As Superman and Dr. Yamamoto neared the entrance hatch to reactor two, Superman felt a breeze through his mind.
"Superman." The voice whispered.
Superman stopped walking. "J'onn?" he thought back. "What is it?"
"It's Lois."
Superman's heart began to beat faster. Dr. Yamamoto turned and looked at him then. In his HUD, he saw Superman's heart rate double.
"What's wrong?" Superman asked mentally.
"A few moments ago, I was able to sense her. It was brief, but she was in great pain. Then, I sensed both fear and relief. I was unable to communicate with her, or determine her precise location, but I was able to narrow it down a bit. She is in Metropolis, but where exactly I do not know. Unfortunately, as quickly as she appeared to me, she his since vanished once again. I have been trying to re-establish a connection but to no avail. I will nevertheless continue my efforts."
Superman let out a slow breath. "Thank you, J'onn." He replied. "Let me know if you find anything else."
And just like that, the sensations of soft wind through his mind faded.
"Are you alright?" Dr. Yamamoto asked.
While to Superman, he had just had a complete, albeit brief, conversation, to Dr. Yamamoto, someone who could not hear the bass laden voice of the Martian Manhunter, Superman appeared to be just standing there, frowning.
"I'm fine." Superman answered, continuing forward.
Dr. Yamamoto didn't press the issue, rather followed close behind him.
They reached the hatch and Superman placed his gloved hands against the warm steel of the door. "Once we remove this fuel rod, are you certain that the power won't come back on?" he asked.
Yamamoto hesitated. "Mathematically, yes, but to be completely honest," he admitted. "I'm not sure of much at the moment. So much has happened that should not have. All I know for sure is that we must do what we can to ensure the safety of the city, and right now, the fuel rod poses the most treat. We will have to deal with the other problems as they arise."
Superman frowned. In his mind, he knew the small scientist was right; the fuel rod was the greatest threat. But in his heart, well, how could he explain that a small part of him was ready to sacrifice and entire city to save the woman he loved.
Without a word, Superman pushed hard on the door. It swung open, metal bits of broken lock falling from it. They stepped inside the chamber.
It was exactly identical to the other one, with one exception; it was a lot hotter. Through his visors HUD, Superman could see the temperature had surpassed twelve hundred degrees and was rising quickly.
"Why is it so much hotter in this chamber than the other?" Superman asked as he made his way to the center of the chamber and the core.
"I'm not sure." Yamamoto answered looking around. "These reading don't make any sense. The temperature is rising much faster, but oddly enough, the radiation levels are much lower than they should be, even for normal circumstances. It's as if the uranium is completely depleted. But that's not possible."
"Well, whatever it is, hopefully it'll stop after we remove the fuel rod." Superman urged.
He knelt down beside the small hatch, Dr. Yamamoto at his side. He pushed the panel to one side gently, and exposed the core.
A soft emerald glow filled the room then.
"My God." Yamamoto gasped.
"Why is this one green?" Superman asked.
"That's not Uranium." Yamamoto answered.
And with a chill and eyes wide with shock and fear, Superman realized what it was as well.
"Kryptonite." He breathed.
He shrank away from it instinctively; raise his hands to shield his face and eyes, and falling back on his rear in the process.
"Superman!?" Yamamoto shouted. "Are you alright?"
And sitting on the metal walkway inside the reactor, his hands in front of his face protectively, waiting for the familiar sensations of nausea, dizziness, and immense fatigue to over come him, Superman realized that, yes, he was in fact "alright".
He opened his eyes, and slowly lowered his hands. Curiously, he leaned forward and looked at the bright green rod inside the reactor.
Nothing happened. He didn't feel anything.
"I'm… I'm fine." He said finally. "It must be the suit. The lead shielding is protecting me from the kryptonite."
Dr. Yamamoto sighed and placed a gloved had over his pounding chest. "Thank God." He whispered. Superman's HUD showed the man's heart pounding away at frantic one hundred and thirty-two bpm's.
Superman let Yamamoto help him back to his feet and the two stood looking down at the bright green fuel rod.
"Why in heavens name do you have a Kryptonite fuel rod?" Superman asked.
"We don't!" Yamamoto answered. "Someone must have somehow snuck it into the plant; into the storage unit. Kryptonite is too unstable for the reaction process. No facility in the world uses it. I wonder where it came from." He looked at the readings in his HUD. "This explains the strange readings; the temperature and the low radiation levels. Kryptonite emits almost no radiation compared to Uranium, but the unstable properties would make the molecules excite much faster, causing a considerably higher thermal output." His HUD told him the internal temperature of the core just past seventeen hundred degrees and was still rising. "We must hurry." He urged.
Again, Superman knelt down and began to carefully turn the casing in a counter-clockwise motion.
"It's a good think I'm wearing this suit…" Superman said softly as he twisted. "I'm not sure what would happen to me under these conditions."
Two things happened almost at once.
First there was the loud, thunderous bang of a heavy metal object being dropping on reinforced steel.
And second, Dr. Yamamoto flew through the air and crashed into the far wall. A loud crunch accompanied the bone crushing impact. Dr. Yamamoto slid to the floor and didn't move.
Superman was on his feet suddenly, looking up at something that made his Kryptonian blood run cold.
"No. No. No!" he thought to himself. "Not him! Not now!"
Standing before him, his chest cavity already exposed, his heart of Kryptonite glowing brightly, was the metal menace, Metallo.
"Yeah," his electronic voice boomed through the chamber. "It's a good thing you're wearing that suit. It'll make this a helluva lot more fun!"
And with that, Metallo punched Superman with all his might.