it he hit it with a barrage of punches faster than light. After a moment of Superman hitting it with everything he had the cannon was in pieces.
He took a moment to get his bearings, then took a look at the Colu ship with his x-ray vision.
There were three more probes approaching, making him sigh. Apparently, he had his work cut out for him.
…
Edward Lytener and the two Danvers worked tirelessly to find something they could use against the Colu, but they weren't having much luck.
"I still can't shield my laser technology from their EMP tech," said Lytener, watching the computer screen over his hospital bed. "Or any other defenses we'd have for that matter."
"All my simulations say a cybernetic bacteria could infect their technology," said Eliza, mixing vials and looking at a computer screen. "But I can't figure out how to make one."
"And after going through every single piece of technology we have here on Earth," said Jeremiah at his own computer screen. "Not one of them will even make a dent in them."
It was a depressing moment. Nothing they'd come up with was working. Even so, they soldiered on. Kara wished she had overheard a more positive conversation as she entered the room, but she entered anyway.
"Mr. Lytener," said Kara, accompanied by one of Brainiac's probes. "Mr. And Mrs. Danvers, Superman sent me to see if I can help."
All three of them looked over and were surprised by what they saw. Kara was wearing her new uniform. A blue suit with a skirt, red boots, and the same S symbol on her chest that Superman had. All three of them looked at her in surprise.
"I'm Kara," she said. "Kal-El's cousin, though I guess you can call me Supergirl."