Action Comics
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Issue #41: “Times are Changing”
Written by: Pat Owen
Cover by: Steven Howard
Edited by: Brian Burchette[/center]
Metropolis, the City of Tomorrow. The crowded streets rustled with excitement as car horns blasted and people strolled down the sidewalks. Men and women raced to get to work on this busy Monday morning while children sprinted down their blocks, trying to catch their buses. The magnificent city could be described in one word. Busy.
The sky above was different. Calm and peaceful, hidden by the clouds away from the booming civilization below. No one understood the serenity that the sky offered. No one except one man.
Superman.
Kal-El of Krypton rocketed through the clouds, high above the skyscrapers and taxis of Metropolis. All his anxiety seemed to wash away while he soared through the clouds, away from all of the trivial troubles of the world. Or perhaps it was just the yellow sun’s rays making his mind feel stronger as well as his body.
Superman began to make his descent to the city. He passed by the windows of office cubicles and scaffolds with incredible speed, nothing but a red and blue streak. He couldn’t afford to let it his destination be known. He saw the Daily Planet down the street and increased his speed even further. Superman landed gently on the rooftop, beside the enormous globe.
In the blink of an eye, the space where Superman once stood, was now replaced by a different man altogether. Tightening his tie and straightening the glasses that rested on his nose, reporter Clark Kent was ready for hopefully a good day at work.
The recent events with Conner had been trying to say the least. Clark knew deep down that he was not ready to be a mentor to the ambitious young man, let alone a father. Training Conner would be one of the toughest challenges the Man of Steel had faced. But he would face it either way. That’s what Pa would have wanted.
Clark snuck through the roof exit and down a flight of stairs to the elevator. A few minutes later he arrived at his floor and entered the office cheerfully. He got to his desk and glanced at Lois who sat at the desk across from him, writing something. He gave a pleasant smile but she simply nodded, still focused on her work. Clark had just turned on his computer when a voice thundered through the room.
“Everyone! We have a meeting in the conference room in five!” Perry White shouted.
Reporters began to shuffle into the conference room. Clark saw Jimmy Olsen and the two walked together.
“So what do ya think the meeting’s for?” Jimmy asked.
“Not a clue.”
Once all of the workers were crowded into the room, some sitting at the table while others stood up. Clark and Jimmy stood behind Lois who sat at her seat, impatiently. Perry White sat at one end of the conference table and a handsome man that Clark had never seen before sat beside him.
“We have a few announcements to make to start the day off. First of all we have a change in staff.” Perry said as all of the reporters turned their attention to the man sitting beside the chief. “Everyone, this is Edward Lytener.”
Jimmy wasn’t very impressed.
“Pssh. Look at that guy. He looks…”
“Absolutely gorgeous.” Lois said, her eyes fixed on Edward.
“I was going to say a complete dufus. Don’t you agree, Clark?” Whispered Jimmy.
“Yeah, Jimmy…a complete dufus…” Clark muttered, more concerned with what Perry was saying.
“He’ll be taking over the Science section of the paper. I hope you all welcome him with open arms.” Perry finished and Edward sat back down.
“Now onto the next story, Parasite is on the loose again.”
Lois managed to break free from her infatuation for a moment and drew her attention to her boss.
“Rudy’s still up to no good? You think the guy would have learned by now.” Lois said.
“Last I heard, it’s not Rudy Jones. It’s the one that Superman rumbled with in Kansas. It shouldn’t really matter to you though, Lois. You’re not on the story.”
“What? But chief-“
“No buts, Lane. I’m giving this one to Kent.”
Lois crossed her arms and glanced vengefully at Clark who avoided eye contact.
“Parasite attacked Kent’s hometown before. I think it’s only fair that he get a little bit of payback by splashing that monster’s defeat all over the media.” Perry said. “Oh and, Kent, you’ll be taking Lytener. Show him the ropes.”
Edward Lytener looked across the room at Clark who pushed his glasses up.
This would be interesting.
***
Smallville, Kansas. The number one most out of the way town in the world where the only excitement was watching corn grow. Not the best place to try and keep a young man with developing super powers busy. Not at all.
Conner Kent gave an irritated sigh as he sat on the steps of the porch at the Kent family home. He stared blankly at the endless sight of corn stalks, remembering what Clark had told him only a few hours earlier before he left for work.
“Now remember, Conner, keep a low profile. Just hang around the farm and you’ll be fine.”
Conner groaned but then suddenly heard a car pulling up down the dusty road to the farm. Conner got to his feet, trying to see who was coming. His feet left the solid ground and he hovered in the air, inches from the ground. He quietly ascended toward the clouds. He found himself floating high in the sky, looking down at the vast stretch of flat farmland all around. He looked at the trail of the dust approaching from the north and saw the car, recognizing it immediately.
Martha Kent.
Conner’s expression almost immediately brightened as he flew through the air, soaring gently towards the car. Martha had been very helpful and kind to him since Clark had taken him in, checking in on him almost daily.
“Hey, Mrs. K!” Conner landed in the driveway as Martha Kent got out of the car.
“How are you, Conner?”
“Pretty good.” Conner lied.
“That’s good. Care to help me with the groceries? I wasn’t sure exactly what you liked so there’s quite a bit. Be careful.” Ma Kent said, walking toward the porch.
She glanced back to find a dozen grocery bags all clumped together being held in Conner’s arms. The boy flashed a bright grin.
“I can handle it.”
Martha had realized early on that Conner would be a lot harder to keep an eye on than Clark was when he first started developing his powers. Conner was much more ambitious and curious. Those weren’t necessarily faults but they could make things more difficult. She watched as the young man zipped in and out of the house at lightning fast speed, the groceries disappearing from the car in seconds.
“All done.” Conner grinned, patting his hands.
***
“I can’t believe Smallville gets the Superman story and I get stuck having to interview Morgan Edge! Who wants to have to do a Q and A with a pompous self righteous billionaire?” Lois said bitterly as the crowd shuffled out of Perry’s office.
“Well I don’t think it will be so bad, Lois, I mean Morgan Edge is probably the most popular topic since Lex became a fugitive.” Clark replied, walking behind her with Jimmy.
“Yeah. On the gossip page, Clark! I don’t write gossip!”
“Chill out, Lois. It’s just one story.” Jimmy cut in.
Lois stormed away to her desk, leaving and Clark and Jimmy in standing in the middle of the room.
“Man, it’s like she thinks her ‘boyfriend’ Superman is cheating on her with you. Ha.” Jimmy snickered, patting Clark on the back and then walking over to the darkroom.
“Clark, right?”
Clark turned around to find Edward Lytener standing behind him. The man was a tiny bit shorter than Clark, with short brown hair and a smile that would leave any woman awe struck.
“That’s me. Welcome to the Daily Planet, Edward.” Clark put out his hand.
As much as he already disliked this guy, he would remember the manners Ma and Pa had taught him. Edward looked down at the hand, cautiously.
“Thanks.” Edward took the hand despite his hesitance. “So I guess you’re going to be ‘showing me the ropes’?”
“Yeah. Let me grab my jacket.”
Clark walked over to his desk and took his jacket from the back of his chair, not disturbing Lois who was on the phone making an appointment with Morgan Edge. Clark threw his coat on and then straightened his tie.
A short time later, Edward was sitting in the passenger seat of Clark’s truck.
“I did not expect you to have a car like this. You do know these things are gas hogs right?” Edward said, Clark letting out a quiet laugh.
“Yeah, I guess it comes from growing up on a farm. I always have had trucks.”
“So you grew up in Kansas? How was that?”
“I loved it. It was so quiet. Everyone in the town knew each other and the best part about it was of course…the corn.”
“Ha. Right, right. I don’t think I could ever have managed to be living in the country. Always been a city guy.” Edward explained.
“Where did you grow up?”
“Keystone City. Had a pretty normal childhood, but then during my senior year of high school, I entered the science fair and won by a land slide using a machine I had worked on that could convert any form of light into useable energy.”
“Wow. Impressive.”
“Yeah, Lex Luthor thought so too. He was at that science fair as an honorary guest. Saw my invention and he took me under his wing. I got a job at LexCorp almost immediately after I graduated. I was part of a division that was trying to find a more reliable energy source than fuel. Sadly, my high school invention wasn’t even close to the scale that we wanted to so we had to try to find a way to make it bigger. Even after years of research and tests we couldn’t find out how. Then, once the world found out Luthor was a criminal and LexCorp went under the leadership of Pete Ross, my entire research division was terminated and I was unemployed. I had always had an interest in reporting and the media and luckily I had a very good track record and Mr. White was happy to take me in as a science reporter.”
“Quite the history. So working at LexCorp was a decent job?”
“It was great, for the most part. But I started to grow suspicious once my division had stopped working on ways to find energy sources and Lex had us looking for ways to convert red solar light into weaponry.” Edward gave a dry laugh.
Clark couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Lex had been using normal research teams to find ways to kill Superman. Even Clark didn’t think Lex’s desire to destroy Superman had spread through a large chunk of LexCorp. Now he knew though that he had been wrong to underestimate Lex Luthor all of those times.
“Looks like we’re here.” Edward’s voice broke through Clark’s thoughts.
***
“I’m s-sorry, sir, b-b-but all of the subjects have h-had some sort of malfunction.”
For the past twenty minutes, Dr. Jacob Lawrence, a bumbling scientist had been trying to explain to fugitive of the law and former head of LexCorp, Lex Luthor of the problem at hand. Not long ago, Dr. Lawrence had been recruited by Luthor to create the perfect clone of Superman. In a freak accident, a deformed clone of Superman named Bizarro was turned into an exact replica of the Kryptonian but the affects did not last long, Bizarro degenerating back to his backwards self.
Lawrence had thought that because of that failure he could move on to other things he wanted to accomplish but oh was he wrong. Luthor, now a fugitive, hired Lawrence to work on Project Man of Tomorrow, a program that continued what they had begun with the first prototype; to create a perfect clone of Superman.
(See Rogues Gallery #10-12)“I don’t understand how all of the subjects could fail. Perhaps I’m not paying you enough, doctor?” Lex Luthor said coldly, glaring into the elderly man’s eyes.
“N-no, sir. You’re paying me sufficient money…it’s j-just that I am not certain exactly how to replicate the Kryptonian DNA p-perfectly.” Lawrence stuttered, cleaning off his glasses.
“That’s not good enough, Lawrence. You see, very recently I came across the very thing we are supposedly searching very hard for; a perfect replica of Superman. He was younger than Superman in appearance but make no mistake he had that alien’s DNA.” Lex remembered his recent encounter with Conner, leaving out the fact that he had been told that Conner was actually Superman’s son.
“T-t-that’s quite astonishing, sir but…”
“So please try to explain to me why someone else can create a clone of Superman and we can’t!”
Lawrence paused for a brief moment, not exactly sure how to respond. Luthor’s eyes seemed to be stabbing into Lawrence’s very soul.
“I’ll leave you back to your work but next time I make a visit here, I expect a bit more results than that.” Lex said threateningly, departing the secret lab.
***
“All of the workers were on the ground unconscious when you arrived?”
Clark and Edward spoke to a worker who had arrived late for work at the construction site of a new LexCorp facility earlier that morning.
“Yeah. I came in, crunched in my time, noticed that my pal, Dave, was on the ground and then I saw everyone else out cold too.”
Clark looked past the worker’s shoulders to a few Metropolis police officers asking some of the recovering victims some questions of their own. Clark tilted his head sideways a little and then focused on the police officers.
Various sounds and noises flooded into his hearing. Edward’s heartbeat, the worker’s sweat dripping onto the ground, and then finally one of the police officer’s voices.
“So just for confirmation, you are certain that it was Parasite who attacked you? He had pink skin?” The officer asked.
“Oh yes, no doubt about it. But he wasn’t like the one I’ve seen on the news…Rudy something…he had tons of teeth.”
It appeared that the reports were correct and Clark was dealing with the second Parasite. He just had to make sure so he knew what he was getting himself into.
“Did you see which way Parasite went after he attacked?” Edward said.
“No, but there was something strange.” Clark’s attention was drawn back to the worker beside him. “I checked the security footage after I called 911 and there was no sign that that thing had left the site.”
Clark’s eyes widened with realization and Edward looked at him in panicked understanding.
“Did you tell the police this?” Edward asked impatiently.
“Well, no, I don’t think it’s that important is it?”
Clark couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Parasite was still in the area!
As if on cue, a purple blur dropped down behind the worker, wrapping its fingers around the top of the worker’s forehead. Clark and Edward stood aghast as the worker’s screamed became muttered as his eyes rolled up.
“It’s time to FEED!” Parasite roared, as the man passed out.
Parasite dropped the man with a thud and then took a few steps closer to the reporters.
“Clark we got to go!” Edward shouted, pulling Clark by the arm, sprinting away from the attacker.
The group of police officers pulled out their pistols and opened fire but Parasite avoided their bullets, running through the half-built interior of the building. The cops pursued him into the skyscraper but the first cop that entered the building was suddenly grabbed from above. The workers and reporters mobbed the exit of the construction, all trying to flee. Clark found himself being pushed by the mob of people and he quickly became separated from Edward.
“Clark? Clark!” Edward shouted but his pleas seemed to fall of deaf ears.
Clark took the opportunity to super-speed away from the frightened people, making his way to a phone booth across the street. In a flash, nearly invisible to anyone around him, he exited booth wearing the blue and red suit that could be recognized around the world. And the symbol on his chest glinted brightly in the sunlight. The symbol that brought hope to so many.
The symbol of Superman.
***
Edward Lytener hadn’t felt this stressed out in a long, long time. He ducked behind a bulldozer, watching the polices’ failed attempts at defeating Parasite who picked them off one by one, draining them of their energy until they passed out. That was when Edward noticed something very interesting, and possibly helpful.
Superman, nothing more than a streak at the speed he was flying at, collided into Parasite. The criminal was thrown into a pile of spare tires from the impact. Edward watched in profound amazement at the scene in front of him.
“You again!? You stopped me before but you will not interrupt my feeding again!” Parasite hissed through his rows of jagged teeth.
Parasite rushed forward clawing at Superman viciously. Clark had forgotten how much more vicious and aggressive this Parasite was than Rudy Jones. He was more beast than man. Superman avoided the lunges with his incredible speed. He knew the key to defeating Parasite was to avoid any contact with him. Parasite grabbed at thin air as Superman literally ran circles around him.
In an instant, Parasite found his wrists bound by cables. Superman stood tall in front of him, a satisfied smile on his face. Parasite, however, did not find anything humorous and leapt forward, his tied hands held out in front of him. Superman sidestepped the attack, causing the villain to tumble onto his stomach.
Parasite glared up at a construction worker standing a short distance ahead, watching the fight. Without a word, he jumped to his feet and sprinted toward the spectator.
“Look out!” Superman hollered, already trying to intercept his foe.
Parasite grabbed the man’s arm and immediately a sick grin appeared on his deformed face. A moment after the worker passed out, Parasite took a deep breath and then pulled his arms apart, snapping the cables.
“That tasted gooooood.” Parasite cackled, turning back to face Superman.
“This stops now.” Superman said.
“I don’t think so. I’m still famished!”
Parasite, now a bit faster than before, tackled Superman onto the hard rocky terrain, his palms slapped onto the hero’s face. Superman suddenly felt a strange yet familiar feeling come over him. He could almost feel every little bit of his power being sucked into an invisible vacuum. Energy surged into Parasite, draining Superman of his almost godly power.
“NO!” Superman managed to break free, kicking Parasite into a cement truck nearby.
Superman struggled to breath as he weakly pulled himself up. Edward Lytener ran to him, worry on his face.
“Are you alright?”
“This area isn’t safe. You have to leave, now.” Superman said, unconcerned about himself.
“I think I know a way for you to beat him.”
The Kryptonian raised an eyebrow and looked at Edward curiously.
“Well I saw something…I think. Every time Parasite drains someone of their energy, they pass out and then he lets them go. But he most likely has the capability to drain more of their power than that. He could probably suck them dry until they were dead if he wanted to.” Edward explained.
“So why doesn’t he?”
“Probably natural instinct. There must be a ‘switch’ in his head telling him when to stop sucking a person of their strength.”
“And if he doesn’t stop?”
“No idea. Maybe you could find out? Catch my drift?” Edward said with a wink.
“Thanks. Now I’m going to have to ask you to clear the area, sir.”
“Sure thing.”
“ARRGH!”
Parasite stepped out of the wreckage of the truck he had been thrown into, covered in white sticky cement. The monster flew through the air, inches above the ground, straight toward the Man of Steel. Parasite’s arms wrapped around his enemy, the two of them spun through the air as Parasite continued to cling on to Superman, absorbing more of his strength during the struggle. They smashed through a crane as they uncontrollably continued to twirl through the sky.
They crashed onto the dirty foundation of the building, Parasite still on top of Superman. He held Superman’s wrists tightly, feeling more and more power enter his body. He laughed through his monstrous face.
“FINALLY A GOOD MEAL! Mmmmm.”
Superman felt woozy and could tell that most of his energy had been sapped from his body but he knew what he had to do. Hopefully Edward’s idea would work. Parasite held Superman’s arms tightly but then loosened his grip.
“THAT TASTED GOOD.”
The Kryptonian hero knew he didn’t have much energy left but he grabbed Parasite’s own wrists! Parasite looked down in confusion as more power surged through his ever-stronger body.
“What the hell are you doing!?”
“Giving you the best meal of your life, Parasite. Eat up.”
Parasite tried to pull away but discovered that while he was feeding, he did not have the powers he had gained from Superman. He tugged and tried to pull away as more and more raw energy sunk into his being.
“NO! LET GO OF ME!”
In a brilliant display light flashed out of Parasite’s eyes and mouth while he screamed in indescribable pain. The veins in his head and muscular arms burst and his black eyes rolled up to his head and with a final flash of light, he dropped onto the ground, unconscious.
Superman stood back up, all the power he had been so used to having was gone. The Last Son of Krypton looked up at the yellow sign that shined high in the sky and immediately felt a small tingle in his hand. The miracles of the yellow sun would return his powers all too soon though so there was nothing to worry about. His attention was drawn to Edward Lytener who appeared from behind a bulldozer. He gave him a thankful nod and Edward just smiled in return.
Maybe this guy isn’t so bad after all…
Superman launched off into the afternoon sky, at about a quarter of his normal speed, letting the rays of the yellow sun wash over his body. He felt a sudden second wind and then vanished into the distance.
***
Edward walked away from the construction site where a group of reporters and police officers were asking witnesses questions. Edward saw the still disabled Parasite being taken away into an armored vehicle.
“Edward! Glad you’re alright!” Clark Kent walked up to him.
“Kent? Where the hell did you run off to?”
“Well, when I saw Parasite attack, I…well…I kind of panicked.” Clark said, embarrassed.
“Wow. Guess you didn’t have fire drills in Kansas, huh?” Edward asked with a snicker.
“Well…”
“Don’t worry, Clark. I won’t blab to anyone that you ran away at the first sign of trouble. I’m even willing to help you out with the story you were supposed to have seen. Say, an exclusive?”
“Sounds good.”
***
ROOKIE REPORTER AIDS MAN OF STEEL TO VICTORY!Clark Kent held the front page of the day’s paper in his hands, while standing against his desk in the Daily Planet.
“Nice work, Smallville, though we both know that if I had written it, I’d have another Pulitzer right now.” Lois nabbed the paper out of his hands and looked it over.
“I’m guessing your Morgan Edge story didn’t go too swell?”
“Yeah, understatement of the year. That pompous jerk, who by the way makes Lex Luthor look like Mr. Rogers, wouldn’t even let me enter the building let alone speak to his secretary.”
“That’s a shame, Lois.”
“Yeah well I don’t really have time to cry about one lost story now. Edward and I are going to go get some dinner.”
Clark froze, surprised by her statement though he tried his best to hide his astonishment by pushing his glasses up a little.
“Wow. Making the new guy feel welcome?” Clark asked a bit more tense than he had intended.
“Either that or she’s broken it off with big blue.” Jimmy Olsen came walking around the corner, a soda can in his hand.
“It’s not like that.” Lois said, irritated. “Cut the man a break you guys. He’s new, he needs someone to at least talk to.”
Clark gave a quiet sigh of relief, comforted by her answer. Jimmy placed the soda can down on Clark’s desk looking very disbelieving. Jimmy pretended that his hands were a pen and notepad.
“So you’re denying any involvement between you and Ed?” Jimmy said dramatically.
“Not funny. Now if you’ll excuse me I have some fine dining to eat.” Lois left her two friends standing in place as she walked toward the elevator doors.
Clark and Jimmy both just watched her leave and then there was an awkward silence between them as they were left alone in the middle of the crowded office.
“So…” Jimmy began.
Clark glanced over at his friend.
“What do ya say we have some fine dining of our own, CK? Vending machine?”
Clark chuckled for a second, having half-expected Jimmy to break the silence that was hanging over their heads about Lois. Vending machine dinners weren’t exactly the type of meal he’d get if he were at Ma’s but it would have to do.
“Sure, Jimmy. Let’s go.”
***
Hungry.
Oh so hungry.
Parasite’s eyes popped open and he found himself surrounded by darkness. Parasite squinted into the shroud of black he was in the middle of. The cold smooth surface of the wall chilled his back as he leaned against it. He felt vibrations shoot through his body. He was in a moving object…a vehicle…an armored truck…so he had been caught…
The truck came to a sudden halt.
Parasite heard the creek of the thick steel door in the back of the truck unbolt. It collapsed onto the road with a thud and the criminal glared at the new light anxiously. Parasite looked down at his hands to find that they were bound together by some sort of high tech handcuffs but he quickly was distracted once again as the light dimmed down, a figure standing in front of it.
“Come on out. I’d like to have a word with you.”
Parasite reluctantly stood up and walked out toward the light, clenching his hideous leech-like mouth. Stepping out of the police vehicle, he found himself staring into the headlights of a car beaming behind the man. The new arrival wore a very expensive looking business suit and looked up at Parasite smugly.
“Who the hell are you?” Parasite hissed, his fingers twitching from within the binds, anxious to feed.
Parasite’s apparent rescuer clicked a small device he held in one hand and suddenly, the high-tech handcuffs beeped and unhooked, dropping off of Parasite’s magenta hands. The criminal looked down in astonishment, then back up at the man.
“My name is Morgan Edge. I have a proposition for you.”
"Morgan Edge? Ha! Yeah right, I heard you were dead."
Silence.
***
“Make a perfect clone…is he nuts!? If it’s so easy why doesn’t he take those billions of dollar bills and shove them up his-.”
Dr. Lawrence had been working feverishly for hours on end, completely losing track of time. Bitterness and resentment had sunk into his mind over Lex Luthor’s last visit. His data crunching on his computer was interrupted as a pop up appeared.
1 NEW MESSAGELawrence clicked on the pop up and an e-mail came before him on the screen.
I hear you are having difficulty. I have the capabilities of greatly assisting you on your current project.
-Milton Dox***
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Conner’s eyelids slowly opened as a glimmer of light shone through the window and onto his half-asleep face. He tediously lifted his body and sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes wearily. His attention was drawn to his window when he heard another tap. A bit annoyed at being awakened, Conner got out of the bed, walking over to the blinds of the window.
“I swear if it’s another one of these country hicks getting a laugh by pebbling houses I’m going to-.”
Superman hovered on the other side of his window, cape drifting behind him in the breeze and a friendly expression stretched across his face. Conner quickly opened up the window.
“Hey, Conner. I have to show you something.”
***
“There will come a time in your life when you have family of your own to raise, son. Just remember everything I’ve taught you and I know you’ll do fine.”TO BE CONTINUED!
NEXT TIME: Training Day!
