Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 144
By
Jason Richard
Superman moved in on the ship at top speed, and it flew away at the same speed. Superman just barely managed to keep up. Was this how powerful Apokolips technology was? Still, this changed nothing. He had to catch that ship. He couldn't afford to let it spy on and manipulate Earth any longer.
So he pushed his speed to the limit.
…
Brainiac had a problem. He detected the Colu probe heading in his direction, but he couldn't contact Kal-El. Superman was flying faster than he ever had before, so quickly that Brainiacs signal couldn't reach him.
Worse still, he wasn't sure that he didn't want it to come.
Sure, it was a threat that could potentially corrupt his systems and take him over, but it was also a chance to discover his origins. This was to him what going back and time to see the beginnings of humanity would be like for a human. He may have been a machine powered by numbers and code, but he could no longer deny that what he was experiencing could only be described as a desire.
But with the ever-present danger in that desire, he couldn't calculate what he was supposed to do next. He did the only logical thing and sent a message to Kara.
…
Superman closed in on it, even as it sprouting turrets and started blasting lasers at him. Superman didn't know how powerful they were, but he wasn't going to risk taking one head on. He dodged and weaved throughout the blasts, all the while getting closer and closer to the ship.
The ship shot a few missiles backward as well, but Superman just blasted those with his heat vision. Closer and closer he got, and the ship twisted and turned trying to keep away from him, but Superman finally managed to get close enough to pound his fist downward upon the hull.
The ship spun out of control, and as it did Superman flew it and punched the turrets one by one, smashing them to bits. With one last punch, he disabled the ship, and it drifted away lifelessly in space. Superman flew up to the cockpit and crossed his arms as he looked at the figures inside.
They were all woman, including a slender dark-haired woman wearing black with white bands, a green-haired and feral-looking woman with a Cheshire grin, a large, sturdy looking woman in a red and yellow uniform, and an older woman with a wild mane of white hair and a green jumpsuit.
And despite Superman knocking their ship down, they all stared at him with mischievous grins.
…
The Colu probe was now at the artic, just a mile away from Brainiac's position. The AI program aboard the Ark of Krypton calculated the situation and discovered nine hundred and twenty-three undesirable scenarios from it, with only twelve desirable ones to counter them.
Kara appeared at the Ark first, thankfully, dressed in her supergirl gear.
"Where is it?" she asked the giant ship. Brainiac's transmitters responded, and she heard something in the mechanical voice she had never heard before.
Panic.
"I'm not certain," said Brainiac. "It was to the east about a mile away moments ago, but it has engaged it's cloaking device.
Kara scanned the horizon, throwing as much power as she could into her X-Ray vision, but saw nothing. With Superman distracted, they were on their own here, and Kara had the feeling that Lex Luthor wouldn't show up to disable the probe either.
So now what should they do?