-1Superman in Action FanFic #14

Bizarro

Hovering above me is a creature that looked like me for a split second. In that next second his face changed and I could deal with the idea it wasn't another version of me. However, as I look up at this creation I see something that makes me realize part of me is still in there; his eyes. They stare at me with a flared hatred that I dare call myself Superman, but behind that is some sort of pain and lack of understanding. As much danger as I'm in, I feel a sense of sorrow that it has to come to this. He's only doing what he feels is right, regardless of how mistaken he is. The problem is antagonizing him further. I've got to talk my way out of this before something worse happens. One thing in particular is putting out the fire he started with his Heat Vision. The entire dock will go up in one big cinder otherwise. Think fast, Kent!

He looms over me like some sort of shadow, this duplicate. I am shocked and upset that someone tried to make a clone of me. How did they do that? Someone must've gotten my blood samples out of all the wreckage from the fights I had with Parasite and Conduit. I had a good gash in my forehead from that fight outside of LexCorp. Wouldn't take much imaginiation to say that someone with the motivation to create his own Superman would jump at the opportunity. How much blood did they get though? Some of those cuts were pretty free flow for a time.

He's still stares like he's waiting for me to make some sort of move. I keep a constant vigil on the building though, Batman's got the scientists out. He's slapping something on the back of one of them. It's a small transmitter, clever. He needs them out of here, because the fight is going to take a horrendous toll on anyone in the area, but he's going to make sure we can find them later. I need to do something now that lives are out of the way. As I look back up to the creature he raises his eyebrows in a questioning motion. A noticable look of confusion, I'm hoping that more than my eyes still exist in this imperfect double. "Superman, there are lives at stake, we need to put out the fire!"

"Me know that, Not-Superman! Me AM Superman! Me know how to save Metropolis better than someguy elses!" GREAT! He's actually doing it! Although he's a lot more reckless about things than I'd like. He starts to use his breath to blow out the fire. There's a certain distinction that has to be made when doing this sort of thing. It's not easy to explain, but when I use my breath in a forceful nature I can either cause a huge wind or freeze something. If I don't put too much lung power behind it the object will freeze, which is what I was hoping he would do here. However, I didn't account for the fact that he wasn't going to be completely knowledgeable about his abilities. He's using the other breath 'tool'. It can cause hurricane level winds if left unchecked. I'd hate to think of what's happening to the boats out there if he decides that it's going to require that level. The structure does fall over and it makes him stop to consider what a better idea might be to contain the blaze. That should keep him busy for a moment while I find another way to put out the fire. Luckily, Batman seems to know my plight and engages the creature before he comes to some solution.

I look at the water in the harbor near the warehouses. I can't believe the pollutants! I'm terrified of using it to put out the flames with that much crud in it. Still, it's all I have to work with. I fly down into the water and start to spin as fast as I can. I create a whirlpool that follows me back down towards the fire and it does the trick almost automatically. I can hear the copy though as I'm putting out the building inferno. He's staring somewhat puzzled as to what Batman actually is. He's trying hard to figure it out

"What you am supposed to be?"

"Someone that wants you to leave."

"Me am no leave pointy ears! Me am hero of Metropolis! What am city do if me am leave it?"

"It will be better off!" He pulls out the small chunk of Kryptonite and the creature looks considerably frightened.

"YOU AM BAD, POINTY EARS! ME AM NOT GOING TO LET YOU HURTED ME!" In the most spectacular move I've ever seen, Batman instinctively rolls with where the punch flies. He moves just a hair breadth from being hit. It's obvious the Kryptonite slowed him down, but not enough. If that punch connected it would've killed him where he stood. I take a cue, knowing full well that I'll be weakened again.

I fly hard and fast, which I was hoping would catch him off-guard. He looks up at me just in time to use his Heat Vision on me. I get sent backwards and land into a stockpile of crates. He laughs at me for my attempt. "You am silly Not-Superman! You am no hurting me! Me am invulnerbabble! What you am thinking?"

"How stupid of me to forget your invulnerbabblness."

"That am not so hard to say, was it?"

"Forgive him, he's a little slow on the uptake." Batman is distracting him again with the Kryptonite. It might give me another chance to knock him out cold; I hope it does. We're keeping him busy now, but how long will that last? And worse yet how long before we start taking out major chunks of city in a fist fight? I'm trying to avoid that. Batman already seems to think I'm an amateur, which he's right to an extent. Still, he's as good as dead if the creature gets a hold of him.

"Point Ears? You am still trying to hurted me? Why am you people trying to hurted Superman? Me am friend of city!"

"The city says it's tired of you."

"You am wrong Pointy Ears! You am trying to hurt me when me am trying to stop bad mens and womens from hurting I. Me am thinking you am with those." He moves towards Batman sluggishly, the Kryptonite might be taking effect. He's still moving fast enough to deal damage to a human body, that's all I care about. Batman gives me the eye and I nod.

"Superman, head's up!" I try once more flying as fast as I can and plowing my fist into the jaw of the copy. Batman ducks out of the way almost instantaneously as I start to move. The creature goes into the water hard and hits the bottom even harder, I'm really hoping I didn't kill him. I scan just to make sure he's knocked out and not dead. He's alive! Good, he's just sleeping it off right now. I dive into the water and pull him out, he's snoring his head off. Batman stands at the shoreline looking at me with that cold empty stare. "That hunk of Kryptonite did the trick," I break the silence.

"It barely effected him, he didn't drop to his knees like you did. Somehow, whoever created this creature must have engineered him to be resistant to it."

"Not overly resistant, he was still feeling the effects. Besides, it seemed better than anything else you or I could've done. That little bit did more than enough to get me a clear shot at him. It also made me as weak as a kitten. If we have to keep using that to bring him down I'm not going to last much longer."

"That means that we'll have to find a way to contain him. The problem is that prisons on this planet are equipped to deal with powers the likes of yours."

"I only know one place that might do the job, but even at that...he still might be too strong to be kept there. And there's the problem that it wasn't built to be a jail."

His eyes pop open and he punches me in the jaw. "ME NO GET JAILED!" I lose my grip on him as I rocket into high orbit. This leaves Batman to deal with him with again! I rush back down in a heartbeat, there I see Batman holding the Kryptonite. With that in his hand, I'm not going to be any help. The over-exposure has me buckling at the knees as it is. I don't know how much I can take before it becomes hazardous to my health. That armor must've really helped out; I didn't feel nearly as badly. Even when Kenny fired on me without the armor it wasn't so bad. He must've been able to control the amount somehow. Like he was toying with me. Go figure that, Clark. He wanted to make you suffer. That's a frightening thought, though. What would've been left of me if I hadn't been wearing that suit?

I land gently at a distance, I have to think of something quick to appease this creature so he'll come peacefully with me. It occurs to me that we've tried fighting him with as much force as we dare do. Maybe the best thing is to try and play up to this delusion. "Superman! I need to talk with you," I yell towards him. He looks up at me confused for a second.

"What you am wanting Not-Superman? Me am dealing with dangerous villain over here!"

"I'm in some trouble and only Superman can help me!"

"Well that what me am! Move, Pointy Ears," he shoves Batman who goes hurling backwards. In the next moment, he shows what sort of amazing of control he has. He shoots his grapple line which flings him into the air and slows him down. He then shoots another line which connects to pole over one of the warehouse rooftops, where he swings and billows out his cape to slow his landing. He'll be sore from it, but he'll live. I turn my attention back and the creature is making his way towards me slowly. He's going further metamorphosis, his back is hunched more and the whites of his eyes are yellowed.

"Superman, I am your biggest fan. Obviously I wanted to be more like you so I dressed myself in your uniform. I've even tried to be a good person like yourself, but today you seem angry. Why are you wanting to hurt people?"

"Silly Not-Superman! Me am no wanting to hurt people! Me am defending I against bad peoples who am hurted me first!"

"People hurt you?"

"Me am laying on a table after they take I out of the the big bath cup and put I on table. They am taking green rock and hold it to I head. Then me feel a little sick to I stomach. But me get over that and then them bring blue rock. It hurt I worse! Me am feels so bad that me just fly out of there quick and then me use Fire Eyeballs to make they hurted more. Then you am showing up with Pointy Ears and me not sure why you am looking like me."

"We didn't know that they were trying to hurt you. You just seemed to angry."

"Me was am upset! Me have right! Them am try to kill I with blue rock!" I glance upwards towards Batman and he nods. He starts to survey the area and he speaks very softly.

"Unicorn to Lion. I need you to run a check on who rented or bought warehouse 5 in the Dock District. Get me any other purchases that have been made in Gotham. Then I want you to keep tabs on the tracer I've planted. Make sure his movement don't lead him out of the city."

"Right away Unicorn, stand by and I will upload information to your onboard system."

"Affirmative. Unicorn out!" He turns his head to look at me again. Even at that distance he mouths to me, "Keep him busy, and get out of here. The police are on the way and we need to get the blue stone before he causes more damage." I shoot him the look that asks 'what am I supposed to do with him?' As dead pan as he possible can he just says, "Improvise."

"Superman, why don't we patrol the waters? There's a lot of people that might need saving out there."

"Me am thinking that am a good idea, Not-Superman! Let am we go!" We take to the air almost simultaneously. As he flies I notice his arms dragging the sky, he wasn't doing that earlier. It's like he's flying the way he walks now, lurching forward and hunched. I wish I could be with Batman when he finds the scientists, it looks like the creature could use it. I hate thinking of him as a creature, he's a living being. As much of a copy as he is of me, they've deformed him into this bizarre countenance. I scan him a bit to see if maybe they marked him in some way. Should've guessed that they wouldn't bother. They probably had computer records of all of that. The wreckage might've told me more, but it's best to keep him away from others until I'm sure he's not going to hurt them. I give him credit for the saves he made, he didn't mangle them as he was coming out. It still makes me curious as to why after I told him to, he followed my instructions and saved them. They hurt him, and he was going to kill them before. I guess a little part of me has to be in there somewhere. I'm just wondering how little.

Krypton's cloning age had some rather astounding breakthroughs. One of which my father, Jor-El, said stuck with Kryptonians since the alien scientist Bertron started his experiments. Kryptonian scientists improved upon genetic memory, it allowed cells in the body to retain the knowledge of a person at the last point that a sample was taken. That usually happened about the time of death. In case of incinerations they would take the most important scientists and have their samples on hand and in combination of the Engram Band they would download the missing knowledge directly into their brains. It would take a day or two for the knowledge to settle in, but it made sure that nothing was lost to those that knew any particular subject the best. Often times it was more beneficial to them, because as the clone awakened it would have new ideas stemming off the downloaded material. A new perspective, if you will. A lot of advancements were made because of this alone. Most of that however was lost after the Black Zero incursion. After that time the genetic memory of Kryptonians was never used again. The potential use however, that was still there. I asked my father why that was.

"Cloning became bad when we abused it to the point of creating new life for spare parts., While the Council as a whole came to understand that, they also knew that if for some reason we were on the brink of extinction it might help us to survive long enough to propagate again. And the possibility that holo-matrix or Brainiac could someday fail might leave us without the knowledge of the collected scientists, things that might again help us to keep the species alive. It would give us a chance to survive if we didn't clone in high volume as we'd done in the past. It was agreed only as a last resort emergency measure that they would clone chief scientists and their mates should the need arise. The one time it might've been prudent to do so, of course the Council didn't believe it would be necessary. Now look where they are, Kal-El. The one time where the greatest minds of Krypton might live again and they squandered it because they thought me to be mad. I would find reason to boast that I could know more than the greatest minds of Krypton, were it not so tragic."

As we get further out into the waters I start looking at my clone. He's starting to shed dust from his skin. Cellular disintegration; apparently their science hasn't come far enough yet to clone me properly. "Tell me about your childhood, Superman. I want to know about you?"

He looks at me a second with a blank expression and the he slightly smiles, "Me am coming from planet Krypton! Me am father Jorall and mother Laura put I in borned football and shooted me from planet before it am exploding!"

"They sound like wonderful people."

"They were am good! They make sure me am arrive on Earth safe and get founded by peoples that am take me in and raises I as they son. You am no tell anyone that, that am I secret face!" He looks at me, it's a look of concern that a child gives someone when he's let something slip.

I nod at him with a smile, "I promise, Superman. I won't say a word." He smiles again. As he turns his attention forward again some sort of pain hits him. He clutches his chest and starts to fall from the sky. I swoop down fast and catch him just before he hits the water, he's heavier than I remember. Not that it's taking a lot to lift him, but he's gained some mass. I've got to find Batman, maybe he's tracked down the scientists by now. My hope is that they can help to restore this clone to health. If thye can even reverse this before he dies, maybe I can find a way to help him adapt to the world around him. Teach him how to properly use his powers so he won't hurt anyone. Whatever they can do, it needs to happen fast.

I start scanning with X-Ray and Telescopic Vision. It's not that hard to spot Batman, once I find the right building. The scientists seemingly have some hired muscle there to help. Batman's dodging the bullet fire rather well, though he's obviously been hit once. The uniform stood up to the shot. I crash in through a skylight and place the clone on a table. I look back at the gunmen and at Superspeed take their guns away. They look surprised that they're hands got lighter and I place the guns in a crate and put them on the roof. When I return they're still surprised, and while some want to react in violent ways they stop and look at Batman and I standing together. Several of them take the cue that it might be best not to pursue any further fighting. I look towards the scientists, I know right now I must look as frightening as the cloaked man to the side of me.

"PLEASE DON'T HURT US! WE'RE JUST DOING RESEARCH!" The man yelling looks to be in his mid 40s, balding, and wearing thick glasses.

"You took my DNA and used it to make a clone of me, who authorized the research?"

"Dr. Li Teng!"

"Who is he?"

"He's not here, we haven't seen him in some weeks. Our instructions were to use the samples taken of your blood and use them to make a clone of you for further examination."

Batman walks towards them slowly and with purpose. He grabs the scientist by the jacket pulling him face to face. "Put it directly, someone wants their own Superman!"

His wide eyes give a look of understanding. The understanding being that if he beat around the bush or outright lied, the nightmare that gripped his jacket would start to hurt him. "YES! Even after Superman took oath to become a citizen, it wasn't enough. While the President trusts him, a lot of others in military and intelligence don't. Scientific research had to be done in such a way that if he became a threat we'd be able to bring him down. After the Conduit fiasco proved that Kryptonite radiation would hurt him unless he was shielded it was necessary to create a double that wasn't affected by it at all, instead we'd synthesize a Blue Kryptonite that would do the trick better!"

"And once he started to feel the pain you inflicted he ran wild and tried to kill people!"

"It was supposed to be debilitated! We thought of everything we could, tried the Kryptonite on it and it weakened. We tried the K-Synth and it worked. However, in the panic it managed to break free and push itself to a limit, when it pushed it's abilities a chain reaction started causing genetic breakdown, which is why it looks that way."

"IT is a HE!" I shout angrily at the scientist. "And HE is DYING! Do what you can to save him!"

"There's nothing we can do for i...him. I'm sorry Superman, but that Bizarro is facing death."

"What did you call him?"

"Bizzaro, it's the name of all the creatures."

Batman's anger is more visible than ever, I'm amazed the true restraint he has despite the fact it looks like he wants to break him. I can't say that I blame him. The amount of hurt that they've caused this poor individual makes me want to show them how he must feel. To what end though? If I do that then I make myself every bit the unruly bad guy that some people still see me as. I can't deny the anger burning inside, but it's like Pa always told me:

"It's okay to feel certain ways, Clark. It how a person acts upon them that makes the difference."

As I look towards the clone I start feel that emptiness again. The closest thing to blood family that I'd ever had or ever will, and it's dying. He's almost like a small kid brother. Powerful, but needed to be taught. In a moment Batman breaks me from my thoughts, "How many of these 'Bizarros' did you make?"

"Five. Three of them are dead and soon that one will join them."

"Where's the fifth? Tell me!"

"We don't know. Dr. Teng is working on that one. He was using our research as test failures to see where we went wrong in order to perfect the process."

"It should've been a simple cloning process, and I'm assuming you're at the top of your field."

"We are, but the process is far from simple Superman. There's two problems, there are two unidentified cells that run in your body. They look to be supplemental, but to what process we don't know. The heaviest of concentration seems to be in the blood flow of your brain. The second set only show up when we try to clone you. They're some sort of other white cell. We've tried to combat these things, but we've only been successful to a point. We tried to engineer them out it didn't work, it just made the Bizarro get grown as the chalky monster you see there. In subsequent attempts we hampered them only to the point of having the clone wake up. The minute it started to use its powers the cells activated and attacked UI cell one and then others to again create this."

"When is your next contact with Dr. Teng?"

"We don't have one set. He calls us when he wants to know our progress."

"Can you call him?"

"Well..." Batman squints his eyes, his jaw tightens and if I wasn't sure I swear he's gripped on to the lab jacket so hard his knuckles were turning white. The scientist gets the message loud and clear. "We have an emergency number. That was given to us, but we were told in strict terms not to use it unless something catastrophic happened." As he stops to consider what he just said he hands over a small card. "What's to become of us now?"

"You're going to jail." Batman hisses back.

"Jail? We were doing research!"

"You were cloning. Last I checked that was outlawed in the United States. Add on using someone's DNA sample without their express permission. And creating a bio-weapon of mass destruction. The Feds aren't going to be lenient, they're going to ask some rather hard questions. I'd tell them everything they want to know, maybe they'll let you off. However, I doubt treason is something their often willing to overlook."

"I told you everything I know! I swear to it!"

"Unfortunate."

He throws a net over them and hangs them from the rafters. I look at them and their pleading eyes look back hoping I'll understand their plight and let them out. I turn away and go back to Bizarro. His features have hardened more, so much so that I'm terrified to actually move his hand for fear it might break. I want to move him to the Fortress and let father scan him for anyway to reverse the process. Batman walks up behind me. I don't know that he has until I see the shadowed figure standing there. I look at him with the almost a rage burning in me. They've taken a part of me, created new life from it and then allowed it to become an experiment for use in a horrid nightmare.

"You have to leave him here."

"Why?"

"It's the biggest piece of evidence that links them to the cloning. He burned most of the other evidence."

"Most?"

"I managed to grab some papers that hadn't been caught in the fire. They're progress reports on the procedure. When the police arrive which should be shortly they'll have this and the body."

"The police? In this city? I met the Commissioner, I don't trust him."

"Neither do I. However, I have my reasons. This is my city. My expertise in this matter should be defaulted to."

"Famous last words."

"Only if you make them."

"What about the K-Synth?"

"It's in my possession. I want to see what properties it holds and how much damage it can do to a human vs. a cloned Kryptonian."

"I want Teng. I want to know who he's working for. Then I'm going to find other answers as to why this happened."

"Your shelter?"

"My father called it my Fortress of Solitude."

"Those answers can't wait. Find out about what's happening to these clones and how dangerous it might be. I'll find Teng. Go!"

Batman shoots a grapple line out of the building and starts to swing off into the heart of Gotham. I came here to arrest him, but the thought of doing that seems now like a mistake. I see a lot of good in him and under these Gotham conditions I might've decided to go the same route he did. Who can tell? The reporter's instinct makes me want to know who he is, find out what this person has been through that would make him take such a frightening mantle. What I know right now is that he's helping me. I don't know why he is, but the fact is that he's doing it. That's something he didn't have to do. Maybe I'm naive in thinking that it's because he knows I need it. It might just be because they tread on his territory. Who knows. But it seems best right now if I go back to the Fortress and ask my father what it is that's happening. Maybe he'll give me the answers on how to stop it!