Superman: The Ark of Krypton

By

Jason Richard

"My my my," said the old looking woman with a surprisingly deep voice. "We've been caught red-handed, haven't we girls?"

The women giggled maniacally, and Superman raised his eyebrow.

"Well at least let us negotiate the terms of surrender," said the woman, who was clearly leader. "Go ahead and speak dearie. I know you can't talk in space, but I can read your lips just fine."

Superman really didn't like the way this woman called him dearie. It was less like a nice old lady and more like a savage predator salivating over a potential meal. Superman, for as powerful as he was, felt a little disturbed by this woman.

"Who are you?" Superman mouthed.

"I am called Granny Goodness," said the woman said. "Loyal servant to Darkseid of Apokolips."

The way she said that name, Darkseid, was the complete opposite of how she talked to Superman, filled with great reverence. So Darkseid was the ruler of Apokolips. Superman would remember that.

"And these," said Granny. "Are my personal guard. Lashina," she said as the woman in a black jumpsuit bowed, "Mad Harriet," the green haired, feral-looking one bowed, "And Stompa." The large woman bowed.

"Alright then," said Superman. "I know you've been spying on Earth, and I know your agenda."

"Well," whispered the very creepy old woman. "You know part of it."

Superman raised an eyebrow.

…

"Okay," said Kara. "Go ahead and shut all ports of entry and turn on the shields."

"Yes Kara," said Brainiac, the mechanical voice sounding more distorted than usual.

All entryways to the ship closed and a coating of light covered the vessel as the ship gave a steady hum. Meanwhile, Kara watched for any sign of the alien probe, here eyes fierce and determined.

Brainiac, meanwhile, felt his processing power fluctuating. He was aware he should prioritize the destruction or at least repelling of the Colu device, but he also kept trying to rationalize trapping the device so that he could study it. He knew that was dangerous, as he was it's target...and yet if he could study it…

He focused on repelling it.

And the probe, meanwhile, prepared to counteract the shield as it stayed cloaked.

…

"I'm taking you into custody," said Superman.

"Oh are you now?" said Granny Goodness, and the more Superman saw that arrogant smirk of hers the more obvious it became to him that the name, "Granny Goodness." was meant to be ironic.

"I am," said Superman.

"Come now," said Granny. "We weren't doing anything malicious out here. We were just concerned. We saw an unusual amount of activity in this sector of the universe, all converging on your...ahem...cute little planet. Bounty hunters, dimensional portals, and even the Colu. We were just curious; that's all."

And stalling, though the woman from Apokolips didn't say that out loud.

…

As Kara and Brainiac searched, the probe charged its attack. It unlocked a split second before firing, unleashing a thin, concentrated beam of blue light right at the ship…

Which was deflected by Kara's heat vision, sending a beam of red, blue, and green light blasting through the snow away from the ship.

She flew in to catch the probe, but it reclocked and flew off, her hand passing through the air.

She looked around again, her eyes wide and attentive, but it was utterly undetectable once again. Also, she couldn't afford to use heat vision to block the blast again. It cost to much energy, and she hadn't gotten the hang of conserving it yet.

This was going to get ugly.

…

"I know you're the one sending those elements our way," said Superman. "I heard it from Zod's own mouth."

"Zod?" asked Granny in mock disbelief. "General Zod of Krypton? Does his word hold credibility with you? And do you have him on hand to provide testimony? Or perhaps you have other evidence aside from the word of a dangerous criminal."

Superman realized that she knew the answer to all of those questions. It didn't change anything.

"But if you're just curious," said Superman. "Why spy on us, hiding behind a distant moon? That's awfully suspicious."

"But you're not just going to take us in," said Granny Goodness. "Otherwise you wouldn't have done so."

It was true. Superman still didn't know enough about these agents of Apokolips. He wasn't certain they had a way to contain them, and it might be too dangerous to keep them on the Ark of Krypton. That technology was able to keep up with him. Not only that, for people whose ship was disabled, they seemed awfully arrogant, as if they were really in control here.

His gut told him he was missing something.

…

As she searched for the probe, she got an idea. She took a deep breath and then flew around the ship, blowing up snow. She kept this up for a moment, keeping a close eye out until she saw something small and round break the formation n the snow.

"Gotcha," she said with a grin, unleashing her heat vision and blasting the probe away. It, however, just flew off, going invisible again. Apparently, it was well shielded. Something seemed off about that.

She took another deep break and repeated the tactic, but after a few laps around the ship found nothing. She even blew some snow over the ship to make sure it wasn't attacking from above. Nothing.

The probe had retreated, calculating it's line of attack. It got to a safe distance, then charged its attack, using a new upgrade it got from the small Apokolips device that awakened it in the first place. The beam charged and shot out.

Kara saw the beam and intercepted it, making sure it wouldn't hit the Ark of Krypton and disable its shield. To her surprise, however, the beam seemed to pass right through her. At first, she thought it was some sort of diversion, but then the beam struck the ship and disrupted the shield, taking them down.

And after running it through her head, Kara understood. The beam must have been made out of energy that was similar enough to solar radiation that it got absorbed. Instead of getting stored as solar energy would it came out the other side and struck the Ark, which didn't interact wtih Solar radiation in the same way her body did and was now without its shield.

The Ark was vulnerable, and the probe seemed even more powerful than before. Kara clenched her fists, trying to come up with a plan.