Post by liquidsword34 on Jun 17, 2012 18:43:49 GMT -5
I jerked awake as my shuttle crashed down, drilling a few feet beneath Earth's outer layer from the impact. I slowly opened my eyes, getting used to the bright light above me after who knows how long. I stroked Krypto, who also awoke as the pod filtered out the gas which kept us in suspended animation. I blinked a few times until everything came into focus, namely Krypto licking my face excitedly. The pod had landed on its side, positing the door a few feet above me, still locked.
"You have reached your destination" the pods robotic, monotone, voice droned. I felt my muscles resist as I stretched out due to having been inactive for so long while regaining feeling in my hands. I held my wrist-guide up to my mouth.
"Wrist-guide, status update" I managed to mutter while yawning and unwrapping the cocoon my cape had made around my body.
"...Zzzt..."
My wrist-guide made a soft crackling sound, like a heavy boot on a layer of snow. I went to softly knock the device against the metal interior of the shuttle in an attempt to make it work, but found that my movements were more forceful than before, like I had become stronger. The hard shell of the wrist-guide shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces, while the inner electronics were crushed together, creating a mesh of wires, circuits and chips. The small, circular power core rolled out of this mess, and I quickly grabbed it. The power core would normally be a bright yellow, getting dimmer as it got weaker. As I held it in my hand, the solid glass sphere about the size of a golf ball was pitch black, signifying it was completely drained. With my wrist-guide having been inactive since my launch and the length of time before the power core SHOULD die, it took me seconds to realize something was not right.
I sat up, pushing open the metal door above me. Yet again I found myself feeling stronger, and began wondering if that was one of the effects of extended space travel or the Earth's yellow sun. With a load rumble, the door raised up, allowing me to look out from my pod at the planet I had landed on.
I'd expected to be in a busy metropolis, with skyscrapers towering overhead and crowds of people pushing to get a look at the strange alien which had landed. I'd expected to be next to Jax-Ur and the other Kryptonians who'd been sent to Earth, ready to meet the leaders of Earth's many countries and be welcomed into society beneath a beautiful blue sky and shimmering yellow sun hanging overhead.
The reality was much less glamorous.
Dirty brown and orange clouds hung at most two hundred feet above the cracked, scorched ground littered with burrows and craters. My shuttle had dug a few feet deep into the ground while landing, dust coating the metal exterior. Any vegetation had died years ago, with not even withered roots extending out from the wasteland flats. Every few seconds a light breeze pushed across, bringing with it the smell of rot and decay. I hoisted Krypto out of the pod and allowed him to drop to the ground before pulling my five foot four frame from the shuttle. Having just passed through outer space, the pod was freezing cold to the touch, but it didn't sting me. I'd been warned not to touch the shuttle just after landing if possible because of this, but why didn't it hurt me?
I slowly paced around the shuttle with Krypto on my feels, examining the landing site. Steam rose from the extinguished thrusters, all of which had melted beyond recognition. A stream of dull silver trickled down towards the ground as the bottom of outer shell of the shuttle seemed to peel away. Chunks of asteroid had drilled themselves through the hull, almost certainly damaging the engine and who knows what else.
"Well Krypto" I muttered, my eyes fixed on the various impact zones. "I don't think things have gone to plan".
A heavy breeze blew my hair across my face as I stood, staring, and thinking.
"And what would we have here?" a scratchy voice called out. I turned to face a pair of figures dressed head to toe in what can only be described as filthy purple rags. To my left stood the speaker, who was at least three feet taller than me and built like a behemoth. He had a trio of beady eyes, the red iris in each glaring at me. His body was covered in a layer of soft scales, some peeling off to reveal a layer of pale skin beneath. In his hands he wielded a wooden club, crudely fashioned with "Rafe" carved along the length of it.
To my right stood a female of about the same height as me, but built much stronger. Her hair was shaved down, presumably for hygiene and temperature reasons, while a scar ran from her right eye down to her lip across her red burnt skin. In her hands she held what can best be described as a laser gun, made from a light blue metal and held together with rubber bands, fabric and bandages.
"Somebody tryna' get through without paying the land toll, Rafe" the female cackled, a thick layer of malice in her tone.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard Aisha" Rafe snarled. "This is our patch, and if you wanna pass through here it'll cost you. Six bottles of dusty water for permanent free passage, but that leotard you're wearin' might do Aisha well and let you pass."
"Look, I.." I paused to think. I hadn't gone over how I'd introduce myself to hostile humans, if the male WAS even human. "My name's Kara Zor-El, I'm from the planet Krypton. I'm...I'm here on a diplomatic mission but my communication device is broken. I'm sorry but I don't have anything to gi-"
"Diplomatic? Communication?" Rafe raised his club up. "You sound like one of those Metropolis domers ain't cha?"
"What? No I, I've just arrived on this planet and..."
I froze up, my knees shaking. All five of their eyes pierced through me like blades through air, my voice was shaky. I started evaluating the situation slowly, to work my way out of the situation. I could tell by their tone of voice that whoever these people were, they were serious.
"Hey, wuzzat!?" Aisha yelled out, pointing wildly at Krypto
"Oh, Krypto!" At the sound of his name Krypto bounded over to me. "He's like the dogs you have on Earth, you know? As pets!" I tried hard to sound enthusiastic and mask my fear, but my eyes clearly betrayed me.
"Pets? No, we eat!" Rafe roared, swinging his club down at Krypto who narrowly moved out of the way. I instinctively jumped, swinging my fist wildly. As with all Kryptonians I was taught some combat, but it was never what I excelled in. Despite my poor technique, my hand collided with Rafe's jaw with the force of a shotgun, knocking him backwards off his feet. It took me a few seconds to remember that I'd become stronger, seconds which Aisha didn't waste. Her weapon took two seconds to warm up, then just under another one for the laser to get from the barrel to me. I felt the laser hit my hand, but no real pain, at most a slight sting. Harmlessly, the laser bounced down into the dirt.
"What...what are you some type of witch?!" Aisha called, backing away while firing wildly, most of her shots missing me and the rest bouncing off. As if by instinct I tried jumping at her, despite the twenty feet she put between us. I'm not sure if I flew or just glided, but either way I landed in front of Aisha with my feet crashing into the ground. A storm of dust flew up, depriving us both of sight.
I didn't need it anyway.
I felt my eyes got hot. Not the rest of my body, just my eyeballs. Moments later a pair of orange beams cut through the dust, hitting Aisha in her chest, burning her clothes. In less than a minute I'd find found out that I was laser proof, could fly and could fire a...well, I've called it "heat vision". Not the most creative name, but it gets the point across.
I checked that Rafe was still asleep (Or at the very least playing possum) before grabbing Aisha by her throat gently, lifting her up off her feet.
"I was supposed to land on this planet in nine-teen seventy-two. What year is it?"
"The...the year?" Aisha murmured through deep breaths. "Twenty-one...fifteen".
I dropped Aisha, who promptly ran over to Rafe. I'd arrived over a hundred years late, alone, on a strange planet, with no way home. My thoughts jumped to the others, the rest of the cadets sent to earth. How long had they been on Earth? Had they arrived? Would they ever? Krypto rubbed against my boot, reminding me that I was not alone. My mind then focused on my parents. I'd promised I'd contact them as soon as possible. What would they think of me, if they thought I'd never even tried to talk to them? Or worse, if they died thinking I'd never made it to earth. I tried putting the thoughts out of my mind, tried looking for some semblance of sense in what was happening, but my emotions wouldn't allow it.
As if it was instinct, I felt my body being lifted up into the air as I broke down in tears, Krypto following me up. All I wanted to do was run, fly away. Escape from the damaged shuttle, the time I spent in suspended animation, back home to Argo City, with my parents and my friends. I zoomed off, flying across the wasteland faster than I ever could have dreamed of moving. I hoped I'd snap out of this nightmare, that if I closed my eyes I cold claw my life back. But it all looked the same. Ground, flattened out and bare with no signs of life, sat below me, its emptiness almost mocking me. I kept flying until a small town came into view beneath me; around a dozen people stood watching me in awe outside of small wooden shacks. Circling, I made a careful descent, eventually reaching the ground. I looked at the crowd around me, wondering if these people would attack me as well.
---
Jonah scuttled as fast as his six legs could carry him down the steep hillside, the sand storm throwing dirt into his eight eyes and into his shell. Jonah rubbed his eyes with his hands, sacrificing his vision for a few seconds to get the sand out of his eye line. This probed a costly mistake as his foot slipped down into a burrow, which then closed onto his thin, green, and insect like leg.
"So what are you Jonah?" a soft, refined voice called. "An evolved beetle? Some sort of spider whom developed two of its legs as hands along with a shell?" Jonah tried pulling his leg out of the burrow as a projectile hit his shell, ripping through it like a blade through butter, shards of the shell flying in all directions. "Are you a mutant? A hybrid? Did your mother breed with a beetle? I'm not a child of the wastes such as yourself so correct me if I'm wrong, but that seems too disgusting even for the scum around here." A tall man with short blond hair and chalk white skin de-cloaked in front of Jonah, a broad smile spread across his face. "You won't get your leg out of there Jonah; the mites will have already grabbed it. Chewed it to pulp I suspect."
"Please, Bloodsport, I...I've done no-"
"Nothing wrong?" Bloodsport chuckled at Jonah's attempts to escape while sitting down next to him. "I know. I don't hunt your kind for any real reason." Bloodsport wore green combat pants and a white t-shirt, with a small amount of dirt on each. Each of Bloodsports arm wielded an oversized metal gauntlet, one with a pair of long blades protruding from the top, the other with a small rifle style gun attached.
"I like the thrill of the hunt, Jonah. Nothing more, nothing less. You know, I've got a house in Metropolis? Two bedrooms, living room, a bathroom." Bloodsport swung his blade, slicing through one of Jonah's free legs. A stream of blue blood squirted out, splattering on the ground as Jonah moaned and writhed in pain.
"Even for a, what do you call us out here, "domer", I'm well off. But that. Well it gets mundane, to be honest. Out here?" The wind blew across Bloodsports face as he grinned a menacing smile. "It's a feeling you can't get in metropolis, cutting up some mutant scum, shooting a group of wasters until they look like a fine paste. It's a primal instinct, Jonah, something in all of us. Even the most simple and dim witted of creatures like yourself".
Bloodsport laughed loudly as Jonah continued to squirm.
"Times up, freak." Bloodsport retracted the gun and blade attached to his weapons while climbing to his feet. Standing in front of Jonah, staring him in his eyes, Bloodsport raised his arms up.
"La chasse a été glorieux, mais vous étiez indigne"
The impact could be heard for a mile, but Bloodsport didn't even flinch as Jonah's head was crushed like a melon, launching brain matter, blood and chunks of the now deceased Jonah's head up into the air. As Bloodsport admired his kill, a small robot about the size and shape of a golf ball flew towards Bloodsport, landing on his shoulder and locking into the shoulder pad of his armour.
"A strange object landed around ten miles south of here, seemingly coming from space. A girl of around eighteen then exited with a small animal and defeated two local bandits in combat with ease. I then witnessed her travelling toward the settlement of Smallville."
"On foot?"
"Via flight" the robot replied, its voice mechanical and dull. "I believe this girl should be your next target. Advised course of action is to return to Metropolis and prepare for combat with this prey."
Bloodsport smiled. "Proceed with observation on Smallville."
Bloodsport pushed a button on the underside of one of his gauntlets, turning him invisible once again. "May my next hunt, be my greatest."
---
For a time, there was only silence. Slowly more and more of the towns people gathered around me, staring at the girl who had just flew down from the sky and her small dog. Most were simply humans, while others had some sort of deformity or mutation. I stared back, still shaken from my first encounter with earth's locals. After who knows how long, a short creature stepped out of the crowd and made its way towards me. Despite only being maybe four feet tall, it wore an oversized trench coat which dragged behind it. Its skin was a pale green, neither smooth nor scaly, instead looking wrinkled and worn down. It grinned at me, exposing a set of surprisingly shiny pearl white teeth. Its yellow eyes were unsettling especially once it got close.
"H...hello". I tried opening conversation to break the tense silence. At the very least I would have a warning if they tried to attack me this time.
"Aaaah" the creature muttered, as though in deep thought. "You just landed, yes?" The creature’s voice was nasal and annoying, but I couldn't sense hostility. Its English was both broken and understandable, like it'd learnt English second hand from books and not practical usage.
"Yes...my name's Kara Zor-El, of the planet Krypton" I said, loud enough for the whole crowd to hear.
"Ah, me? I'm Sleez. These..." Sleez turned and gestured to the townspeople, "Are Smallville people. They always like this with new people don't worry."
I managed a smile as the towns people waved and other wise greeted me. They were obviously surprised, maybe scared, but so was I, so I couldn't exactly judge them for it considering the circumstances! Either way, there didn't seem to be any hostility, which put me at ease.
"So, why you here?" Sleez asked while leading me away from the area I landed towards what looked like the middle of the town, causing the townspeople to disperse. A few of the children followed, keeping their distance while muttering about me and Krypto.
"It's...it's kind of complicated. I don't even understand it to be honest. I was supposed to land on Earth over a hundred years ago but my rocket sort of...well I'm not sure. What about you? You don't exactly look like the rest of the town’s people here."
"I was made in the acid swamp, few miles from here. I sold things, bought things, you know? There not really...what do you call it...currency any more. I did that for long time, very long time. Now? I live here. Nice people, nice place."
Sleez led me to a make-shift café composed of a few sets of tables and chairs and a small building which a portly old woman in a white apron sat outside of.
"Mornin' Sleez" she muttered, rocking backwards and forwards in her rickety chair. "The usual?"
"Yes yes, and water for Kara." Sleez replied. The elderly waitress climbed out of her chair and into the cafe as me and Sleez sat down on a pair of wooden chairs which, like all the furniture, looked like it'd seen better days.
"So, what happened here?" I asked while looking over the town. Groups of children played in the dirt, their clothes rags if they wore any. The buildings were clearly built by hand with scrap material, many of them barely standing.
"What you mean?"
"I mean...why is everything so...terrible". I immediately regretted my wording, but my worries were put to rest by Sleeze's gentle laugh.
"War, I think. But really, nobody knows. It just...is."
I nodded as though I understood, despite things now only being more confusing.
"And why you here?" Sleez replied as the waitress handed us each a cup of water. The water was murky and cloudy, small amounts of debris floating in it. The cup was cracked and dusty, having lost whatever colour it originally had. I looked down at the liquid with disgust.
"Drink, it safe, it best water you can get here" Sleez called, not really reassuring me. Not wanting to seem rude I gulped the water down, spluttering as the bitter taste hit my tongue. "You'll get used to it" Sleez joked as I made a sour face.
"Why you here? Your planet, why'd you leave?"
"Well I...I was part of this school thing. Five of us were supposed to be sent here and it seems my shuttle was damaged. After that I..."
Before I could continue I was interrupted by a women loudly pulling up a chair to the table.
"Sleez isn't giving you his usual questioning routine" she jested, making Sleez chuckle softly.
The woman was slim, possibly even malnourished. Her black hair was tied up in a make-shift ponytail with a piece of string, while the doctor’s coat she wore was torn and tattered. Her skin was a light brown, either due to being tanned under the earth's unforgiving sun or her family heritage. Around her neck she wore a necklace with a miniature wolfs-head pendant hanging off it.
"No Jivan Shi, never Sleez!" the little green creature replied. The two shared a laugh before turning back to me. "Kara Zor-El, meet Jivan Shi. She's the town doctor."
"Hi Kara" Jivan beamed at me. "Sorry about, well..." Jivan gestured to a small group of children who were peering over a destroyed car which sat in the middle of the town, eaves dropping. "It's not every day a girl in a cape and leotard with a dog flies into the town. How...how did you do that, by the way?"
"If I'm honest...I have no idea. Everything today's been...I don't even know how to describe it".
I felt overwhelmed again, still unable to wrap my mind around ANYTHING, let alone how I could FLY of all things. Jivan Shi and Sleez both clearly recognised this and allowed me to just sit in silence, my head in my hands. Krypto was laid out of the rickety board walk, his head rested on his paws.
"Can I stay here, maybe?"
"Of course!" Jivan replied, putting her arm on my shoulder. "I have a room under my surgery, you can stay their as long as you want. Trust me, you're not the first confused outsider to show up in Smallville and you won't be the last."
I managed a smile as I stood up from my chair. "Thanks. And...I know it sounds ridiculous but..."
"Clothes?" Sleez butted in. I nodded at him.
"We've got lots. Most the children so used to wearing little, they hate old time clothes. I send them over later."
I stepped off the board walk, followed by Krypto, and set off walking around Smallville, still as confused as ever, but at least with a place to call home.
---
"Flight?"
Bloodsport stood in his armoury, all four walls adorned with weapons both low and high-tech, ranging from spears to rocket launchers. He grinned as he looked at one item in particular.
"Two can play at that game"
"You have reached your destination" the pods robotic, monotone, voice droned. I felt my muscles resist as I stretched out due to having been inactive for so long while regaining feeling in my hands. I held my wrist-guide up to my mouth.
"Wrist-guide, status update" I managed to mutter while yawning and unwrapping the cocoon my cape had made around my body.
"...Zzzt..."
My wrist-guide made a soft crackling sound, like a heavy boot on a layer of snow. I went to softly knock the device against the metal interior of the shuttle in an attempt to make it work, but found that my movements were more forceful than before, like I had become stronger. The hard shell of the wrist-guide shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces, while the inner electronics were crushed together, creating a mesh of wires, circuits and chips. The small, circular power core rolled out of this mess, and I quickly grabbed it. The power core would normally be a bright yellow, getting dimmer as it got weaker. As I held it in my hand, the solid glass sphere about the size of a golf ball was pitch black, signifying it was completely drained. With my wrist-guide having been inactive since my launch and the length of time before the power core SHOULD die, it took me seconds to realize something was not right.
I sat up, pushing open the metal door above me. Yet again I found myself feeling stronger, and began wondering if that was one of the effects of extended space travel or the Earth's yellow sun. With a load rumble, the door raised up, allowing me to look out from my pod at the planet I had landed on.
I'd expected to be in a busy metropolis, with skyscrapers towering overhead and crowds of people pushing to get a look at the strange alien which had landed. I'd expected to be next to Jax-Ur and the other Kryptonians who'd been sent to Earth, ready to meet the leaders of Earth's many countries and be welcomed into society beneath a beautiful blue sky and shimmering yellow sun hanging overhead.
The reality was much less glamorous.
Dirty brown and orange clouds hung at most two hundred feet above the cracked, scorched ground littered with burrows and craters. My shuttle had dug a few feet deep into the ground while landing, dust coating the metal exterior. Any vegetation had died years ago, with not even withered roots extending out from the wasteland flats. Every few seconds a light breeze pushed across, bringing with it the smell of rot and decay. I hoisted Krypto out of the pod and allowed him to drop to the ground before pulling my five foot four frame from the shuttle. Having just passed through outer space, the pod was freezing cold to the touch, but it didn't sting me. I'd been warned not to touch the shuttle just after landing if possible because of this, but why didn't it hurt me?
I slowly paced around the shuttle with Krypto on my feels, examining the landing site. Steam rose from the extinguished thrusters, all of which had melted beyond recognition. A stream of dull silver trickled down towards the ground as the bottom of outer shell of the shuttle seemed to peel away. Chunks of asteroid had drilled themselves through the hull, almost certainly damaging the engine and who knows what else.
"Well Krypto" I muttered, my eyes fixed on the various impact zones. "I don't think things have gone to plan".
A heavy breeze blew my hair across my face as I stood, staring, and thinking.
"And what would we have here?" a scratchy voice called out. I turned to face a pair of figures dressed head to toe in what can only be described as filthy purple rags. To my left stood the speaker, who was at least three feet taller than me and built like a behemoth. He had a trio of beady eyes, the red iris in each glaring at me. His body was covered in a layer of soft scales, some peeling off to reveal a layer of pale skin beneath. In his hands he wielded a wooden club, crudely fashioned with "Rafe" carved along the length of it.
To my right stood a female of about the same height as me, but built much stronger. Her hair was shaved down, presumably for hygiene and temperature reasons, while a scar ran from her right eye down to her lip across her red burnt skin. In her hands she held what can best be described as a laser gun, made from a light blue metal and held together with rubber bands, fabric and bandages.
"Somebody tryna' get through without paying the land toll, Rafe" the female cackled, a thick layer of malice in her tone.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard Aisha" Rafe snarled. "This is our patch, and if you wanna pass through here it'll cost you. Six bottles of dusty water for permanent free passage, but that leotard you're wearin' might do Aisha well and let you pass."
"Look, I.." I paused to think. I hadn't gone over how I'd introduce myself to hostile humans, if the male WAS even human. "My name's Kara Zor-El, I'm from the planet Krypton. I'm...I'm here on a diplomatic mission but my communication device is broken. I'm sorry but I don't have anything to gi-"
"Diplomatic? Communication?" Rafe raised his club up. "You sound like one of those Metropolis domers ain't cha?"
"What? No I, I've just arrived on this planet and..."
I froze up, my knees shaking. All five of their eyes pierced through me like blades through air, my voice was shaky. I started evaluating the situation slowly, to work my way out of the situation. I could tell by their tone of voice that whoever these people were, they were serious.
"Hey, wuzzat!?" Aisha yelled out, pointing wildly at Krypto
"Oh, Krypto!" At the sound of his name Krypto bounded over to me. "He's like the dogs you have on Earth, you know? As pets!" I tried hard to sound enthusiastic and mask my fear, but my eyes clearly betrayed me.
"Pets? No, we eat!" Rafe roared, swinging his club down at Krypto who narrowly moved out of the way. I instinctively jumped, swinging my fist wildly. As with all Kryptonians I was taught some combat, but it was never what I excelled in. Despite my poor technique, my hand collided with Rafe's jaw with the force of a shotgun, knocking him backwards off his feet. It took me a few seconds to remember that I'd become stronger, seconds which Aisha didn't waste. Her weapon took two seconds to warm up, then just under another one for the laser to get from the barrel to me. I felt the laser hit my hand, but no real pain, at most a slight sting. Harmlessly, the laser bounced down into the dirt.
"What...what are you some type of witch?!" Aisha called, backing away while firing wildly, most of her shots missing me and the rest bouncing off. As if by instinct I tried jumping at her, despite the twenty feet she put between us. I'm not sure if I flew or just glided, but either way I landed in front of Aisha with my feet crashing into the ground. A storm of dust flew up, depriving us both of sight.
I didn't need it anyway.
I felt my eyes got hot. Not the rest of my body, just my eyeballs. Moments later a pair of orange beams cut through the dust, hitting Aisha in her chest, burning her clothes. In less than a minute I'd find found out that I was laser proof, could fly and could fire a...well, I've called it "heat vision". Not the most creative name, but it gets the point across.
I checked that Rafe was still asleep (Or at the very least playing possum) before grabbing Aisha by her throat gently, lifting her up off her feet.
"I was supposed to land on this planet in nine-teen seventy-two. What year is it?"
"The...the year?" Aisha murmured through deep breaths. "Twenty-one...fifteen".
I dropped Aisha, who promptly ran over to Rafe. I'd arrived over a hundred years late, alone, on a strange planet, with no way home. My thoughts jumped to the others, the rest of the cadets sent to earth. How long had they been on Earth? Had they arrived? Would they ever? Krypto rubbed against my boot, reminding me that I was not alone. My mind then focused on my parents. I'd promised I'd contact them as soon as possible. What would they think of me, if they thought I'd never even tried to talk to them? Or worse, if they died thinking I'd never made it to earth. I tried putting the thoughts out of my mind, tried looking for some semblance of sense in what was happening, but my emotions wouldn't allow it.
As if it was instinct, I felt my body being lifted up into the air as I broke down in tears, Krypto following me up. All I wanted to do was run, fly away. Escape from the damaged shuttle, the time I spent in suspended animation, back home to Argo City, with my parents and my friends. I zoomed off, flying across the wasteland faster than I ever could have dreamed of moving. I hoped I'd snap out of this nightmare, that if I closed my eyes I cold claw my life back. But it all looked the same. Ground, flattened out and bare with no signs of life, sat below me, its emptiness almost mocking me. I kept flying until a small town came into view beneath me; around a dozen people stood watching me in awe outside of small wooden shacks. Circling, I made a careful descent, eventually reaching the ground. I looked at the crowd around me, wondering if these people would attack me as well.
---
Jonah scuttled as fast as his six legs could carry him down the steep hillside, the sand storm throwing dirt into his eight eyes and into his shell. Jonah rubbed his eyes with his hands, sacrificing his vision for a few seconds to get the sand out of his eye line. This probed a costly mistake as his foot slipped down into a burrow, which then closed onto his thin, green, and insect like leg.
"So what are you Jonah?" a soft, refined voice called. "An evolved beetle? Some sort of spider whom developed two of its legs as hands along with a shell?" Jonah tried pulling his leg out of the burrow as a projectile hit his shell, ripping through it like a blade through butter, shards of the shell flying in all directions. "Are you a mutant? A hybrid? Did your mother breed with a beetle? I'm not a child of the wastes such as yourself so correct me if I'm wrong, but that seems too disgusting even for the scum around here." A tall man with short blond hair and chalk white skin de-cloaked in front of Jonah, a broad smile spread across his face. "You won't get your leg out of there Jonah; the mites will have already grabbed it. Chewed it to pulp I suspect."
"Please, Bloodsport, I...I've done no-"
"Nothing wrong?" Bloodsport chuckled at Jonah's attempts to escape while sitting down next to him. "I know. I don't hunt your kind for any real reason." Bloodsport wore green combat pants and a white t-shirt, with a small amount of dirt on each. Each of Bloodsports arm wielded an oversized metal gauntlet, one with a pair of long blades protruding from the top, the other with a small rifle style gun attached.
"I like the thrill of the hunt, Jonah. Nothing more, nothing less. You know, I've got a house in Metropolis? Two bedrooms, living room, a bathroom." Bloodsport swung his blade, slicing through one of Jonah's free legs. A stream of blue blood squirted out, splattering on the ground as Jonah moaned and writhed in pain.
"Even for a, what do you call us out here, "domer", I'm well off. But that. Well it gets mundane, to be honest. Out here?" The wind blew across Bloodsports face as he grinned a menacing smile. "It's a feeling you can't get in metropolis, cutting up some mutant scum, shooting a group of wasters until they look like a fine paste. It's a primal instinct, Jonah, something in all of us. Even the most simple and dim witted of creatures like yourself".
Bloodsport laughed loudly as Jonah continued to squirm.
"Times up, freak." Bloodsport retracted the gun and blade attached to his weapons while climbing to his feet. Standing in front of Jonah, staring him in his eyes, Bloodsport raised his arms up.
"La chasse a été glorieux, mais vous étiez indigne"
The impact could be heard for a mile, but Bloodsport didn't even flinch as Jonah's head was crushed like a melon, launching brain matter, blood and chunks of the now deceased Jonah's head up into the air. As Bloodsport admired his kill, a small robot about the size and shape of a golf ball flew towards Bloodsport, landing on his shoulder and locking into the shoulder pad of his armour.
"A strange object landed around ten miles south of here, seemingly coming from space. A girl of around eighteen then exited with a small animal and defeated two local bandits in combat with ease. I then witnessed her travelling toward the settlement of Smallville."
"On foot?"
"Via flight" the robot replied, its voice mechanical and dull. "I believe this girl should be your next target. Advised course of action is to return to Metropolis and prepare for combat with this prey."
Bloodsport smiled. "Proceed with observation on Smallville."
Bloodsport pushed a button on the underside of one of his gauntlets, turning him invisible once again. "May my next hunt, be my greatest."
---
For a time, there was only silence. Slowly more and more of the towns people gathered around me, staring at the girl who had just flew down from the sky and her small dog. Most were simply humans, while others had some sort of deformity or mutation. I stared back, still shaken from my first encounter with earth's locals. After who knows how long, a short creature stepped out of the crowd and made its way towards me. Despite only being maybe four feet tall, it wore an oversized trench coat which dragged behind it. Its skin was a pale green, neither smooth nor scaly, instead looking wrinkled and worn down. It grinned at me, exposing a set of surprisingly shiny pearl white teeth. Its yellow eyes were unsettling especially once it got close.
"H...hello". I tried opening conversation to break the tense silence. At the very least I would have a warning if they tried to attack me this time.
"Aaaah" the creature muttered, as though in deep thought. "You just landed, yes?" The creature’s voice was nasal and annoying, but I couldn't sense hostility. Its English was both broken and understandable, like it'd learnt English second hand from books and not practical usage.
"Yes...my name's Kara Zor-El, of the planet Krypton" I said, loud enough for the whole crowd to hear.
"Ah, me? I'm Sleez. These..." Sleez turned and gestured to the townspeople, "Are Smallville people. They always like this with new people don't worry."
I managed a smile as the towns people waved and other wise greeted me. They were obviously surprised, maybe scared, but so was I, so I couldn't exactly judge them for it considering the circumstances! Either way, there didn't seem to be any hostility, which put me at ease.
"So, why you here?" Sleez asked while leading me away from the area I landed towards what looked like the middle of the town, causing the townspeople to disperse. A few of the children followed, keeping their distance while muttering about me and Krypto.
"It's...it's kind of complicated. I don't even understand it to be honest. I was supposed to land on Earth over a hundred years ago but my rocket sort of...well I'm not sure. What about you? You don't exactly look like the rest of the town’s people here."
"I was made in the acid swamp, few miles from here. I sold things, bought things, you know? There not really...what do you call it...currency any more. I did that for long time, very long time. Now? I live here. Nice people, nice place."
Sleez led me to a make-shift café composed of a few sets of tables and chairs and a small building which a portly old woman in a white apron sat outside of.
"Mornin' Sleez" she muttered, rocking backwards and forwards in her rickety chair. "The usual?"
"Yes yes, and water for Kara." Sleez replied. The elderly waitress climbed out of her chair and into the cafe as me and Sleez sat down on a pair of wooden chairs which, like all the furniture, looked like it'd seen better days.
"So, what happened here?" I asked while looking over the town. Groups of children played in the dirt, their clothes rags if they wore any. The buildings were clearly built by hand with scrap material, many of them barely standing.
"What you mean?"
"I mean...why is everything so...terrible". I immediately regretted my wording, but my worries were put to rest by Sleeze's gentle laugh.
"War, I think. But really, nobody knows. It just...is."
I nodded as though I understood, despite things now only being more confusing.
"And why you here?" Sleez replied as the waitress handed us each a cup of water. The water was murky and cloudy, small amounts of debris floating in it. The cup was cracked and dusty, having lost whatever colour it originally had. I looked down at the liquid with disgust.
"Drink, it safe, it best water you can get here" Sleez called, not really reassuring me. Not wanting to seem rude I gulped the water down, spluttering as the bitter taste hit my tongue. "You'll get used to it" Sleez joked as I made a sour face.
"Why you here? Your planet, why'd you leave?"
"Well I...I was part of this school thing. Five of us were supposed to be sent here and it seems my shuttle was damaged. After that I..."
Before I could continue I was interrupted by a women loudly pulling up a chair to the table.
"Sleez isn't giving you his usual questioning routine" she jested, making Sleez chuckle softly.
The woman was slim, possibly even malnourished. Her black hair was tied up in a make-shift ponytail with a piece of string, while the doctor’s coat she wore was torn and tattered. Her skin was a light brown, either due to being tanned under the earth's unforgiving sun or her family heritage. Around her neck she wore a necklace with a miniature wolfs-head pendant hanging off it.
"No Jivan Shi, never Sleez!" the little green creature replied. The two shared a laugh before turning back to me. "Kara Zor-El, meet Jivan Shi. She's the town doctor."
"Hi Kara" Jivan beamed at me. "Sorry about, well..." Jivan gestured to a small group of children who were peering over a destroyed car which sat in the middle of the town, eaves dropping. "It's not every day a girl in a cape and leotard with a dog flies into the town. How...how did you do that, by the way?"
"If I'm honest...I have no idea. Everything today's been...I don't even know how to describe it".
I felt overwhelmed again, still unable to wrap my mind around ANYTHING, let alone how I could FLY of all things. Jivan Shi and Sleez both clearly recognised this and allowed me to just sit in silence, my head in my hands. Krypto was laid out of the rickety board walk, his head rested on his paws.
"Can I stay here, maybe?"
"Of course!" Jivan replied, putting her arm on my shoulder. "I have a room under my surgery, you can stay their as long as you want. Trust me, you're not the first confused outsider to show up in Smallville and you won't be the last."
I managed a smile as I stood up from my chair. "Thanks. And...I know it sounds ridiculous but..."
"Clothes?" Sleez butted in. I nodded at him.
"We've got lots. Most the children so used to wearing little, they hate old time clothes. I send them over later."
I stepped off the board walk, followed by Krypto, and set off walking around Smallville, still as confused as ever, but at least with a place to call home.
---
"Flight?"
Bloodsport stood in his armoury, all four walls adorned with weapons both low and high-tech, ranging from spears to rocket launchers. He grinned as he looked at one item in particular.
"Two can play at that game"