Superman: The Ark of Krypton

Chapter 134

By

Jason Richard

Superman dodged an infinite amount of laser blasts that began shooting from every single part of the ship. Then he got close and punched, the shockwave rippling across the hull of the spacecraft as the whole thing flew backward across space.

The ship stopped quickly and then opened a few more ports to release more spheres.

"Oh no you don't," said Superman, unleashing his heat vision, welding the spheres to the inside of the ship. He then flew in and punched one of them, smashing it, then to another, and another, until all the spheres attempting to leave the ship were smashed.

And then he punched the ship again with all his might, sending it backward again.

Luthor's robot, meanwhile, held its own against the three probes it had to contend with. Through the robot's sensors Luthor, sitting safely in his office back on Earth, had observed Superman's fight with them, which meant that he had an idea of their capabilities. Getting some satisfaction from seeing Superman on the defensive was just the icing on the cake.

Luthor's robot, using state of the art maneuvering software and advanced rocket propulsion, dodged every one of the time-slowing blasts that the probes shot. On the arms of this robot rested powerful railguns that waited. When the robot managed to line up a good shot, the railgun shot through space and blasted a hole in one of the spheres, letting it go dead in space.

Luthor's robot pulled a few more maneuvers, and as it did the spheres began to shimmer as their surfaces hardened. Sure enough, when Luthor's shot hit again the railgun's projectile was deflected off the newly hardened surface. As expected the Colu had thousands of countermeasures in their technology. Once they determined what type of technology they were up against they would use those countermeasures for it. Luthor had means to confuse scans, but of course, once he used a weapon they'd know what he was using. The railgun was hardly the only weapon this robot carried, but if this battle dragged out long enough the Colu would eventually activate countermeasures for every weapon the Lexcorp robots possessed.

And, likely enough, even Superman's power would be countered eventually, despite just how much power he possessed. It was only a matter of time.

The robot pulled a few more maneuvers but back on Earth Luthor typed in some new programming. This had to finish things quickly, so this time the robot, when it found a shot, used a laser cannon, lining it up so that two spheres at once were hit, blasting them to smithereens.

With that done, Luthor turned the robot to the ship to assist Superman. Hopefully, they could finish this quickly.

…

Doctor Lytener, the Danvers, Kara, and Brainiac worked for over an hour. Between them, they found one hundred and thirty-four potential combinations of technology that could cause Colu systems to interfere with each other.

"I'll begin building as many of these as possible," said Brainiac. "It shouldn't take long."

"This does beg the question," said Jeremiah. "How do we deliver this technology? Kara could take them with her, but they'd be exposed when she stopped to use one."

"Does the Ark of Krypton have any sort of teleportation technology?" asked Doctor Lytener.

"Limited," said Brainiac. "It cannot transport organic material, but it will be suitable for this."

"I can take a receiver to go help Superman," said Kara. "Brainiac can transport each weapon to us as needed."

"You're really going out there yourself?" asked Eliza uncertainly.

"We need all the help we can get," said Kara. "And I am Kryptonian."

"Still feels strange sending you out there," said Eliza. "You're so young. I'd hate to see a bright young girl like you...well."

They didn't need to say it. They knew the worst-case scenario for going out there."

"Thanks," said Kara, turning to leave. "But I'll be fine."

"Alright then," said Jeremiah, respect in his eyes. "Good luck...Supergirl."

Kara almost chuckled. That name was going to take some getting used to.

…

Lois Lane stood on the roof of the Daily Planet, looking up at the sky, imagining the battle Superman must be fighting right at that moment. Of course, it was a little silly to be doing this. Lois didn't even know which direction the battle was in. For all she knew, she'd have to look down to look the right way, but she pictured it all the same.

And wished she could do more than wait around.

Was it petty of her? Perhaps, but she still hated feeling useless. She became an investigating reporter to uncover the truth, especially truth's that were dangerous. She'd hoped to uncover truths that could expose Lexcorp for what it was, and still did, but that might have to wait with this new threat on the horizon.

The very thought made her sick. She could only hope that Superman was getting more done than she was.

…

Superman flipped uncontrollably through space as three alien missiles hit him in rapid succession. It didn't hurt, but this was the fifth weapon the Colu had used against him. They were apparently cycling through all of their arsenals to find something that could take him down, or otherwise just getting information.

Superman righted himself and used heat vision to stop a few spheres from coming out, but more were coming, and it was taking longer for both his heat vision and his punches to destroy the objects. The Colu hadn't completely adapted to his powers yet, but they were getting there.

While Lex Luthor's robot managed to take down the three spheres it had been contending with, it sat and waited, ready to go after any spheres that got past Superman.

And just in time too, because after flying across the ship, dodging missiles left and right, Superman destroyed as many spheres as he could to prevent them from leaving, but a few managed to get through. Luthor's robot flew to intercept, but they were running out of time. At this rate, the Colu would become completely immune to their attacks.

Superman hoped the people on Earth had something, because they were going to need it.