The man who stood before him was not human at all. His skeletal system was unlike anything he had seen before, made entirely of metal. He also noticed that he couldn't see past his chest. It was unusual as he could practically see through anything on earth with the exception of the Pb element commonly known as lead. He was reluctant to fight the metal man with so many people around who were as fragile as glass to him but he had to stop him.
"What do you mean?" asked Superman.
"Well all you have to know is my name and purpose" replied the metal man.
"And what is your purpose." inquired Superman.
"Well your death of course." saying this he charged towards Big Blue with steps that cracked the surface of the road open. He flung a mighty fist that Superman dodged as he ducked downwards. Superman saw an opening and flung an uppercut with as much strength he had used against the Kryptonians, which landed on the jaw of the metal man sending him flying through two adjacent buildings. Superman flew through the holes that were made by the metal man's flying body. As he flew towards his enemy he pulled his right arm back to land one more hit which was unsuccessful as the latter grabbed his hand. The metal man then swung his own fist which connected on the right cheek of his adversary with a sickening sound. The punch sent the man of steel tumbling violently across the road. As Superman tried to get back up on his feet Corben ran up to him and landed a double handed blow on his back which flattened him on the ground forming a crater around him due to the monstrous impact. Corben then started stomping violently on the fallen hero. After taking a few stomps Superman rolled out of harm's way and used his heat-rays on Corben burning the synthetic skin off the side of his face. The metal on the right side of his face was distinctly visible now. As Corben covered his exposed face Superman grabbed him by his leg and started spinning ferociously. After gaining sufficient speed he let go of his leg sending him straight towards the big truck that had avoided getting damaged so far. The front of the truck had crushed upon contact and Corben was not moving.
The events taking place were being monitored via satellite cameras by the creators of the metal man. John Corben was a member of the U.S military who had voluntarily opted for the procedure of transferring his consciousness to a metallic humanoid body after he had lost his legs during war. His brain was the only organic component of the robotic body. He had undergone a drastic personality change after the procedure and had lost major portions of his memory. The U.S military had sanctioned project "Metallo" as preventive measure against a possible alien invasion after the arrival of the hostile Kryptonians few months ago.
"We sent him to nullify Superman not destroy the city and terrorize the civilians professor," said Swanwick.
"One of the minor setbacks was his newfound lust for gore. It was a risk we had to take. A couple of civilians won't make much difference. We are talking about the whole world General. You look at just one tree not the entire forest." replied Professor Vale.
"I was against this project all along, I am going to the higher ups to shut down this lunacy right now" saying this General Swanwick proceeded towards the exit.
"Professor the alien is dominating our soldier. He was supposed to be stronger, where did we go wrong" asked a female subordinate of the professor.
"Our calculations were perfect. Just let his secondary power source activate. It won't be long now." smiled Vale.
"Professor what if the General manages to shut us down" asked another subordinate.
"It will take him half a day to hold good at his words, more than enough for our soldier to decapitate the alien. They will then see how effective our project was and will allow us to continue with it" said Vale.
"Sir this secondary power source we are using do you really think it is stable." asked the female subordinate again.
"We will find out now won't we."
Corben was not moving at all. Superman feared the worst. He flew towards the motionless body. He caught him by his shoulders and shook him gently.
"Hey, are you alright?" asked Superman. Trying to look through his chest for a beating heart was pointless as he still couldn't see through. Suddenly the metal man lifted his right arm which caught Superman by surprise. The metal man then let his elbow land on Superman's shoulder. Superman couldn't hold his grip and he knelt down. Corben then used his knee on the jaw of steel which sent the unfortunate receiver 10 feet into the air before gravity brought him down with a ground shaking impact. Superman could feel that the metal man had a sudden increase in his already formidable power. Superman used his heat rays which the metal man dodged easily by sidestepping. As Superman closed his eyes Corben saw his opportunity. He sped towards him and as he pulled his arm backwards for a mighty punch Superman did something no one had seen before. Spectators could feel the temperature drop suddenly. The man of steel was blowing out from his mouth air so cold that could shame the arctic winds. Metallo was frozen right on his track.
"That should keep you from..." but the cracking sound of ice interrupted Superman from finishing. The metal man broke from his ice prison shouting like a mad drunk. Professor Vale who was observing from his secure location with his assistants knew what it meant. The secondary power source had kicked in.
An out of control Corben caught Superman by his throat and thrust him on the ground with so much force that the point of impact looked like it had been ravaged by a meteor. He was laughing now as he punched his grounded opponent. "You are dead. You hear me dead." he cried as he continued punching.
"Enough," said Superman as he caught hold of Corben's fist. He landed a right hook on Corben who was sent flying a good distance skywards. Before Corben could land back on ground Superman flew towards him grabbing him by his hand. He then swung him around twice before sending him down crashing. There was smoke all over the point of impact. The man of steel then unleashed his heat rays on the fallen humanoid. The heat rays were more intense than what he had used in all his previous battles. The air around Corben had an unbearable stench of molten synthetic compound. It was the synthetic skin covering his body that was melting off and causing the odour. The metal underneath was completely visible now.
"It ends now," saying this Superman unleashed a flurry of punches on the metallic Corben. Corben knew he was on the verge of defeat and Superman was not slowing down. As Corben desperately tried to dodge the punches he was mostly unsuccessful. Superman caught him by the throat and landed 2 vicious punches and said, "You ready to stop now."
Corben let his fist answer that as it landed on Superman's face. Superman was not affected by it though. The desperate punch was considerably weak. Superman deduced that as he was in essence a robot he did have a power source which might be running out.
"You should give up now" said Superman who wanted to avoid hurting him needlessly.
Professor Vale who was witnessing all this was in utter shock. He looked to his assistants and sighed, "Project Metallo is officially a failure."
Corben's chest started emitting smoke suddenly. The secondary power source that was implanted on his chest was indeed unstable. Corben cried in pain as he placed his hand over his chest.
"What is wrong?" asked Superman.
"My chest is burning... aaargh... It needs to ventilate... " he crushed his chest plating with his hands and disposed it off. He was panting furiously.
Superman advanced towards Corben slowly. "You will be going to a maximum security correction facility Mr. Corben." Corben stood up slowly, "I don't think so. I answer directly to the General of the U.S military and I was merely following orders."
As Corben spoke those words Superman looked to be in immense pain. He fell to his knees nauseated.
"Are you mocking me?" screamed Corben.
"That green light inside your chest," Superman could hardly utter these words.
"What about it freak?" said Corben.
"Take it away" said Superman who was now puking on the floor.
Corben was trying to make sense of what was happening and then it finally crossed his sadistic mind. "Are you telling me that this chunk of green rock is doing that to you" laughed Corben.
Superman was now lying almost unconscious on the floor. He couldn't answer.
Corben was laughing uncontrollably now. He grabbed him by his red cape, punched him on the stomach twice and shouted, "Well ladies and gentleman apparently this god from Krypton has a weakness. A meteorite that fell to earth almost 34 years ago," He punched him again and then continued, "A meteorite that harms a Kryptonian, what shall we call it, how about Kryptonite." saying this he threw him towards a bus that toppled over on impact. "Kryptonite, now am I not a genius."
Professor Vale had discovered the meteoroid near Kansas almost 34 years ago. It was around the time when there was a huge rise in the number of rumours about U.F.O sightings in rural America. He had been studying the green radiation emitting meteoroid and had a major breakthrough when he discovered it's potential as a power source. It was recently that the U.S military took interest in his research and placed him in charge of project Metallo which involved the use of efficient power sources for mass production of invincible soldiers for use in the frontlines of war and also to keep alien trespassers in check. Corben was the first. The green chunks of meteoroid were limited and sufficient for only one soldier. The professor and his team had recently began working on duplicating the composition of the meteoroid and creating more of them though they were mostly unsuccessful. Professor Vale had a strong aversion for extraterrestrial life forms known as the Kryptonians as he believed in his core that the Kryptonians were harbingers of doom for all of mankind.
"Often we overlook what lies right underneath our noses. We had the cure to the alien disease all along and we didn't notice" said Professor Vale with a bright face.
With cackling laughter Corben continued punishing Superman who was now bleeding profusely from his nostrils. He could not fight back at all. Corben now looked more like a predator who was playing with his prey before going for the inevitable kill.
Reporters swarmed around the war zone. Lois had just arrived with Jimmy Olsen. She couldn't believe what was happening before her eyes. She had never seen him bleed before.
"Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the new man of steel." screamed Corben looking towards the reporters.
"I liked the old one better."
Before Corben could turn around to see who spoke those words he felt something beeping on his back. After 2 beeps he was sent flying across three buildings face first.
"You look like you need help." said a familiar voice. Superman slowly reached for the friendly extended hand, "I never thought I'd be happy to see your face again."
[Author's note: This was the second last chapter to my story. I will be working for a great ending soon. I appreciate all the reviews from Superfan2 and an anonymous guest. Cheers!]