Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 138
By
Jason Richard
Superman and Kara watched for the small probe, but couldn't see or hear it. For Superman, who'd come to rely on his extraordinary senses, this was incredibly frustrating. Kara was also frustrated, but she was more used to being frustrated lately.
"Brainiac," said Superman. "Is there any way you can detect that thing?"
A nearby Brainiac probe said, "I've been running every type of scan at my disposal, but I can't find it. I've also scanned my database and a cloaked Colu probe has approximately one hundred and twenty-three methods by which it can infiltrate the Ark and take over my systems.
"So what do we do?" asked Superman.
"The probe will have to uncloak to begin hacking," said Brainiac. "I can lock down the ark, and you can get to it when it reveals itself to get in."
The ship shut any open ports and locked itself down, and one could hear the machinery groaning and clanking as the ship did this. Furthermore, forcefields ran over the ship, crackling and snapping as snow fell on it.
Superman and Kara kept an eye out, their forms tense and prepared.
The Colu probe, meanwhile, halted its approach. Still cloaked, it had one weapon that could turn this around. The key was to do this at a distance. It charged up the attack, its cloak turning off...
"To your left!" cried Brainiac's probe.
But before Brainiac finished speaking a blast of electromagnetic energy from across the snow shut it down. As it fell to the snow another electromagnetic force pulled it away, letting it roll across the snow.
"Where..." began Kara.
"It was attacked," said Brainiac. "On your ten o'clock."
Superman and Kara saw Luthor's robot scooping up the Colu probe with an electromagnetic hand. Through the robot, they could see Corbyn smirking as the machine flew off.
Before he got far, however, Superman appeared in front of him. The robot came to a stop, and then the cockpit opened, revealing Corbyn.
"What do you think you're doing?" asked Superman.
"Capturing the Colu probe," said Corbyn. "Boss's orders you know. What? You want it back? Because Mr. Luthor was under the impression that this Ark of yours was the Colu's target, seeing as how this probe went straight for it. He just figured we could keep it safe so that it doesn't mess with your ship."
"Is that Luthor's official story?" asked Superman.
Corbyn grins widened. He was broadcasting this conversation, just so Luthor would have something to send to news outlets should Superman do anything drastic.
"Just let your boss know," said Superman. "I know what he's really up to here."
"Sure," said Corbyn. "We all know what he's really about."
The cockpit of the robot closed and it flew away for real this time. Superman watched it go, a grimace on his face.
…
Superman and Kara sat in the Ark of Krypton, sitting across from each other with arms crossed. Kara finished telling Superman what happened after he passed out, how Luthor had held him hostage. Kara, the whole time, felt frustrated with herself and furious at Luthor.
Superman, however, didn't seem surprised by any of it.
"As I said," said Superman. "I've no doubt Lex Luthor would have taken your speed into account. His computer systems have shown capable of keeping track of me, and I've been keeping tabs on technology Luthor's revealed to the public. Defense systems that react to faster than light speeds are on his docket. That kryptonite chamber probably would have opened automatically had you attacked. So...yes. I'd say that was a choice between my life and giving Luthor the technology. I'm grateful you chose the latter, but I'll be the first to say that you should never have been forced into that choice in the first place."
And it was Luthor who put her in that position, she thought bitterly. Clenching her fists, she said, "Why didn't you take the Colu probe from him?"
"Two reasons," said Superman. "One, as far as the importance of keeping that probe away from the Ark, Lex Luthor is..." he groaned in annoyance. "Not entirely wrong."
"We could keep it at Star Labs," said Kara. "I saw plenty of tech there that could keep it contained."
"That brings me to my second reason," said Superman. "Can you hear it? What people are saying? And try to only listen to those talking about us. I may use this hearing to listen for people in danger, but I try to ignore as much as I can to give people their privacy."
Surprised, Kara listened for a moment, making certain to only hear conversations relating to Superman and Lex Luthor. It wasn't easy, but she was just barely able to make those conversations out. There was a mix of skepticism about Luthor's intentions with people grateful that he helped destroy the Colu. Kara began to understand. She also realized that Luthor had already fed the press footage that cast him in a favorable light, not showing the part where he kept Superman hostage of course. He also showed him taking the Colu probe to keep Superman's ship safe. With that in mind...
"If you just took it," said Kara. "Luthor would spin it...make you the bad guy here."
"Exactly," said Superman. "And the last thing we need right now is to give Luthor more propaganda fuel."
"Maybe," said Kara. "Should we really care about what people think?"
Superman sighed and said, "I know. Luthor having that Colu technology isn't good. But what would you have me do? If people think I'm some tyrant who will take what he wasn't they'll turn against me. And if enough people are against me I'd either have to completely surrender or fight them in order to...protect them. Imagine how much damage we could do if people, seeing us as the villains, tried to take us down? And really, if I use my power to do whatever I want, a tyrant is probably what I'd become."
Kara, feeling dejected, sighed and asked, "So what happens now?"
"It's not over," said Superman. "We'll tell the truth, convince people that Luthor is not to be trusted and get him and the Colu probe removed from Lexcorp. Brainiac, you had a probe out there. Was it recording?"
"Yes," said Brainiac. "But it was at a safe distance, and doesn't clearly show the hostage situation."
"Well," said Superman. "We'll just have to make the best of it."
Kara sighed and said, "We beat the Colu, so why does it feel like we lost?"
…
Naturally, Luthor's interviews with the press played up the contributions Luthor's technology brought to the fight and Corbyn's heroism as the pilot. Luthor didn't show footage of him taking Superman hostage, naturally, but that was where Lois Lane came in.
In her interview with Superman and the newcomer Supergirl they told the truth. They did release Brainiac's footage, but it was too far away to see clearly, making it hard to tell if Luthor was taking Superman hostage or trying to help him. Ultimately people seemed split on the story. Many trusted Superman to tell the truth, and therefore they trusted this Supergirl. Just as many, however, saw this as a powerful pair of entities sore that someone upstaged them fighting the Colu, that they didn't want to share the credit.
And meanwhile, out in space, Apokolips couldn't see everything that happened on Earth due to the Ark's jamming signal, it could see this much. It knew the Colu probe was still on Earth. This avenue of attack wasn't finished yet.
So Superman, Luthor, and Apokolips prepared their next moves.