Superman: The Ark of Krypton
By
Jason Richard
"Come on," said Kara, "Come on, wake up!"
She floated over Superman as he floated in space above a yellow star. She didn't know CPR, but it occurred to her that such a thing probably didn't matter in this situation. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Superman's eyes shot open.
"What happened?" he asked, floating himself upright.
"Luthor," said Kara, flustered. "His robot grabbed you and he demanded the gloves...and I didn't think I could get to you in time because of the Kryptonite...and..."
"Whoa whoa whoa!" said Superman. "Slow down. First thing's first. What happened to the Colu ship?"
Kara took a deep breath, which felt weird in space but she didn't focus on that, and said, "The Colu ship is destroyed. When Luthor ransomed you for my gloves he had Brainiac make a weapon. Our attack took out half of it, and Luthor's design finished off the rest."
Luthor would no doubt take as much credit for it as he could get, Superman thought with much frustration.
"Well," said Superman. "The ship is destroyed, and that's what matters. We should double check the debris though. I don't want them putting themselves back together."
"Okay," said Kara, the disappointment with herself evident in her voice.
"We'll talk about what happened later," said Superman. "Right now we still have a job to do. Let's go."
Kara nodded and said, "Right."
And they flew off.
…
Back at the Colu ship, they realized they were close to mars. They'd been so focused on the ship itself that they didn't realize how close it had actually gotten to Earth. Kara had also wondered how Luthor got a robot out there. There was no way he had the tech to get something past Earth's solar system that fast, but to Mars was more reasonable.
"All these pieces look dead," said Superman, gazing at the debris.
"They are," said Kara. "Looks we did it."
She looked at Luthor's robot, piloted by John Corbyn, and clenched her fists.
"There doesn't seem to be anything here," said Luthor, his voice coming from the robot. "I'd say job well done."
Superman glared at the robot.
"Well," said Luthor. "I'd hate to keep Corbyn away from the heroes welcome that's no doubt awaiting all of you. Corbyn, you may return."
And the robot turned around and engaged powerful boosters that sent it flying away at incredible speed. Superman and Kara just glared after it.
…
The small probe, the size of a baseball, made it to Earth and began running a scan. Something, however, was jamming all extraterrestrial signals. It was certainly an inconvenience, but a minor one. The Colu's target would be the only thing on Earth that could produce such a powerful jamming effect. All it had to do was find the source of that signal.
So it began.
…
Brainiac sent the message to Superman and Kara. A small Colu probe had gotten through. The two Kryptonians flew back to Earth as fast as they could. Corbyn, sitting in the Lexcorp robot, detected them flying past and wondered what their hurry was.
…
"The Colu probe has located the Ark," said Brainiac, transmitting on a frequency that Kryptonians could hear. "It's headed this way now...but I'm afraid we have a problem. When it finished scanning it disappeared from my own scanners. I believe it's enabled cloaking technology.
Superman and Kara, by that point, had Earth in their sights. Within moments Superman and Kara were flying above the Ark of Krypton. They used their powerful sight and hearing to look for the probe, but it was nowhere to be found.
"Where is it?" asked Superman. "If they had cloaking technology like this why didn't they use it before?"
"They probably couldn't cloak something as big as that ship," said Kara. "But a small probe..."
She didn't need to say it. They were now forced to ask themselves, now what?