Action Comics #5: "Must There Be A Superman,Pt. 2"

“LEX LUTHOR!” A voice explodes throughout Lex Luthor’s office tower, and the entire area of the city shakes and quakes, as a green beam of light shoots through every corridor, every floor, every room, until it reaches the massive lab fifty floors below the surface of the building, where Lex Luthor is standing, and where sits the power ring of former Green Lantern Jar Kell. Lex is hit by the green beam, and vanishes in an instant, and Happerson looks around in a panic, and falls over his own legs, knocking over the Green Lantern ring that sits in the yellow box in the lead lined safe. The ring rolls across the floor and hits him in the nose, and then vanishes in a flash of brilliant light, and then nothing, silence, as Happerson feels a pool of liquid form beneath his quivering body.

“L-L-Lex?”

Barrage Mark Two leaps onto the stage where John Henry Irons stood moments ago, and walks up to the podium where the smoke is still clearing. A third of the press present are trying their best to get out of the conference area, and the rest look at the criminal that just blew up the man who had just made the greatest donation to Metropolis’ police department since Wayne Enterprises’ special adaptive Kevlar jackets. “Y’THINK HE COULD ‘A STOPPED ME? AH JUST BLEW ‘IM UP! HE’S NOTHING! METROPOLIS AIN’T SAFE! NOT FROM ME, NOT FROM ANYONE!”

“Erhem, excuse me, but who exactly are you?” A scrawny man puts up his microphone, and his camera man swings round, capturing the villain on tape.

“AH’M BARRAGE! AH’M THE ONE WHO IS GONNA’ KILL YOU ALL!” He raises his canon arm, and purple energy begins to glow around the barrel.

“Hey. You.” He spins around, and watches as John Henry Irons steps out of the dust and smoke, his suit torn to shred, but his skin untouched.

“How’d you… Ah… Ah killed you…”

John presses a button on a silver bracelet that shines brightly in the glow of the purple light, and silver chain links begin to shimmer into sight. The links connect with each other, and then metal plating starts to snap into place, until he is adorned in his high tech armour. “You think I’m stupid, punk?” He raises his hand, and his hammer smashes through the ceiling, landing in his grasp. “Didn’t you hear me when I was talking earlier, or are you just stupid?”

Barrage slaps his head in frustration, and mumbles to himself. “Can’t seem to kill anyone recent…” He fires of the canon again, but John just raises his hammer, and it absorbs the blast, leaving a purple tinge to the metal of the weapon.

“STATE. OF. THE. ART.” He throws his hammer hard, hitting the man in the chest, sending him flying. “Now I guess I’m gonna’ have to prove a damn point.” He turns to the press. “I suggest you get out of here. Seems we’ve got a communication problem.” He then turns back to the man and smiles beneath his armour. “Come on then, punk!” John Henry Irons summons the large hammer back, grips it with two gloved hands, and then sprints for the villain.

“Well, well, well! Seem’s that Steel Hand always delivers, boys!” Boss Moxie smiles to himself and throws a crowbar at one of his henchmen, who then jams the metal rod between the seal of a wooden crate, then wrenches it open, the lid flying to the side. Moxie delves into the box, rummaging through the contents until he picks up a large weapon that has a massive red bulb on the end of a barrel. He eyes it suspiciously then smiles to himself. “Ha! He really came through! That man down at the Hub sure knows his stuff…” Moxie passes around the weapons and then examines the markings. “Sure look weird though, don’t they? He said ‘These things are as far out there as you’re gonna get, Moxie, make good with them to keep the investors happy’… Jeez… I started this organization, who needs investors, especially when they only talk to you through a TV screen?” He shakes his head and rubs his scarred face, chewing on the cigar in his mouth. “Hey, money’s money, so what the hell… He passes the red-ended weapon to a large man and takes out another device, this time a sleek silver weapon that seems to buzz with power even though it isn’t turned on.

“Now this… This is mine. Wonder what it does…” He cocks the gun and it seethes with energy, green smoke pumping out the end. “Only one way to find out I guesses…”

He fires it at a wall and then watches as a beam of light shatters through the entire building, leaving a massive tunnel of destruction to the harbour outside.

“SheeOOT! Pack up the stuff boys, we’re moving out!”

Dan Turpin shakes his head, not knowing what to do. “The hell they going to?”

Maggie shakes her head. “I don’t know, Dan. But we haven’t got full access to those armours yet so it’s all up to Irons!”

Steel flies backwards, so fast his boosters can’t stabilize him. He grimaces and lets his body fly through the air, hurtling over the horizon—Until he stops. He stops in mid air and begins to gently float back towards Metropolis. He turns and sees Superman holding onto him, a smile on his face.

“You call this trying to do good?”

“I’m damn well trying, Superman! But there was this guy…”

Superman sees the purple blur approach him and frowns. “Barrage.” He release the armoured hero and Steel flies beside him. “I’ll take him. How about you--”

“I’m going to check for any injuries. You throw in a punch for me, alright?”

“Sure will.”

Steel flies off and Superman smiles, takes a deep breath, and unleashes a blast of Arctic breath in Barrage’s direction. The man with oil for blood and metal for bones burns through the icy winds, and then throws his most powerful punch at the Man of Steel, who rolls with it, fearing the destruction of the man’s limb.

“Where’d that other SOB go? I wanna’ piece of--”

Superman grabs the shifting cannon arm and smiles.

“I’d appreciate it if you weren’t disrespectful.”

The cannon arm shifts and latches onto Superman’s arm like a claw, and then the villain’s chest begins to glow bright violet, and a blast of energy is unleashed upon the Metropolis Marvel, causing him to vanish in the cacophony of light. Barrage laughs and smiles, watching as Superman falls towards the city below, his chest glowing bright, the energy clinging to him like oil. Then he’s gone—Vanished in a burst of red light.

Barrage spins around, trying to see his opposition, and then he’s grabbed by the arm, and it’s twisted into his back, the metal torn from its moorings on his flesh. Barrage doesn’t scream… Because the nanotechnology diverts the pain signals back into his power packs, powering him up even more.

“I said…” Superman punches him hard, pieces of metal flying off the man’s jaw, causing him to cough oil. “…I’d appreciate it…” Another punch, this time to the weapon forming on his chest, disrupting the transformation and causing it to stop. “…If you weren’t…” He grabs him by the head, and then throws him straight down towards the street below, causing him to scream in terror. “DISRESPECTFUL!”

Barrage flies towards the pavement, his eyes wide, unable to stop screaming. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t fall unconscious because of the fall, you’re awake all the way, knowing that the rapidly nearing floor below will probably cause you to liquefy on impact. So don’t believe what you hear, because more than likely… It’s wrong.

Barrage is about to be liquid when he is thrown upwards, and hurtles through the sky. What was happening? He’s about to begin freefall once again when Superman grabs him once more.

“You see, I could have let you fall, but I don’t like to work like that. That’s for my friend in Gotham and we have different methods, you know?”

“What do ya want?”

“Who upgraded you? Your weapon was destroyed when I last saw you. Your limb lost. And yet you’re back, with one hell of an upgrade… Is that technoorganic material I see floating through your veins? I’m doubting you have the know-how to produce something as advanced as that… So before I turn you over to the police, let me ask you… Who did this to you?”

“Ah think you know, Superman…”

Superman’s eyes narrow, one name on his lips. “Luthor.”

“Have a medal.” Barrage is about to power up once more but Superman smiles.

“No thanks, Barrage.” He unleashes a massive gust of his super breath, and Barrage stiffens, the technology in his skin freezing. “No thanks at all.”

Superman crashes through the wall of the bottom lab in Lex Luthor’s building. He takes a breath and smells something on the back of his tongue… Sterile, more so than Lex Luthor’s labs normally are, and also urine… What had happened here?

“Luthor, are you here?” He scans the room with his x-ray vision, confused.

“Superman! Superman!” Happerson leaps from behind a cabinet and grabs the Man of Steel around the leg, weeping into his knee cap. “Oh Lord am I glad it’s you! Lex has been kidnapped by this bird creature who wore this green uniform and who as really angry and who had a ring that could make shapes!”

Superman pushes Happerson off him, realising what the urine smell was. Happerson had wet himself, and his blood pressure was elevated. “A green uniform? A ring that could make shapes? Has this got anything to do with someone called Jar Kell?”

“Ah! No, no, no, you’re not supposed to know!” Happerson runs back behind the cabinet, still crying. He was obviously having some kind of mental break from the stress of what he had just been through. “He’s dead you see… He tried to kill Lex and Lex killed him… but before he could get the body it went missing… And all he had was the hand and the ring--”

“His ring?!” Superman shakes his head. Luthor doesn’t know what he’s done! “Any idea where they went?”

“He just vanished! Vanished into nowhere!” Happerson picks himself up. “I need to tell people! This is terrible, really terrible!” He turns around to look at Superman, but the hero is gone, nothing but a trembling test tube to signify his leaving. “Oh no, oh no, oh no… Lex won’t be pleased…”

Superman flies over the sky of Metropolis and shakes his head. Where did Lex go? Where could one of these Green Lanterns possibly take him? His eyes widen and he shoots out of the atmosphere, and into space. He scans the stars with his microscopic vision and grimaces, no sign of a Green Lantern anywhere. And then he thinks. If I wanted to take a murderer somewhere in space, where would I go… He smiles, and heads for the moon.

Lex looks around, confused. “What in God’s name?” He spins around, and sees he’s sitting in his office, his computer buzzing. He shakes his head, convinced he was just in one of his laboratories but then nods slowly. He’d come up early, taken a nap in his office because of his hectic day. Everything comes back to him, memories flowing like water and with that, he smiles and logs onto his computer

Faraday didn’t wait for protocol. As soon as the alien incursion had left and the trio had resumed consciousness he was gone, back to another mission in process, back to California. Bill and Travis are stuck in the hospital for hours, before leaving, sick of the tests performed on them in case of xenobioligcal infection from the event. But when you make up the protocol then it doesn’t matter, him being the Director of the Department of Extranormal operations and all.

Travis walks outside the hospital and puts his coat on over his Superman t-shirt, and then hails a cab, standing on the side of the road until a yellow vehicle comes into sight. Bill lights up his cigarette and walks behind him, then takes a long drag and exhales into his partners ear.

“You leaving then?”

Travis turns, coughing, and then shakes his head. “Plane leaves in about four hours. Thought I might as well go to the airport and catch forty winks.”

Bill shakes his head. “Don’t say that.” He takes the cigarette out his mouth and then grimaces. “You don’t wink when you’re asleep, therefore not a relevant statement.”

Travis shakes his head and scratches his chin. “Right. Obviously.”

A small cab approaches but Nodell puts his hand out, barging in the way of Clevenger and then whispering something to the driver. Without a word back the cabbie drives off, leaving the two men standing at the side of the road in front of the medical facility.

“Oh hell. How rude.” Travis rolls her eyes, shaking his head. “What did you say?”

Bill puts the cigarette between his lips and smiles. “I’ll tell you over a beer. I know of a nice little joint down town that’ll allow us a few laughs before you go to wherever you have to be.”

“Sure, sure.”

The crowd in the bar is more or less made up of the kind of men that visit a strip club in the middle of the outskirts of Metropolis. Some are farmers escaping the tyranny of evil that is marriage, others are merely lonesome spectators off for a good time, but there are two other men in this bar that are what one can call out of the ordinary. One is a heavy set white man spotted with freckles and a disheveled haircut that hangs past his eyes. The other is a very well dressed African American with a baldhead and a large violin case placed in front of him in an otherwise empty booth. The two are having a loud dispute… in Dutch.

Bill Nodell again tries to take a bite of his over salted and incredibly thin bloody steak, but again he is forced to opt out and cram a small handful of pretzels in his beer. The pretzels make him thirsty. Travis Clevenger knows the quirks of his partner and does his best to ignore them as usual. Nodell’s attention seems to drift from one scene to the next until it finally lands on the loud argument-taking place in a nearly empty large booth.

“Ik eis compensatie” The large white man in denim coveralls yells. Nodell tips his head in suspicion.

“U zal nooit mijn geld krijgen, zwijn” The other replies pounding on the table causing beer to splash around and crumbs to bounce into the air.

“U duft mij uit tedagen” The larger retorts now completely in the other one’s face as he spits out his hateful words.

“Ik daag u meer dan uit, lul” The smaller says shaking his head manically as his skin begins to shake off.

“Het is tijd dat u zal sterven” Screams the white man now seeming to grow within his own skin.

“Godverdomen” Nodell utters as the African American man pulls out a large metallic gun from his violin case, glowing red energy at the tip and making a loud humming noise that causes the neon lights to flicker in unison. Nodell stares watching the large man pry the gun from the smaller one still. He aims the gun quickly and pulls what appears to be a trigger and a loud “EEEEEEERRMMMM” is heard throughout the bar as the tip surges up and fires a beam at the dark man before his body seems to implode and blue matter flies across the bar splattering in beer, on women, and into the bowls now useless pretzels.

“Dit is zo'n een medelijden” Nodell says softly to himself as his cigarette is splattered by the blood and or guts of a now confirmed alien. “And they got it all over my good tie.”

Clevenger now fully aware of the situation turns away from the strippers, wipes off his face, and pulls from his side a small Government Issue handgun.

“You only have one tie, Bill.”

“Exactly, and these inconsiderate jerks ruined it.”

“No, the beans from that burrito you had from Taco Bell ruined it, now can we deal with this situation?” Clevenger says as he loads his gun and stands up waiting for his partner to follow his lead. He waits and Bill continues to wipe down his tie. By this point, people around the bar have been officially driven into hysteria and are running around the bar much like decapitated chickens.

The large white man’s skin continues to stretch around his swelling frame until pieces of flesh begin to tear off and a blue mass of skin takes its place. The alien is large now, eight feet tall with grotesquely out of proportion muscles by human standards. He walks around loudly screaming in high-pitched shrieks and opens fire, shooting billiards tables and glasses of beer, because he is unable to pinpoint the tiny human beings running around him, trying to cram through the tiny exits of the bar. Clearly, these men and women did not bother to check the standard fire emergency exit procedure posted beside the door.

Nodell finally wipes enough blue matter off of his tie to meet his low standards and stands up besides Clevenger to show he is ready. Before they walk forward though, a stout man with a toupee has broken the glass case housing a small axe in case of a fire and takes his hand at being a hero by valiantly running up to the alien and thrusting the small blade into the aliens leg. The large beast turns his head in mild shock and the man’s eyes widen before he is lifted by the alien with a single hand and crushed between his large webbed fingers. The crunch of the man’s spine makes Bill cringe and he also pulls out his government issued firearm.

The two men walk in unison towards the massive blue alien and at the same time pull out matching Badges with letters “D.E.O.” engraved on them and Clevenger begins to speak, “I am Agent Clevenger of the Department of Extranormal Operations, you are quite obviously breaking a few treaties set by-” The large alien takes a swipe at Clevenger in mid sentence and he goes crashing through a thin wall separating the bar from the restroom. He lands on the floor and looks at his soiled hands in disgust.

Nodell still has his gun drawn and opens fire on the alien blasting off partial bits of blue flesh that regenerate as they explode from his person.

Nodell burns through an entire clip of ammo and lowers his gun and head ready for the blow the alien is sure to deliver. Such is common procedure, they fire at an invulnerable species until they are out of ammo, in which case they lower their gun and buckle down for a hit. But to his surprise, the alien does not pound him to the floor or across the room! Instead of receiving the same treatment as his partner, the alien chooses to pick him up in an attempt to squash his head. The grip tightens but Nodell is able to put forth an effort to wrangle himself free while the monster shuffles a human being and a gun between his two massive hands.

Clev is up and begins to shoot in vain at the giant extraterrestrial. In mid struggle, Nodell kicks out the gun from the alien’s massive hand to the floor. Clevenger’s eyes widen and he makes his way to the gun. The alien, too, has plans to retrieve the gun, but Nodell begins grabbing at the lobes lining the aliens face causing it to go into strange spasms and struggle for air.

Clevenger finally reaches the fallen alien firearm and lifts it up aiming it at the alien but as he pulls on what he thinks is the trigger nothing happens. No weird noise, no strange glowing; now blowing up of people. NOTHING. He looks down curiously and his friend begins to scream as the alien tightens the grip again. Clevenger sees a button, pushes said button and raises it to fire but again, nothing. Nodell is irate now but his foul-mouthed words are drowned out by the swarming mass of panicking people, he kicks and screams and twists but the blue menace from outer space laughs jubilantly and shakes around the special agent by his head. Clevenger starts to panic and pounds the butt of the gun in anger when suddenly, without a buzz or a charge, the gun fires away a giant blast towards the alien and his dangling partner.

A giant explosion occurs and even more blue matter scatters throughout the bar covering the pink and red lamps turning the whole room blue and purple in an instant. The spot where his partner was being crushed to death is replaced by a hole in the ground and a thick cloud of white smoke. The bar is filled with silence with the exception of the pulsating 80’s hair metal song playing in the background from the last entertainer’s act. They all stare at the middle of the bar and when the smoke finally clears, a human hand reaches out of the hole and pulls himself up out. Nodell stands up looking around until he spots his partner.

“Congratulations, Clev,” He begins as the hushed crowd stares in awe, “You have successfully ruined my only tie.”

The crowd looks around at each other and some whisper to one another and others are not the least bit hesitant to take out cell phones to dial home and the noise fills the bar once again. Bill and Clev collect their guns and badges from the site and walk outside the back door.

“Well, I think its pretty easy to say that Chloe is going to regret not taking us up on the invitation.” Clevenger says wiping down his badge. Nodell chuckles and pulls out another cigarette to light up.

“Yeah, she would have really enjoyed that one girl who kept walking past us.”

Clevenger rubs his head and looks at the long weapon retrieved from the hostile alien, “Must have been some kind of weapon trade, we haven’t seen one of these around here yet.”

”Must have.” Nodell says confirming the suspicion, “We better go in there and file a report before the locals start getting the place all messed up… you know like blowing away huge chunks of ground away with foreign weapons.” Clevenger chuckles and they walk back inside, “Hell of a going away celebration, eh?”

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