Chapter 7: Demon

Menacing growls and hisses sought their way out of the ripping metal and got carried through the miles of the tube throughout the entire facility, becoming even louder as if an amplifier was connected to them. It only made the creature inside even more terrifying.

Superman stood up in front of the Two Children, taking the precaution of protecting them from whatever was trying to break free.

But Damian had other plans. Instead of following the adult's clear body language, he ran to the control panel. After all, that's where all the anomalies happening could be looked over, and just standing around waiting to see what would happen was perhaps Superman's method. But for a Robin, an unnecessary waste of time.

Analyzing the situation as best as possible to be able to adjust. Accordingly, he now went through all the values inside the machine and also immediately discovered something unusual:

"The energy values are increasing rapidly and are spreading further and further in the form of electricity over the metal of the accelerator."

Damian looked at Clark:

"Whatever is in there, it seems to be able to produce and use strong electricity."

Briefly, Superman nodded to show the smaller boy that the information had arrived. Electricity, while something that was not exactly pleasant, was nothing dangerous for Superman. Robin, on the other hand, was a normal human being and even his son had not yet developed his full powers. He would not risk anything.

Clark was about to remind the boys to leave again when he saw something glowing behind one of the cracks in the metal. To him it looked like an eye, its iris shining turquoise out of the darkness. However, the dilated pupil contracted painfully when it got blinded by the laboratory light and a yowling growl was heard. Shortly thereafter, several black pointy things flew out of the crack like projectiles, aiming to cut off the lights, causing only seconds later the three heroes to stand once again in the dark. However, this time they could see to some extent, because the alarm lights on the walls and desks, dipped everything in red tone and gave at least some visibility. So they also gave a view of what was now peeling out of the metal.

Four clawed limbs simultaneously poked through the groaning shell and now tore it apart in an X-shaped motion so that a black mass could now force its way out.

Superman instructed the two boys not to move. No matter what it was, hasty movements were usually the trigger of a fight. So they waited and looked.

The more this black thing carved itself out, the more Damian could make out its approximate shape. It looked like a black oval about 2m long with a long tail that added another few feet. The critter was completely wrapped in something fluffy, which Damian assumed were feathers, with thin curved spines pushing between them on its back. In addition, these turquoise glowing eyes, which stuck out behind the dome of feathers, looked almost curiously at this new environment. The growling stopped and only soft clicking and snuffling sounds were heard as the compact thing turned a little back and forth.

Finally, the fluffy something wandered a few steps forward and now spotted the three heroes. Growling, it stared at Superman, who stood calmly a few feet away from the beast and reassuringly kept his hands lowered to not trigger an attack. No one moved or said anything, but instead looked at this thing, which now ruffled its feathers a bit.

Superman began to take a step toward the strange creature as a test. He was aware from his farming experiences how to calm animals to some extent, even if these were mostly just bulls and horses. Moreover, it was difficult to read this 'animal', since it was completely covered in feathers and thus facial expressions as well as gestures remained hidden underneath them. Only the further ruffling of feathers and the fact that it was hissing at Clark told him that the creature was not particularly pleased with his first move. But it still did not attack, which showed that it reacted only with caution. While Superman could just grab this animal and be done with it, he wanted to do this as gently as possible.

Again he ventured a step and began to shush softly to keep it quiet. But he was only growled at even more for this.

Something else finally burst the whole situation. The desk Damian was standing at had been damaged by the energy overload and now a short circuit triggered a small mini explosion right in front of him. But this was enough for the beast to give up its compact form and roar at Damian. Two pairs of wings detached themselves and stood up menacingly. Like one of these pterosaurs, they each possessed two claws that resembled sharp daggers. In addition, they gave sight on a slender feathered body, which prepared to jump like a cat at Damian. Upper body bent forward, spikes as well as feathers set up and the hissing let guess that it bared its teeth in the gloomy red light coat. However, the short second did not allow to see more precisely details.

Turquoise lightning crackled around the individual spines on the creature's back before it leapt toward Damian, screeching. Damian was able to jump to the side as the creature effortlessly tore around the desk and crashed into the wall behind him as it tried to grab the boy with its claws. Several pieces flew around and caused some cuts on Damian's skin. But this was the least of his worries right now. Robin concentrated to further increase the distance between him and the black monster, but a piece of debris thwarted the boy's efforts.

Due to the dimmed light, he tripped over it and at full speed, accidentally knocked Superboy over with him, who was standing just a few feet in front of the exit. Damian laid was now on top of the younger boy and confused lying on the ground, they looked at each other for a moment before Damian hastily looked back as the black snarling figure jumped towards him again. Reflexively, Robin pulled his arms out in front of him as he saw the sharp claws that would tear him apart in a few milliseconds, and he heard how Jon started to scream beneath him.

But the impact did not come. Instead, Damian now saw the monster screech in protest just inches in front of him, violently kicking and flapping its four wings. Superman had grabbed the long feathered tail at the very last moment, preventing the creature from harming the two boys. In doing so, he was amazed at how much power this thing had. Clark had to bury his feet firmly into the ground and tighten his grip even more as the critter fought wildly against the Kryptonian. With heavy flapping and tumultuous jumping, the clawed arms, legs and wings crumbled both walls and ground, leaving this section of the lab badly destroyed and lots of debris flying around due to the strong wind.

Superman finally drew a line:

"Actually, I wanted to solve this another way, but you leave me no choice. SIT DOWN!"

Clark hurled the kicking creature with a powerful swing across the room and against the hard accelerator, so that the steel tube was completely compressed on the impact and the monster, half-embedded, no longer moved. The silence that fell brought both Damian and Jon out of their daze. Hastily Robin rose from Superboy's body and scowled at him as he menacingly spoke: "Not a word about it."

Jon, however, just held his hands in front of him defensively: "I don't particularly like getting up close and personal with you either. Although I have to say, your stupid face when you tripped was pretty funny. Haha... that moment when you knew you screwed up. It's rare to see that with you. Haha."

Damian, annoyed, took out a small bullet from his belt and dropped it on Jon, who was laughing on the ground. The latter's joy quickly faded as the stun gun caused his body to shake briefly and he jumped up protesting:

"Are you out of your mind?"

Grinning diabolically, Damian folded his arms in front of his chest:

"Just a little test to see how you react to electricity. Apparently not as well as Superman."

Jonathan clenched his hands into fists and was about to jump at his counterpart when his father intervened exasperated:

"Still boys? You're a team, not archenemies."

Jon threw his arms in the air in anger:

"Tell that to him! He always brings out the weapons right away!"

Damian just drew his brows together goaded:

"Like they could do anything to you. Don't be such a sissy super idiot."

"Yet they're unpleasant, you ruffian!"

"Super-Pain in the ass."

"Smartass!"

"BOYS!"

Superman harshly interrupted the two quarrelsome kids:

"Even though you have no right to be here, you're on a mission now, and that means no arguments. You can settle your differences later, but now is neither the time nor the place. Besides, you better worry about what Batman and I are going to do with you after this, because you disobeyed our orders again!"

Jon felt really queasy when Superman said that in the dim red light, making it seem even more threatening, whereas Damian just rolled his eyes unimpressed. Always the same talk about consequences here, you disobeyed orders there. Slowly it became really boring and Damian didn't listen any further. He already knew the content anyway.

So while Superman continued with his sermon, the boy caught sight of the creature again. Through the dim light it just looked like a big black mass between all the bright metal, until suddenly the glowing eyes opened again.

"Superman, behind you!"

Damian interrupted Clark in his remarks, when within a fraction of a second the monster got up and jumped towards the three of them. Damian was able to pull Jon aside in time, but Superman could not react as quickly.

The winged creature rammed its arms and legs forcefully against the Kryptonian's torso and kicked Clark so hard that he was hurled through several walls and bounced ungently against a large machine in one of the side rooms. This left the two boys alone with the monster in the lab.

The beast first screeched triumphantly at Superman, before it now turned its head lowly, in the direction of the two children, who were standing only two meters away from it.

Jon was now panicking. His father was the strongest being he knew and Jon had never seen him being knocked over so easily. He was, after all, the Man of Steel. Trembling slightly, the boy took a few steps back behind Damian, who was not particularly enthusiastic about this action, to put distance between himself and the fearsome creature. But when a piece of glass loudly cracked under his foot, Jon fearfully paused.

Aggressively, the monster hissed at the two boys and began to stand menacingly on its bird-like hind legs. Feathers as well as spines raised, the four wings spread to look bigger and now Damian could also clearly see the bared sharp teeth, which reflected the red light. It seemed so huge, so threatening.

Already almost unconsciously triggered by his fear, Superboy's eyes committed to attacking the beast with his heat ray and Damian used the moment to throw some of his discs after it.

The creature initially gasped in surprise at this counterattack, but quickly regained its composure. Both the heat ray and the small flying bombs had no effect. Instead of kneeling down, the creature now took one step after another towards the boys, rumbling deep in its throat and ignoring the resistance. Jon was now really panicking.

With each step the creature took, Jon increased the energy on his eyes, but that didn't even itch this critter. Instead, it now jumped forth in a flash and grabbed Damian by his feet with its agile tail, so that he was now dangling head over heels and also grabbed Jon by the throat with its clawed hand.

Both boys fought back to the best of their ability, but even Superboy's strength was no match for that monster. This brought tears of desperation to Jon's eyes, and with every inch those glowing turquoise eyes came closer to his, it got worse.

Scrutinizingly, the creature looked closely at the strange boys. Again and again its gaze changed back and forth between them, until it finally drew its free hand in front of Damian and ran its claws over his cheek. A small cut appeared and some blood seeped out. It pulled its hand back again and let it slide to its sharp-toothed mouth. A long tongue wrapped around the bloodied claw, spreading the taste on it.

The same procedure was now performed on Jon, but the sharp claws could not penetrate his hard skin, which at least calmed Jon down a bit. But the monster would not be fobbed off by this. It pulled him even closer and began to sniff briefly above his neck. Finally, it pushed him away again and put on its claw once more. Jon felt something weaken him as a pain spread across his cheek that he hadn't felt in a long time.

Blood oozed from a wound on his face and when Superboy saw the red-smeared claw retreating back to the taste test, he realized that this critter indeed could hurt or even kill him, whereupon his eyes only widened even more.

The creature cooed joyfully as it felt the taste of strong blood on its tongue, and to make sure it didn't waste any either, the long slimy organ now licked directly over the wound. A shiver ran down Jonathan's spine and he fought it with all his might. He screamed for help, kicked and tried everything in his power, but he just couldn't fight it. He was scared to death and just wanted to get away home. He really regretted coming here with Damian.

Wide opened the maw of this monster right in front of him, giving the boy a close look at the saliva-soaked teeth that were about to tear his body apart. Oh God, the beast was actually trying to eat him!

Suddenly Jon heard Damian shout: "Close your eyes!"

Without giving it much thought, he complied with the demand, and only a second later he saw bright light behind his closed eyelids.

The creature yelped painfully as its eyes were affected and it let go of the two boys to cover its visual organs to protect them. It shrieked back and swayed disoriented around.

John crawled away from the monster in a panic until Damian yelled at him:

"Get up you idiot! We've got to get out of here!"

Superboy tried to follow, but immediately fell back to his knees when he tried. His legs were like jello and just wouldn't obey him.

Wildly, the beast flailed disoriented as it kept stroking its blinded eyes. Its tail in particular was a great danger, as it cracked everything around it like a whip.

Damian knelt down next to his comrade:

"Pull yourself together, super fool! You lose your nerves just because of a little scratch? You chose this job, now you have to live with it! No children's club, forgotten already? So get up now or I'll tell Lois we skipped school last Wednesday!"

"All right, all right. I'll do it, but don't tell Mom."

Robin helped Superboy to his feet, trying as best as he could to protect himself from flying debris.

Positive point: Superboy was back on his feet.

Negative: the monster was raging right between them and the exit, so the boys couldn't escape.

But fortunately, the remedy came immediately from the big hole in the wall.

Superman knocked the disoriented creature back into the accelerator and stopped just in front of the two kids: "Are you hurt?"

Damian quickly replied: "Just scrapes. Nothing serious."

"Good, then make sure this building is evacuated and get out of here!"

With groans of metal, the black monster peeled itself back out of the steel and now hissed very angrily at Superman. But instead of attacking him, it set for leaping and broke through the thick lab ceiling with a screech. It crashed without much effort through the many layers of concrete towards the surface.

"I'll take care of this beast."

With that, Superman also disappeared through the hole in the ceiling, leaving only Robin and Superboy behind.

Silence returned, however Damian immediately began typing something into his computer again. Jon, on the other hand, dropped to the floor and let the weight of the past few minutes slide off his shoulders:

"That was close. That thing almost ate me. Thank God you still had that flash bomb with you."

Damian didn't respond to what the younger boy said. Instead, he now began to monotonously share what he had to say:

"I alerted the police, ambulance and fire department shortly after the explosion. Judging from the cameras, there is no one left in the entire building. All employees should be taken care of outside at the moment."

Damian turned off the computer and looked to Jon: "So let's go after them."

In disbelief, Superboy looked at him. Had he just misheard?

"Wow wow wow, what do you mean after them?!"

"Well after Superman, sucker."

Jon threw up his arms in disbelief:

"Have you blown all your fuses now? That thing almost killed us and you're seriously going to fly after it? Dad told us to evacuate these people!"

Damian just rolled his eyes in annoyance at so much stupidity:

"Didn't you cut it? The people have been evacuated and are being taken care of as well. That completes part one of the task. For part two, we're supposed to get out of here. But Superman didn't say where to, so we're not violating his orders. We'll just disappear in the direction the monster fled."

Stunned, Jon stared at his opposite before rising angrily. How could anyone be so flippant about this situation?

"Forget it! I've had enough of all this. Because of you, I'm already knee-deep in problems, and I'm certainly not going to be standing up to my neck in them!"

Superboy was walking energetically towards the exit when Damian grabbed his arm and asked him a question:

"That thing could hurt you, couldn't it?"

Jon just growled at him:

"Yeah, and that's exactly why I want to avoid that critter too!"

He tore himself away from the older boy's grip and was heading back toward the exit when Damian said something that just more than concerned him:

"Superman doesn't know that this creature can hurt Kryptonians. He could be in serious danger."

Jon turned and looked at his comrade with wide eyes. Briefly, he weighed the possibilities. He was afraid of this thing. It could hurt him, and that was bad. But it could be just as bad for his father. So he finally came to the following decision.

The fear for his father was greater than his fear of this creature.

So Jon ran both hands through his black hair because he couldn't believe he was really going to do this.

"All right, let's fly after them."

Superman flew close behind the winged monster. It was extremely fast and would be difficult to be seen for a normal person in the black night sky. Fortunately, Superman was not a normal human. This is where x-ray vision really came in handy.

He picked up his pace and grabbed the bird-like leg of the creature. Before it could even struggle, Clark spun it around once in the air and then threw it toward the ground in the direction of a deserted meadow. The feathered body crashed into the soft earth, creating a small crater. Superman wanted to finally end the whole fuss, after all he had to take care of two runaways later. Therefore, he now picked up speed towards the ground to give the creature the rest with a mighty impact.

But shortly before that, the tables were turned. Instead of staying down as expected, the creature dodged at the last moment and used the chance for a counterattack, by whipping Superman away like a baseball with its moving tail. The latter now tore a long and deep furrow into the earth until he finally came to a halt almost thirty meters away.

Clark wiped the dirt out of his hair as he stood back up, watching as those glowing eyes stared and glared at him.

"This thing is tougher than I thought."

Superman flew again and this time would not be knocked down so easily. The monster also began to run toward him on all fours, wings stretched X-shaped from each other.

Finally, the two collided violently, causing a shock wave that destroyed everything within a twenty meter radius. A showdown ensued as Superman's fists were stopped by two clawed hands, and both the monster's wings and legs were busy bracing themselves into the ground to avoid being pushed back. Clark too, had to strain and not give in. Only now did he really realize how strong this creature actually was, despite its slender stature. It could almost keep up with him in terms of strength. But only almost.

Superman began to put one step in front of the next, pushing the snarling beast back. He pushed it a few feet in front of him and tried to break its stand, which wasn't exactly easy with four wings and two legs slammed into the ground. However, the many limbs began to lose their hold.

Just before Clark could break it's stand, the many black feathers began to tremble and long thin spikes stood up at the monsters back. More and more electricity flashed along them and the feathers lit up in spots until finally it was all directed to the head.

Only now did Superman notice the small horns bent forwards on the side of the monsters head between all the long decorative feathers, as the tips began to light up turquoise and became clearly visible. But he didn't get much good out of it, because just seconds later they discharged a massive bolt of lightning into the Kryptonian's body. Several thousands of volts coursed through him and even Clark had to admit that this was more than just pinching. However, not enough to defeat him.

Superman gripped the claws of the shrieking monster even tighter now and pulled the creature from its firm footing with a twisting motion. As if throwing a hammer, he spun faster and faster, building up centrifugal force, and finally, with practiced motions, hurled the beast into an old wide oak tree, splintering it and bringing it down, as well as the trees behind it.

Clark rubbed his hands together as he grimacing his face at the sight of the damage he had just done to nature:

"Uh...that poor beautiful tree. I'm going to be in trouble for that. Hopefully the compensatory planting won't turn out to be to expensive."

But he couldn't worry much about that when a large tree trunk flew towards him. Superman effortlessly deflected the projectile with his hand and looked between the destroyed trees. As if nothing had happened, his opponent crept gracefully like a cat between the pieces of wood before it paused and stood nearly twenty meters in front of him. Slowly, its tail snaked its way to the dark face with something red hanging from its tip.

Hastily, Superman examined his cape and finally noticed that a piece was missing near his neck.

"Eight months without a hole in my clothes and then something like this. There goes my new record."

Clark could see the piece of fabric being held underneath the glowing eyes, right where the nose should be. Was it smelling it?

Suddenly the creature threw the cloth from itself, jumped up powerfully and flew steeply upward into the star-studded sky.

"They always think escaping would work."

Superman took up the chase.

However, this time it didn't turn into a chase, as the creature stopped in the air barely a hundred meters above the ground and held this position with practiced wing beats, while it had Clark right in its sights. It seemed to be waiting for him.

The latter was not deterred by this and instead closed in on the strange creature. A fierce battle broke out in which both throw their fists and claws around each other. While Superman executed controlled movements and fighting tequnigues with his arms and legs, his opponent only scratched wildly with its many limbs and tried to fix him with its tail. Again and again they hurled each other through the air, only to immediately jump at each other again.

The Kryptonian had to admit that this critter was a really tough one and somehow he had the impression that it was getting stronger and stronger. The blows became harder, the kicks more painful and at some point one of the many claws tore the first bleeding wound on his muscular arm. Dumbfounded, the Man of Steel watched as the red substance, which rarely appeared, sought its way down. He could count the times he had ever bled with one hand, and the fact that he was doing so now made the whole situation a truly threatening one.

Clark knew it was serious. He had to think carefully about every move from now on or it could get very dangerous even for him.

Again he punched the beast hard in the face, but they no longer had the same effect. Instead of being hurled through the air by the powerful impact, this monster simply took it, like a normal blow, and Superman became aware that something was very wrong. He felt somehow weak and drained. He was increasingly plagued by headaches and cuts now adorned his entire body. Finally, something caught his eye. The claws of this creature had taken on a slightly greenish hue and the feathers began to change color as well.

Kryptonite.

Clark tried to put distance between himself and the monster, but it was already too late. The beast now gripped his body with its dangerous maulers and bird feet's on the Kryptonians powerful upper arms and hips as the feathers turned completely green in a split second. All strength was drawn from Superman and he hung, like a piece of meat from the rake, limp in the flying monster's many claws, which tore his skin badly from the jerky wing beats. As he did so, one thing became clear to him. This thing had only been playing with him. It could have used kryptonite earlier, but preferred to have its fun with him. What a son of a bitch.

Clark could still see out of the corner of his eye how the long green tail feathers contracted into a sharp spear and reared up in front of him.

He could see the wide-open maw with threads of saliva before the hungry beast finally rammed its pointed teeth into his unprotected shoulder and sank the stinger into his body.

Superman cried out in brutal pain and felt his flesh being torn apart. He was on the verge of fainting when he imagined hearing his son's voice one last time:

"DAD!"