Issue #23 – THE CRIMINAL MIND

Cork, Ireland:

High above the city of Cork, the 96FM traffic copter made its rounds, reporting on traffic conditions as local people drove to work. It wasn't the finest of days, in fact weather reports were suggesting that a storm was brewing, making travel even more treacherous as wind and rain coupled with heavy cloud cover darkened the skies.

"…traffic is backed up all across Blackpool from the by-pass onwards thanks to a toppled telephone pole near the shopping centre, and that's the morning traffic report on 96FM…are we off the air? Good…"

As the pilot turned the helicopter around, the reporter looked out onto the city below, feeling the helicopter begin to shake as it moved against the wind. She had never been comfortable with heights and she couldn't wait to get her feet back on the ground.

"Derek, get this thing back down to earth as soon as possible, these winds are really starting to pick up."

"Hey don't worry, this thing can handle a bit of turbulence no problem."

"Well unless you want me throwing up all over the controls, you'd better land this thing soon."

"Alright, alright…" the pilot couldn't help but laugh as he saw the reporter struggling not to gag. Calmly, he positioned the helicopter on a course for the landing pad as the skies around him began to get darker.

He though he had noticed a flash of light out of the corner of his eye, but he dismissed it until he began to hear a loud rumbling sound a few seconds later…thunder. As the helicopter flew through the air, another flash of light brightened up the sky briefly, followed by more thunder…this time the delay was even shorter.

Then another streak of lightning flashed…not across the sky though, straight down, striking the helicopter, blowing apart the tail and shortening out the controls. The reporter screamed as the helicopter began a spiralling free-fall, plummeting towards the streets below.

Superman was there, flying at speed into the city, his eyes focussed on the falling helicopter. His mouth opened as he let out a strong gust of air, his super breath targeting the tail of the chopper, putting out the flames.

He followed the falling object, twisting down between the blades, grabbing onto the front of the helicopter, slowing its rate of descent before touching down gently as an admiring crowd looked on and cheered.

After checking that both the pilot and his passenger were alright, Superman took off again, flying high up into the air and out into space, circling the planet as he listened closely, picking up sounds from everywhere, filtering them out and focussing on the most urgent ones.

Breaking the sound barrier as he flew, he found himself high up in the mountainous roads of the Swiss Alps, catching a car that had slid along the icy path and crashed over the edge. From there he flew to New Zealand, stopping a massive tsunami in its tracks before heading up along Asia, crossing into Russia to put out a fire that threatened to destroy an entire gas pipeline.

There were no super-powered villains to fight, no world-threatening plots to foil, there was just Superman doing what he did best, flying around the world and saving the day.

Metropolis:

"…get that sample down to the lab…I want the OR prepped and ready…I'm sorry Mr. Millar, we tried everything but we couldn't save your son…"

He heard voices…they were everywhere…male, female…some rejoicing, some in despair…and a strange beeping sound that seemed very near. His eyes opened…

Lex Luthor sat up in his bed and looked around. He was in a hospital. Nurses ran past his room, obviously in a rush…nobody seemed to be paying attention to him. Carefully removing the leads from his chest, Luthor got out of bed and stood up. For a moment it seemed like he had forgotten how to walk as he struggled to keep from collapsing. It had obviously been a while since he had used his legs.

Picking up the chart at the end of the bed, Lex read through it, realising that he had been in a coma for weeks. He tried to remember…unsuccessfully at first, but after a few moments images began flashing in front of his eyes. Superman…kryptonite…Brainiac…soon he had remembered everything that had happened.

Lex knew he had to leave…checking outside his room, he saw a police officer at the other end of the corridor, talking to one of the nurses. Waiting until he was sure he wouldn't be spotted, Lex ran to the door leading to the stairwell, travelling down to the floor below where he found some clothes in a storage room.

Luthor covered his face as he made his way outside the hospital, walking swiftly towards a sewer entrance and climbing down. As Lex traversed the stinking sewers, leading to a subway access tunnel, he thought about everything that had happened. He had retained Brainiac's knowledge but he could no longer sense the AI's presence within him. By the time Lex had run across the subway tacks and entered a secret underground facility that he had built as a safe house years ago, he had one thing on his mind…Superman.

Sullivan Lane:

Like a gust of wind, Superman flew home, moving faster than the eye could see as he floated through an open window, touching down gently. Removing his cape, he watched as it split into three pieces, making up a jacket, a shirt and a pair of trousers as his boots descended down his legs, reforming as a normal pair of shoes.

Carrying his clothes to the bedroom, he noticed Lois Lane, who was lying peacefully. Although they weren't officially living together, Lois had spent more time with Clark than she had in her own apartment in recent weeks.

As Clark sat down on the bed next to Lois, watching her sleeping, he held a small black box in his hand. Sighing to himself, as he nervously pondered how to ask the most important question that would ever cross his mind, Clark put the box away, hiding it in a small pocket in his Kryptonian-made suit just as Lois opened her eyes.

"C…Clark…what time is it?"

"Just after 7…"

Lois sat up immediately, wide awake as she looked through the window and saw the sun shining down on the street outside.

"Why didn't you wake me? Perry's gonna have a stroke if I'm late again…and the same goes for you."

"We're not going to work today Lois…I called Perry last night and he agreed to give us both the day off."

"That doesn't sound like Perry…what did you do? Bribe him? Or do you have other powers I should know about…like some super Jedi Mind-Trick or something? Or did you spin the world backwards and change history so that Perry isn't always grumpy?"

"No," Clark laughed, " I just asked politely…you know it's amazing what can happen when you're polite to your boss."

"Sorry Smallville…it's just not my style…"

"Speaking of Smallville…you up for a road trip?"

Lois stared at Clark, wondering just what he was up to. Before she could respond though, Clark was gone in a blinding flash. Looking over to the closet, she saw that the clothes he had just hung up had disappeared. It was something that happened a lot in their relationship. Lois would be talking, Clark would pick up the sound of someone in trouble and then he would be gone, off to save the day.

Deep underground, Lex Luthor waited and watched monitors on the walls, showing images picked up by the cameras in the tunnel outside the safe house. Just as he was getting impatient, he noticed someone walking down the tunnel towards the large metal door that blocked the entrance to the facility.

Mercy Graves opened the door and stepped inside, a little confused as she spotted Lex Luthor sitting in his chair, staring back at her.

"Mercy…it's about time you got here…now let's discuss my company's future."

"You don't have a company Lex, after your global domination scheme failed, your shares in LexCorp went to me. Your ego and your criminal ,mentality left a stain Lex, stocks plummeted, deals collapsed…the only thing I could do was sell off the individual departments."

"You chopped up and sold my company?"

"LexCorp is dead. It died when you tried to take over the world…don't feel too bad though, you've still got your offshore account. If you can get out of the country before the FBI find you, you might live long enough to enjoy your retirement…assuming the Boy Scout doesn't catch up with you of course."

Lex pondered the situation for a moment. He wasn't really mad at Mercy for selling the company, in fact he was a little surprised that she was smart enough to sell off LexCorp's assets. His life as a businessman was over. Lex knew he had two choices, become a criminal or retire with the millions he had stashed away in various offshore accounts.

He would need to leave the country. Before he could though, Lex had one last thing he wanted to take care of. .

"Did everything go as planned?"

"Yes Lex, I retrieved the memory core from Metallo's internal systems," Mercy responded as she handed Lex a small memory storage card.

"And my team?"

"In Las Vegas, waiting for you to contact them though personally, I wouldn't put my faith in mercenaries."

"Well that's not your problem."

"I know. I'm done Lex…I'm walking out that door and never coming back. I thought that…I thought maybe that coma might have knocked some sense into you…but you'll never give up will you…it will always be about Superman. Well it's over for me. I trust the funds have been wired to my account?"

"Ten million…you've earned it."

After a brief phone call to her bank manager to confirm that the money had been transferred, Mercy turned and walked towards the door, ready to leave Lex Luthor behind and go find a new life. She had loved him once, she had waited for Lex to overcome his obsession with the Man of Steel, but slowly, she had begun to realise that a life with Lex Luthor was no life at all.

"There's a private jet at the airport that will take you wherever you want to go…goodbye Lex."

As Mercy walked out of his life, Lex didn't seem to care. His mind was focussed on one thing, revenge.

Hyper Sector:

The tall modern buildings of Metropolis had seen their fair share of action over the years, especially since Superman arrived on the scene. Today was no different. People were running for cover as bullets flew through the air. After an attempted armed robbery, the three robbers were now engaged in a fierce shootout with the police.

Wearing body armour and firing assault weapons, the thugs arrogantly walked from the bank they had robbed, firing at police cars and laughing as exploded, sending flaming debris everywhere.

The police retaliated with shots of their own, only to find that their bullets wouldn't penetrate the robbers armour. Hundreds of empty shell casings littered the ground as the shootout continued. Cops fell to the ground in agony as bullets pierced their skin, while the robbers casually walked towards a waiting car.

Papers began to swirl around, fires that had been raging due to the exploding cars caused by the heavy gunfire were put out as strong gusts of wind blew through the street. Looking up, the robbers cowered in fear as Superman floated above them, his arms crossed and is long red cape dropping down behind him as he descended, touching down between the police and the thugs.

"You guys must be new in town…" Superman said, grinning confidently. He never could understand why people still tried to commit crimes in Metropolis. While he couldn't be everywhere at once and would miss the occasional purse snatching, it was never in doubt that he would show up to stop a massive shootout that was being broadcast across the country.

"Surely you guys must have known that I'd show up…so why even bother? Did you think I'd take the day off?"

Desperate to escape, the thugs opened fire, sending a spray of armour-piercing bullets directly at Superman only to find them crashing against his chest, falling harmlessly to the floor. Kal-El responded with his heat vision, heating up one of the weapons, forcing the thug to drop it.

The second thug, having emptied the clip, held onto the barrel of his rifle and swung it as hard as he could. The gun connected with Superman's face and shattered. Grabbing a hold of the two thugs, he threw them high into the air as the third thug tried to escape.

He ran, looking back for a moment to see that Superman had disappeared. Turning back around, hoping to get away, he ran straight into Superman, who grabbed his gun, bending it and snapping it in two, before lifting the thug and flying with him back to the police who had been involved in the shootout.

"Is everyone alright here?"

"Yes, thank you Superman, these guys never learn do they?"

"Afraid not…excuse me for a moment."

Flying skywards, Superman caught the two robbers that he had thrown into the air, catching them as they fell back to earth, gradually slowing and touching down, letting the police take them away and arrest them.

As the robbers were handcuffed and lead away, they looked up and cursed as they watched Superman take off and fly into the distance. He flew high above the city, ascending through the clouds, his cape stretched out behind him as he broke through the sound barrier, moving into the planet's upper atmosphere and beyond.

Floating silently now, he looked down on the world below, listening for signs of trouble. It was something he did a lot. Sometimes though, he valued the eerie quietness of space, shutting out everything coming from the planet so he could concentrate on his own thoughts.

Lifting his head, Superman looked for the position of the sun, using it to assess the time, using the earth itself as a sundial. He descended rapidly, creating a sonic boom as he dropped out of the sky, back towards Metropolis. It was still morning, and Clark knew he was going to have a busy day…he was preparing himself for a confrontation far more dangerous than any of his battles against Doomsday or Brainiac. He was taking Lois to meet his mother.

Nevada:

Sergeants Siegel and Shuster stood watch at the entrance to a military base that had no real purpose. Area 51 was nothing more than a dump, a place that held some of the militaries old planes and vehicles that had been put out of commission as newer, better technologies had been created. Relics of the Second World War filled the large hammers. At least that was the official records said.

There had been many conspiracy theories over the years, suggesting that area 51 was a facility designed specifically to experiment with alien technology. Many thought that after Superman's first appearance on earth, the government would come clean about their knowledge of alien life and reveal what was in Area 51. But that never happened.

The truth, was that the government had no prior knowledge of alien life before Superman, there was no Roswell space ship, no alien bodies. Area 51 was a site dedicated to secret research in advanced man-made technology, there was nothing alien about it. That all changed when Superman revealed himself to the world.

As the two sergeants conversed, they failed to see a rocket-propelled grenade fly towards their command station. They had no time to react as it exploded, killing them. Alarms sounded, soldiers rallied to defend the base, coming under heavy fire. Cluster bombs descended on the main hangers, devastating the buildings, forcing them to collapse and crush anyone inside.

An armoured, all-terrain truck crashed through the gates leading to the main complex, before coming to a halt and letting 6 mercenaries exit and begin firing on the military personnel.

Meanwhile, another dozen mercenaries accompanied Lex Luthor to an elevator. Forcing the doors open, the group attached their equipment to the heavy cables and descended down the elevator shaft, all the way to the bottom, hundreds of feet underground.

Opening the doors, one of the mercs tossed a grenade into the corridor, waiting as it exploded, killing the soldier. Through the smoke, bullets impacted against everything from flesh to concrete as another firefight broke out between the soldiers and the mercenaries while Lex Luthor waited in the elevator shaft for the all-clear signal.

Finally, Luthor was escorted down the narrow corridor, stepping over bodies, avoiding the blood that was turning the white floor to a crimson red. At the end of the corridor, there were two doors. One led to the main facility while the other lead to another corridor, filled with prison cells.

Choosing the second door, Lex walked to the end , passing some of Earth's most notorious criminals, noted for4 the special powers they possessed. Stopping for a moment, Luthor noticed the creature known as Parasite, a being that had tried to absorb Luthor's life force and kill him years before, only to be stopped, ironically enough, by Superman.

The last cell was the one that Luthor was interested in. Inside, a man with long hair and a beard, his body weak, sat in silence, looking at a television screen. He was hardly someone who could be considered a threat. Looking over the mans shoulder, Luthor saw what the man was watching.

"The Godfather…interesting film, though in the third film, he repents…then again, most people don't really count the third."

Looking up, the man stared at Luthor, his face gradually showing signs that he recognised the former head of LexCorp.

"Luthor?"

"Hello Zod…"

On the surface, a helicopter approached the base, firing rockets at the jet fighters that were stationed on the ground, preventing the pilots from using them. From the last remaining hanger, a tank crashed through the door, blasting the mercenaries with heavy rounds from its main gun as well as tracking and targeting the helicopter, trying to shoot it down.

The 6 mercenaries who had remained on the surface were joined by 5 more, who had come back up from the underground complex. They were now trying to draw the tanks fire away from the helicopter, attacking soldiers as well as civilian personnel.

The body count was rising rapidly as the merc laid waste to everyone who opposed them. Rockets from the helicopter impacted against the heavily armoured, titanium-plated tank, causing no more than a few slight dents.

"What do you want Luthor? As you can see, I have television here…I know of your failure…Kal-El defeated you, as he did me. Human beings…pathetic.

"I'm not the one locked in a cell Zod. I'm here to set you free…to give you one last chance to destroy Superman."

Anger overcame Zod as he thought about his enemy. They had fought an epic battle in Metropolis and around the world. They had been evenly matched but ultimately, Kal-El had outsmarted Zod. Now he had the chance to change things and make Kal-El suffer. He stared at Luthor for a moment and smiled menacingly.

As the battle raged on the surface, the mercs found themselves pinned down, under heavy fire from the tank. The helicopter had been forced to retreat to a safe distance and wait. And now they were on their own.

Luthor and Zod emerged from the elevator shaft and Zod immediately began to feel stronger as the sun's rays descended upon him. Basking in the sunlight for a moment. As his strength returned, Zod looked at the tank and ignited his heat vision.

At first , the blasts of heat did little to affect the tank that was made of a material that could easily resist the intense heat. Gradually though, as Zod got stronger, his heat vision gained more potency and began to cut through the tank. Taking a deep breath, Zod unleashed a powerful blowing wind that launched the tank into the air.

Taking off, Zod flew after it, grabbing a hold of the main gun, swinging the tank and sending it crashing back down to the desert floor before blasting it with an even hotter stream of heat energy from his eyes, watching as the tank exploded.

With the tank destroyed, the helicopter was free to fly back towards the base, landing safely, waiting as Zod, Luthor and the mercenaries approached. Looking around, Luthor counted how many mercs had survived the battle and then looked back at the helicopter before turning to Zod.

"It seems we have a little problem…too many passengers, not enough seats."

Understanding, Zod stared at the mercenaries, his eyes burning as he unleashed a powerful blast of fire, disintegrating the mercenaries, burning through flesh until they were nothing but piles of ash.

As Luthor boarded the helicopter, Zod paused for a moment, looking up at the sky and clenching his fists, feeling the power that he had lost, now restored. In a fit of rage, Zod flew into the air, wanting the whole world to hear him.

"YOU WILL BOW DOWN BEFORE ME KAL-EL…YOU WILL BOW DOWN BEFORE ME!!!"

Kansas:

Lois and Clark sat, watching the scenery go by as the train rumbled along the track, bringing them to Smallville. Clark could have flown them both there, but he decided he wanted to do things the human way, mostly just to give himself time to prepare for what was going to happen.

While he had told his mother about Lois, he hadn't told her that Lois knew who he really was. He had tried a few times, but it never seemed like the right time. Lana had offered to tell her, but Clark knew it was something he had to do himself.

As the train pulled into Smallville's modest train station, Clark took a deep breath before stepping off with Lois. He looked around but there was no sign of Martha. Lana was there though. It was a relief to have a familiar and friendly face there to greet him.

"Lana hey…Lois, this is Lana…Lana meet Lois…"

"Ahh so this is the famous Lois Lane…Clark's always talking about you, it's great to finally meet you."

Clark smiled, happy that Lois and Lana seemed to be getting along pretty well. As they walked to Lana's car though, Clark realised that not only would he have to figure out how to tell his mother that Lois knew about him, but now he'd have to listen, to his girlfriend and his high school sweetheart talk about their respective relationships with him, revealing all the intimate details to each other on the car ride to the farm. As that thought entered his head, Clark found himself wishing that he were fighting Doomsday instead.

Metropolis:

Former Kryptonian General, Dru-Zod, paced back and forth impatiently as Lex Luthor searched the internet, as well as personal files, for information relating to Superman.

"Luthor, I have been to his Fortress of Solitude and you say that you found its location from Metallo's memory core. So why are we here in this disgusting infested sewer? I shall fly to the Fortress and destroy him."

"You already tried that once Zod…and you failed. This time we do things my way. Look, to destroy him…we must exploit his true weakness…not kryptonite, his compassion…his family."

"Family? They died on Krypton."

"No…his Earth family."

Zod looked at Luthor, obviously confused. It was something Lex had thought about since awakening from his coma. Something that had never occurred to him before. What if Superman and an identity that was separate to the one the world knew? What if he had been living among humans, instead of just flying over them? Zod, despite his attitude towards the human race, had to admit that he was impressed as Luthor set about working it out.

"What do we know about Superman? He shows up all over the world…but he doesn't stop every disaster. A lot of the time he seems to disappear. He doesn't always show up…so what does he do when he's not saving the day?"

"Perhaps he remains at his Fortress…"

"See I thought of that…but he shows up in Metropolis more often than anywhere else. In fact he seems to get to areas in Metropolis a lot faster than anywhere else in the world…why?"

"Because he resides here?" Zod wondered.

"Exactly…he lives in Metropolis. But then the question arises, how does he know about things that happen on the other side of the planet? The news…someone like Superman is going to have to be at a place where he can learn about events as they happen."

"Like one of your news broadcasts?"

"Like CNN? No…although he is a reporter…if he worked behind the scenes, he couldn't come and go as he pleased…but a reporter can always leave to follow a story. He's not on radio or TV though…he would need to go on air at a moments notice if there was a breaking story…and Superman doesn't have time for that…which leaves newspapers and it just so happens that the Daily Planet is famous for its stories about Superman…"

Bringing up the website for the Daily Planet, Lex began looking at profile pictures, comparing them with a picture of Superman, as well as reading through information about the various male reporters at the newspaper, trying to find a match, while Zod pondered the situation.

"But none of this means he has a family Luthor…he is Kryptonian, not human."

"Think about it…Krypton was destroyed when he was a child right? Could he have raised himself? I'm sure your people had the technology that would help take care of a child who's alone on Earth…but if that was what happened…he would act superior to humans…his compassion, his loyalty and love for the human race doesn't come from a computer…he must have lived with humans…grown up with them…he also doesn't wear a mask. So nobody is going to be looking for a secret identity. His mask is the face he wears when he's not flying around as Superman…wait a minute…"

Lex sat back in his chair and smiled as he looked at the picture in front of him. It was only a 70 match…but it was enough to convince Lex. To make sure, he placed the picture of Superman over the picture that was now up on the screen.

"Clark Kent…started working at the Planet a couple of weeks before Superman showed up…when Superman died, he disappeared and returned just a few weeks after the blue boy….raised in Smallville, Kansas…according to this he was adopted…his age matches Kal-El's…currently in a long-term relation ship with Lois Lane…who happens to be the reporter who gets all the exclusives on Superman for the Planet…I think we have a winner."

Looking at each other, Zod and Luthor both knew that they had found who they were looking for. For a moment, Luthor wondered if he should go public and reveal Kent's secret to the world. But he thought better of it…for Lex it was personal…he wanted to destroy the Man of Steel and this was his chance to do that.

"Tell me Zod, have you ever been to Smallville? Because I think it's time we paid a visit to good old Ma Kent…"