Rogues Gallery #11 - BIZARRO Pt. 2

In the dead of night of Metropolis, all was well. The sky was bright with stars and the city was peaceful but… as an elderly lady walked down a street toward her apartment and her cat, Fluffy, a man ran up from behind her and snatched her purse from around her shoulder.

“HELP!” She cried as the thief sprinted through an alleyway.

There was a crack of thunder as a figure soared through the dark sky in pursuit of the criminal. The thief stopped, knowing he had lost the old lady as he rummaged through her purse, seeing what she had. He felt a sudden gust of wind and then turned around to bump into a muscular shadow and tumbled onto his back. The man inched back away from his pursuer.

“Now what would a guy like yourself be doing out in an alleyway during a cold night like this?” The newcomer questioned, sarcastically.

The criminal panicked, rolling on the ground and pulling out a pistol.

“Get the hell away from me, man!” The thief said.

His enemy stepped into the spotlight, showing his jet black hair, navy blue suit, draped in a dark red cape, a backwards “S" on his chest. Bizarro.

“You’re not him!” The man shouted, putting more pressure on the trigger.

Bizarro chuckled.

“Nope. Me...I'm the other guy.” He grinned as a cold beam emitted from his retinas and into the man’s gun, freezing it instantly.

The man yelped in a mix of shock and horror. He tossed the gun aside and started to run back down the alley. There was a quick whistling noise and Superman’s doppelganger appeared in front of him, grabbing him by the collar and throwing him into a group of garbage cans, taking back the purse all in the same moment.

“This yours?” Bizarro pleasantly greeted the woman as he landed on the ground in front of her.

“My god you are some sort of angel…” She said as she seemed, astonished.








Clark rolled his eyes as he sat in the Daily Planet looking at all of the headlines on the newspapers.

I can’t believe how much attention he’s getting right now. I mean he’s not THAT much different from Superman. Sure he doesn’t have a secret identity and can be a hero all the time but I wouldn’t be able to live like that! Clark thought to himself as he stared at the papers.

Lois stormed into the office, and she looked ecstatic over something.

“Hey Smallville, you been watching the news?” Lois asked, as she shuffled through her desk, hastily trying to find a notepad and a pen.

“No Lois, I haven’t but I have been doing this article about sea otters and…”

“Save it for later Clark, there’s something big going on at the First Bank of Metroplois! A hostage situation it looks like!” Lois found a pen and some paper and then blasted out of the room, and into the elevator.

Clark stood up and looked around.

No one’s here. Good.

Clark sped out of the room at Superspeed and then out the window, with his Superman suit on.

Here we go! Clark flew faster at the thought of finally being back in action.




“Get your hands on the floor now!” One of the masked men in the bank barked at a young woman.

“Please don’t shoot! I have a family!” A middle aged plump man said with tears in his eyes. He just as quickly complied with the gunman's command.

“Don’t worry, you’re just the bait. Trust me when I say we have bigger fish to worry about.” The blonde haired leader, John Osborne, explained under the ski mask.

“You sure this’ll work, boss?” One of the other masked men asked.

“Of course it will. We have the blue boy scout’s only weakness.” John replied, opening a pocket of his belt to reveal Kryptonite bullets.

Part of the ceiling suddenly exploded in a cloud of dust and rubble. The robbers were thrown onto the ground by the impact. John got up, smiling beneath the mask. As the dust cleared, Superman stood in the room.

“You know what to do boys!” John called and his men began to put in cartridges into their machine guns.

Superman eyed the room. About a dozen guys with guns in their hands, all aiming at him.

“You should know by now, Osborne. Bullets don’t work on me.” Superman stared at the leader.

“Right…X-Ray vision. How could I forget?” John pulled off his mask, revealing his long blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail.

Superman took a step towards him, then John suddenly dove behind the counter.

“Fire!” John shouted.

Superman watched as the men all pulled the triggers. The first bullet hit him above the knee and that was when he discovered the pain. The Man of Steel dropped to his knees but then rolled behind a wall. The bullet had gone through his leg. He put his hand on the wound. He couldn’t give up though. Not yet.

“So how’d you get your hands on Kryptonite, Osborne?” Superman hollered above the sound of the still ringing bullets.

“I’m an arms dealer, remember?” John said with a snicker as he kept his gun aimed at the wall Superman was behind.
John opened a pocket of his belt and pulled out an explosive.

“See ya…” He whispered as he tossed it near the wall.
Superman saw the bomb coming at him and with superspeed caught it in his strong grip, but as he caught it, it blew open, a puff of green smoke filling the air.

Superman dropped to his knees, choking and weak from the refined Kryptonite.

“Prew! Smith! Go find out if he’s having fun!” John ordered two of his men.

The two cronies approached the wall cautiously and when they turned the corner, they found Superman on the ground, glaring at them with anger but obviously injured from the attack.

“It worked, boss!” Smith yelled with excitement.

John rushed to them with triumph. Smith and Prew stood back as John stood above the defeated Superman. Superman crawled slowly on the ground away. John pulled an emerald piece of rock out of his bag. More Kryptonite.

“What's the matter Superman? Not feeling too good?” John cackled as he kneeled down, bringing the stone closer to the Kryptonian.

John started to hit Superman in the face with the Kryptonite over and over again.

There was a crash and then a scream of two men. John got up and turned around to see the eyes of Bizarro staring into his. The same eyes Superman had.

“What?” John looked past Bizarro to see Prew and Smith on the ground unconscious on the other side of the room.

Bizarro stood in front of John with his arms folded. John shook his head in disbelief! He stared at the Kryptonite in his own hands and then at Bizarro. He slammed the meteor rock against Bizarro’s chest but it had no effect.

“What? You should be on the ground like him! What’s wrong with this?” He kept raising the piece of Kryptonite in front of Bizarro’s face.

“I don’t have that weakness.” Bizarro said with a serious tone.

John Osborn looked into Bizarro’s eyes, horrified at his miscalculation.

“No…it can’t be…” John gulped as Bizarro grabbed onto his wrist with the Kryptonite and broke his arm.

“Ahhh!” John screeched in agony but Bizarro wasn’t done yet.

The clone hit the rock away and then wrapped his fingers around John’s neck. Bizarro lifted the man off of his feet and threw him across the room and through a wall. Bizarro held out his hand, looking at Superman.

Superman gazed at the hand. exactly like his hand, yet colder, there was an eerie aura around it. The Man of Steel took Bizarro’s hand and was helped up.

“Thanks for the save.” Superman wiped some blood off of his mouth.

“No problem.” Bizarro answered a grin stretching across his face.

“Don’t you think you went a little overboard though? I mean you did break his arm.” Superman said as he looked at his double. There was worry on Superman's face.

“Nah. He had hostages. He was dangerous. I couldn’t let him hurt the innocent.” Bizarro told his ally.

Superman could tell there was something in his voice though. Something not right...

“It’s not over yet though…” Bizarro turned to see the remaining masked men all aiming at him.

Superman glanced at Bizarro.

“Let me handle this. Their weapons are dangerous to you.” Bizarro announced.

“But…”

“Me...I mean I'll handle it.” Bizarro reassured him as he walked towards the men.

“He took out the boss, guys! Let’s take him down!” The criminal known as Girardi roared.

They all opened fire. The green bullets hitting Bizarro like snowflakes. They continued their barrage until they had run out of ammunition. Bizarro stood in the exact same position as he had in the beginning of the attack, but was surrounded by dented green bullets.

“Is that all?” Bizarro disappeared.

Girardi looked around to see his men being knocked down one by one by some invisible opponent.

“He’s moving incredibly fast! Everyone get out!” Girardi exclaimed as he headed for the door.

Superman leapt in front of him. His fist raised but just as quick as the men had fallen, a jet of flames engulfed Girardi and knocked him through the glass doors of the bank entrance. Superman’s fist was still in the air and he looked ahead to see Bizarro, letting out a deep breath.

“What are you doing? I had him covered!” Superman questioned.

“You don’t know that. It was a precaution.” Bizarro said as he challenged Superman.

“You killed him!” Superman shouted.

“No. He’s still alive, just with a very bad burn.” Bizarro walked past Superman and out of the entrance onto the steps of the bank, where a crowd of press and police were parked.

Reporters stampeded past the police and ran to Bizarro.

“Looks like you’ve saved the day again, Bizarro. Any comments?” A beautiful young reporter asked, with her notepad out.

“Well if I hadn’t gotten there when I did, Superman may have been killed.” Bizarro responded as the Man of Steel slowly went down the steps, no one even noticing him.

“So you stopped the bad guys AND saved Superman all in one trip? Incredible!” Another reporter looked at Bizarro in admiration.

Superman had enough of this. He needed to figure what was wrong with Bizarro and he wasn't going to get anywhere with the media around. He flew into the air and away from the scene.




BIZARRO RESCUES MAN OF STEEL!

Lex Luthor laughed at the thought of his disgrace of a creation saving his greatest nemesis.

“I love irony. How about you, Doctor?” Luthor was never happier.

“Ye…Yes sir…f…funny how things turn out…but I need to tell…t…tell…you something that may ruin your enjoyment…” Dr. Lawrence wiped some sweat from his head as Lex walked towards the computer in one of the labs at his LexCorp facility in Metropolis.

“What is it?” Luthor suddenly became quiet and steady.

“The effects that machine had on the subject are…we…w…well…tem…temporary.” Dr. Lawrence managed to say.

“Temporary? What?” Luthor grew aggravated and annoyed.

“I thought you said it was going to work!” Luthor said scornfully.

“Well it was just a prototype. We weren’t sure wh…what effects it w…would have on the subject.” Lawrence replied.

“So he’ll go back to being that abomination? Damn!” Luthor said as aggravation seemed to be growing on his face.

Lawrence remained silent. Luthor however began to grin.

“Well I’ve just had an epiphany. I could use this discovery to my advantage.” He turned to Dr. Lawrence.

The door to Luthor's office opened, and a man dressed in a dark business suit stalked inside, carrying a metallic briefcase.

"What is it?" Lex wondered, sitting back in his chair.

"I have news sir," The man cleared his throat, "Fero Corporation is still trying to contact you about some important business but also, we discovered this..."

Sweat poured down the man's face as he unlocked the breifcase and opened it up. An indigo shine filled the room. Luthor had a smile.

"Well at least now we have a backup plan if my negotiations fail." Lex said.




Bizarro stood on a rooftop, overlooking the great city. The stars in the sky were bright.

“Nice view isn’t it?” A voice from behind rang. The voice was unmistakable.

Bizarro turned around.

Luthor stood behind him.

“What are you doing here, Luthor?” Bizarro glared.

“I have news for you, my friend.” Luthor took a few steps closer to the doppelganger.

“We’re not friends, Luthor. I don’t make friends with psychopaths.” Bizarro said with a sneer.

“All I need is a moment of your time. I know how busy you are nowadays with your city to protect.” Luthor said.

“Fine. But make it quick.” Bizarro stared at his creator.

“This whole new you, it won’t last much longer. You’re going to start deteriorating back to what you used to be. A monster.” Luthor started to explain as he had a smile on his face.

“You’re lying. What reason do I have to believe you?” Bizarro questioned Luthor openly.

“Well that’s up to you. Do you want to just wait for it to happen or do you want my help?” Luthor said as he offered his help.

“I don’t need your help. Me am per…”

Bizarro stopped dead in his tracks, sweat beginning to appear on his forehead.

“Me am?” Luthor said with a chuckle.

“I was just talking too fast…” Bizarro said hastily.

“Of course you were.” Luthor gazed into Bizarro's eyes, knowing the truth was sinking in.

“This is some kind of trick! Some sick prank!” Bizarro roared as he grabbed Lex Luthor by the neck and hung him over the edge of the rooftop.

“Do you REALLY believe that? Or are you just trying to make yourself feel better? Just calm down, my friend and…” Luthor dangled above the long drop below.

“I told you, Luthor. We’re NOT friends.” Bizarro glared straight into his eyes.

Bizarro let go of Luthor and the billionaire plummeted down towards the streets below.

“Ahhhhh!” Luthor screamed.

Seconds before he hit the ground, a figure emerged from the clouds and caught him. Luthor opened his eyes to see Superman. The real Superman.

“Nice of you to stop by. Could you have waited any longer?” Luthor said with no unabaited sarcasm.

Superman remained silent.

“Very funny.” Luthor said as he frowned.

Superman landed on the rooftop Luthor had just been on. He got to his feet and patted himself off.

“Who did this?” Superman asked.

“What do you mean who did this? It was your disgrace of a clone, that's who!!” Luthor said in exasperation.

“Bizarro? Why would he do this?” Superman questioned.

“Haha. Don’t play innocent with me Superman. It’s written all over your face. You’ve seen it to. What’s wrong with him. The injuries he dealt to John Osborne and his boys. The media loving.” Luthor said.

Superman lowered his head.

“Well that says it all. So you’ve seen it too. I knew it.” Luthor clapped his hands.

Superman looked back up.

“Leave it to you to put a nut job in charge of the city.” Luthor responded sarcastically.

“He’s not in charge of the city.” Superman told his enemy.

“Really? Well it sure has seemed like it. You’ve been staying in the shadows while everyone else falls head over heels for him.” Luthor folded his arms.

"Look I'll find him and find out what's going on." Superman broke Lex's rant.

“You do that, but the answer will be no different than what you already believe.” Luthor reassured him.

"We'll see..." Superman darted into the air and out of sight.



Bizarro sat on a pier at the docks staring at his reflection in the water.

Bizarro suddenly gasped as he touched his face with his hand and in the water reflection was something he dreaded. His hand was cracked and paler than the rest of his skin. It was true!

I should have noticed it before! The occasional speech mistake, the aggressiveness, now this! No I will not be going back to being that monster!