Superman: The Ark of Krypton

By

Jason Richard

Superman punched the force field over and over again, but it didn't budge. He flew down a corridor and flew back, building up momentum, but even this punch was absorbed into the force field. Inside, Stompa smirked arrogantly.

Superman turned on his X-Ray vision, scanning the walls. He figured the force field was limited, so there had to be cables outside of it that still ran to the core. If he could cut those, then the core would effectively be removed.

But there were so many. How could he know that he'd cut the right ones? Could cutting the wrong ones make things work somehow? He didn't really know how things like this worked.

He'd always relied on Brainiac for that.

"I hate to point out the obvious," said Stompa. "But you're running out of time. If you're going to do something, I'd hurry it up if I were you."

Superman ignored her, even though he knew full well that she was right.

…

Kara flew to the core, prepared to remove it, and sort out the programming later. On the way, however, she ran into two unpleasant sights. Lashina and Mad Harriet stood in her way. Kara grimaced, clenching her fists.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Mad Harriet. "Are you lost, little girl?"

"Perhaps we can help you find your way," said Lashina.

"No need," said Kara. "I know exactly where I'm going."

And she raised her fist, flying to attack.

…

Superman just decided to cut his losses. He had to cut out the core now. He uses his heat vision, severing the cables just beneath the floor, planning to sever all of them just outside the force field.

Suddenly a spike of green energy lanced upwards, sending pain searing through Superman's body. He backed away, his back against the wall as he saw the energy spilling from the floor.

Stompa grunted and said, "Bit of trouble? Oh, that's right. Kryptonian technology is powered by Kryptonite, isn't it?" and she grinned smugly. "Normally safe, but if you go destroying everything, well…"

"You know about Kryptonite?" asked Superman. "Why haven't you tried to just kill me already?"

"I asked Granny Goodness the same, yes?" said Stompa, crossing her arms grumpily. "But no, we cannot risk losing the potential trust of humans if we kill you ourselves. She wants to destroy your reputation before she destroys you. Whatever. I obey orders, but I wouldn't recommend cutting up more of the ship. The core requires a lot of power, more than any other place on the ship. Much Kryptonite energy will be released. Yes?"

And so that was the final conundrum Superman faced. Now that Superman looked more closely, the force field wasn't uniform. It did more in certain places, at key points, protecting certain circuits and not others. Superman didn't need to be a scientist to understand which one's she'd focused on protecting. The ones that were exposed were power cables, getting energy directly from the ship's generator, which, as she said, was powered by Kryptonite. He couldn't leave the room to shoot them, as he might destroy too much of the ship, but if he cut those cables, the energy could kill him.

Superman took a deep breath and said, "Well, alright then."

He charged his eyes, and Stompa's grin vanished.

"Are you insane?" She demanded. "Do you have any idea how much power a ship like this needs? The kryptonite core is massive!"

"I know," said Superman, unleashing the heat vision.

Green energy spiked from the floor, and Superman felt it, right in his eyes where his power was being used. He pushed through it, reducing the power going to his other abilities such as strength and flight. He screamed as he cut, severing every line he could.

And finally, the core shut down.

With power cut to the room, the shield went down, and Superman ran up, using his strength and speed just long enough to push Stompa out of the room, sending her crashing into a wall, unconscious.

Cutting off his powers, Superman walked out of the room, green energy still filling every corner. Slowly he walked, his eyes closed. They no longer felt the overwhelming pain that had coursed through them before, but Superman had a sneaking suspicion that this wasn't a good sign.

Slowly but surely, he made it out of the room and outside the field of Kryptonite energy. Now safe, he collapsed, falling unconscious.

…

Kara dodged a few attacks from the pair, biding her time. Patiently she waited for an opening, then twisted around ann attack from Lashina, getting behind her and smashing the device at the small of her back and deactivating the protective field around her. She quickly grabbed an astonished Lashina's head and knocked her into the wall gently enough to knock her out.

"Lashina!" cried Mad Harriet, rushing her.

Kara flew left, dodging the claws as the crazed woman went passed before kicking Mad Harriet in the same place, destroying the device and sending Mad Harriet flying into the wall, also knocking her out.

Kara didn't waste time. She flew to the core room but backed away immediately from the kryptonite energy. She saw that the core had been removed. Her cousin had gone a little overboard perhaps, but it still got the job gone.

Then she saw her cousin unconscious on the floor. Her eyes grew wide in horror.

"Kal-El!"

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Message from the Author:

Hey, just wanted to say thanks for all the positive feedback. I really appreciate it, and thanks for reading!

Jason.