Ultimate Superman #1: The Stranger Like Me

[DiscipleofBob]

Ultimate Superman #1:
The Stranger Like Me

2007

Every day I wake up, and I have to remember who I am.

Most of the time I'm mild-mannered Clark Kent. Smallville country boy turned Metropolis reporter. I get up, get dressed, grab an apple for a quick breakfast, and head to work. If it's my turn I grab coffee and donuts at the local bakery, saving one for the doorman at the Daily Planet.

Occasionally though, I wake up and there's a big red S on my chest and I’m the larger than life Superman. Usually in these cases I'm lying in the ruins of some building I got knocked through. Or if I'm too exhausted to fly back to my apartment or even the family farm in Smallville, I pick some isolated mountaintop or skyscraper to rest.

This time, things are different. Nothing is familiar. No Metropolis skyline or Kansas sunrise. No purple mountains majesty or amber waves of grain. Just a bed, and not the one in my city apartment, my bedroom on the Smallville farm, or one of the cheap motel rooms the Daily Planet sometimes books me on travel gigs. The bed is like nothing I've ever seen before with an odd rounded-shape, like a giant egg, or maybe a brain.

Everything in the room is similarly alien, washed with a red glow coming from every light source in the room. The lights are starting to give me a headache, something that hasn't happened since I was eight years old. I'm starting to feel like I actually need my glasses again, and those have been just for show since I was a kid. I sit up in the bed and suddenly notice how much heavier everything feels, like weights are attached to every muscle in my body. I look down and see the red S shield on my chest, feel the cape drag on my back, and know wherever I am, right now I'm Superman.

"Oui'na yfyga." The voice caught Superman off-guard as much as the unfamiliar language. Standing nearby was a blonde woman in what appeared to be a long-flowing nightgown. The red light obscured her features somewhat.

"Who are you? What is this place? Do you speak English?" He tried to remain calm, the last thing he wanted to do was scare her.

"Ruf yna oui vaamehk?" she asked with what Superman could only assume was concern before approaching him, laying a hand gently on his shoulder.

The touch was almost electric, and Superman was suddenly very aware of just how feminine his roommate was with the satin gown and skin tinted with the deep red glow of the room. Part of his mind went to a mental image of Lois, arms crossed and glaring very sternly at him. The other part went to baseball.

"Guess not." He gently removed the hand before exploring his surroundings. There were a few connected rooms, all covered in the same harsh red glow. He couldn't tell if it was the light, but Superman's whole body was an anchor. Just moving around was exhausting, and even breathing was a chore. His first instinct was to find some shade long enough to get his bearings, but what little furniture is in the room was set against the wall and bolted down. Somehow the architect of this room had designed it without shadows.

"Drana'c hu fyo uid," the girl spoke again. Superman guessed it had something to do with the lack of an exit in this room.

Finally, he found what looked like shelter in a darkened metal hallway. Before he could leave the room, Superman's hand touched up against an impossibly transparent, thick, glass pane, separating the red room from the shadows. Not a problem, as he'd punched through entire bank vaults before.

"Stand back," Superman warned confidently. His reared back, throwing his entire arm behind one wall-smashing punch...

"OW!" he unexpectedly yelled on impact. The glass didn't even shake, but Superman's fist actually hurt, something he wasn't sure was really possible anymore.

The woman in red, as Superman started calling her in his head at the moment as originality wasn't his strong suit, rushed up to check his hand. "E dumt oui!" she said in what Superman could only interpret as a scold. "Oui'na uhmo kuehk du rind ouincamv tuehk cdibet drehkc mega dryd! Fryd eh dra Bryhdus Wuha ec ouin tysyka?!"

"I appreciate your concern, ma'am, but I still don't understand anything you're saying." Although frustrated, Superman watched his tone in front of the lady, especially since tone was just about the only thing he could convey at the moment.

"Drec ec kaddehk netelimuic," the woman in red said with as much frustration as Superman felt at the moment. "Rana, E'ja kud cusadrehk vun drec. Ed femm pa geht uv... yfgfynt druikr."

The woman in red opened a small compartment and pulled out some strange first-aid kit with tools and items Superman had never seen before. They all served the same purpose though, as the woman in red reached for Superman’s injured hand.

When he initially pulled away, she carefully but forcefully grabbed it anyway. She was surprisingly strong, and Superman had to convince himself that it was just because his powers were on the fritz right now. The woman in red delicately applied some soothing ointment to the injury and the pain started to subside. "Wow, that stuff really works! Thank you very much," Superman spoke slowly as if that would somehow magically bypass the language barrier, only now noticing the woman in red save a small pill for herself, inserting it into her mouth.

"What was that?" Superman asked with suspicion.

But instead of an answer, the woman in red grabbed the back of his head and forced the both of them into a very sudden, very intense open mouth kiss.

Lois, Superman meekly reminded the part of his brain that still worked. Baseball. Angry Lois. Baseball. Angry Lois. Baseball.

The woman broke off the kiss and pulled away, leaving Superman literally floored. "Sorry about that," the woman apologized in perfect English though with a slight Kansas accent. "Tamaranean technology is very useful, but the Tamaraneans have certain kinks with every facet of their culture."

Superman was stunned. "How are you...?"

"Universal translator. It exchanges information, specifically language. The catch is that the effect has to be administered orally."

"Nice. I guess that means there won't be anymore, er, mistranslations," said Superman awkwardly. Clarity was coming back to him, along with many other realizations. "You're... not from Earth, are you?"

"Is that a planet in this system?"

That answered that question. "All right, there's obviously a lot I have to catch up on. First thing's first. I'm Superman. What's your name?"

"Superman? Either the translator isn't working as well as it should or your culture has some strange naming conventions."

"It's... more of a title. A moniker really. Almost a profession," he tried to explain.

"Well Superman, I'm Kara."

"Nice to meet you, Kara." Superman smiled and extended his hand for a friendly handshake, but Kara just stared unknowingly at the gesture, forcing Superman to awkwardly put his hand back down. "Now do you know where we are or why we're here?"

"Well, the ship hasn't left orbit since you were teleported aboard, so I assume we're still near the planet you came from. Earth, you mentioned?"

"At least it hopefully won't be a long trip home then," Superman rationalized.

"As for why, that's a bit more complicated. Obviously we're both prisoners on this alien ship."

"I gathered that much. But do they want with us?"

Kara hesitated, looking away, "Well, the thing is..."

While she searched for the least awkward words to explain, an intercom system switched on throughout the room. A harsh, warped, robotic voice echoed. "attENTION. both SPECimens ARE consCIOUS."

"Charming fellow isn't he?" Superman muttered before stepping forward and speaking boldly and clearly. "My name is Superman of Earth. I don't know why you've taken me or this young woman against our wills, but if you let us go, I promise I'll give you a chance to explain yourself. We can still chalk this up to a misunderstanding and start a friendship here."

"you WILL beGIN REproduction immEDIATEly," the voice ordered.

"Reproduction of what?" Superman asked, causing Kara to cough.

"you ARE bioLOGICally COMpatible. you are BOTH KRYPTONian speciMEN. you will REPROduce," the voice demanded.

The wheels eventually clicked. "Oh... OH... You mean... that..." It was a lot to handle. Never had Superman thought he'd meet another one of his kind, or even that there was another one of his kind. Now suddenly a strange alien robot was asking him to... "No offense, Kara. I'm flattered but I don't really think that we have a relationship where..."

"It wasn't my idea either! I'm not going to 'reproduce' with you no matter what you or it wants!" Kara snapped back.

"Right, so we're on the same page," Superman backpedaled.

"if YOU do NOT initiATE a NATural conCEPTION, you will BE SEDated and the APPropriate MATerials WILL be EXtracted from YOUR bodies. YOUR comPLIANCE is NOT REQUired."

The room started to fill with a gas that Superman couldn't identify, but he didn't need to in order to guess its purpose. Both started to cough and the surroundings started to fade quickly. "Wait! We'll do it! Figuratively speaking," Superman objected. "Since you're not giving us a choice, we'll comply!"

"What in the Phantom Zone are you doing?!" Kara shouted.

"Just comply... for now," Superman said through gritted teeth.

The gas started to recede. "COMPLY!" the voice ordered.

"Not yet. There's... a few things we need first," Superman said as he started to regain his breath.

"for WHAT PURPOSE?" the voice asked, growing more impatient.

"Because..." Superman hesitated as he tried to think fast. "It's part of Cribdonian tradition!"

"Kryptonian," Kara corrected.

"That's what I said. Let us look around the ship and see what you have that might help. There's stuff to help performance issues. Ensure fertility. Make sure all the pipes are working properly. You don't want us to have to try several times, do you?" Somehow the glares of both Kara AND Lois were burning into the back of his skull, hotter and more intense than anything the red light did to him. Right now he wished something would break the deafening silence or at least the knockout gas would come back.

"you will BE esCORTED to the BRIDGE. you will be BOUND and under ARMED GUARD. if YOUR NEEDS canNOT BE met with reasonABLE CONvenience you WILL be SEDated."

"That's fair." Superman smiled even as large, multi-tentacled, brain-shaped robots appeared in front of the cell.

Bound in heavy metal cuffs, the brain-bots surrounded the two as they were led throughout the ship. The red light was gone, but he still felt drained.

"What was that about?" Kara muttered from behind Superman.

"I'm betting that whoever's holding us captive isn't going to let us go even if they get what they want. If we get put to sleep, we're not waking up again."

"Want to let me in on the master plan?"

"I will. As soon as I think of it." A sharp kick to the back of Superman's ankle voiced her displeasure. "Give me a break will you? It's been a while since I've had to plan anything except where to hit the hardest."

Fortunately the corridors were long and the robots were slow, giving Superman a long time to think. But even now, when his and another life were on the line, the answers to all the questions he'd given up on answering were within his grasp. "So I'm... we're from another planet?"

"Krypton," Kara quickly answered.

"What's it like?"

"You really want to do this now?! What happened to that plan you were supposed to be working on?"

"Well if we're going to die anyway, it would take a lot off my mind."

Kara growled in frustration. "Look, I don't remember much. Krypton was destroyed when I was just a kid. Survivors fled in escape pods across the universe."

His home planet was destroyed? "How? Why? Who?"

"I don't know. As I said I was just a girl and one of the lucky ones who managed to escape," she said uncomfortably.

"Sorry." He couldn't imagine what that must have been like, being a child and watching everything you've ever known get destroyed for reasons you couldn't fathom. "Do our species have any powers?"

"Powers? Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know. Super strength, super speed, flight, heat vision, x-ray vision, that sort of thing?"

"Where would you get a crazy idea like that? If I had powers, do you think I'd let myself be held prisoner like this?"

"Sorry again. I just thought that weird red light might have drained you."

"That was natural sunlight for Krypton."

"Really? I wasn't sure how you could stand it."

Kara eyed him strangely. She seemed to do that a lot. He couldn't blame her.

Finally they reached a large sliding door that opened up to reveal the control center of the alien ship. Computer screens lined the room in symbols and languages Superman couldn't begin to fathom. More tentacled robots worked the machines, but no one resembling their host could be found.

"well, KRYPTonIAN? what NEEDS of your MUST be MET for you to coOPERate?" the voice echoed.

"First, what's the purpose of all this?" Superman asked.

"IRRELEVANT!" the voice screamed.

"Now do you have a plan?" Kara whispered.

"Mostly stalling," Superman quietly responded before turning back to the voice. "It's absolutely important! Do you want a boy or a girl? Do you want the kid to be an athlete or a scholar? What color hair do you want? There's all sorts of factors at work here, and once the deed is done there's no going back."

"very well, BUT my paTIENCE wears THIN."

Something clattered around above, like an insect only larger and more metallic. Both looked up to see something crawling above the tallest console. Three mechanical arachnid legs skittered into view, carrying a mechanical base with two bright high beams glancing around like eyes, all supporting a fluid-filled jar containing an enlarged brain.

"A Humanite..." Kara said breathlessly.

"Humanite?"

"It's a very rare species in the universe. They don't have bodies, just brains. So they take the bodies of other humanoid species."

"Take and do what exactly?"

Something lumbered loudly behind the two, and the drones pulled them out of the way. A silverback gorilla stomped across the hall, moving with jolted, mechanical movements. Most of a gorilla, anyway. The top half of the gorilla's head, from the nose up had been completely removed, the inside hollowed out and replaced with a bowl of mechanical circuitry.

The brain jar skittered along the consoles, climbing atop the gorilla body and settling in the cavity. Connectors snapped together. Lights flared. And the Humanite spoke with the voice of the gorilla, more solid than before but no less hostile.

"THE FEMALE IS WELL-VERSED IN THE WAYS OF THE UNIVERSE TO KNOW OF MY KIND."

Superman felt his gut wrench at the sight of the monstrosity before him, but kept a bold face. "You already have a body? Why go through so much trouble?"

"I SEE THE MALE STILL REQUIRES EXPLANATION. THIS BODY IS PHYSICALLY STRONG, BUT CLUMSY. IT LACKS COORDINATION, FINESSE, AND PRECISION." The gorilla body lumbered closer. "THERE HAVE BEEN MANY ACQUISITIONS AMONG MY KIND. I MYSELF HAVE HAD OVER HUNDRED BODIES OVER THE COURSE OF A MILLENIUM. BUT ALL HAVE HAD THEIR FLAWS, THEIR WEAKNESSES. ALL OF THEM HAVE BEEN IMPERFECT. IT IS THE SAME FOR ALL OF THE HUMANITES. BUT NONE OF MY KIND HAVE EVER WORN THE BODY OF A KRYPTONIAN. YOU WILL PROVIDE ME WITH A BODY, AND I WILL BECOME THE PERFECT HUMANITE! THE ULTRA-HUMANITE!"

"Why not just take our bodies then? Why go through the trouble of making one from scratch?" Superman asked, quickly realizing the answer to his own question. "You can’t, can you?"

"THERE ARE COMPATIBILITY ISSUES WITH ACQUIRING AN ADULT HOST BODY FROM ANY SPECIES. THERE CAN BE… REJECTIONS. THEY ARE AS UNPLEASANT FOR THE BODY AS THEY ARE FOR THE MIND."

Superman cringed at the thought of any creature, much otential son or daughter, being hollowed out and turned into some kind of Frankenstein monster for this brain to run around in. "What happens to I since you get what you want?"

"I WILL HAVE NO FURTHER USE FOR EITHER OF YOU. YOU WILL BE... RELEASED."

Superman tried to keep an open mind, to take people at their word. For this some considered him gullible. But he thought an emotionless brain machine would be able to hide its deceptions better than this.

"How's that plan coming along?" Kara softly reminded Superman.

"Ixnay on the anplay," Superman muttered before realizing Kara probably had no idea what pig Latin even was.

Too late, as this time their captor was in earshot, figuratively speaking. "WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?" The gorilla body bounded over until Superman was close enough to smell the obnoxious stench of alien taxidermy. "TELL ME OR I ASSUME YOU CONSPIRE AGAINST ME! I WILL SEDATE YOU AND FORCEFULLY EXTRACT THE NECESSARY MATERIALS MYSELF!"

Now that the Humanite was closer, Kara acted. Even with her hands bound, she managed to reach beneath her dress to pull out dual foot-long shivs she had smuggled in. She hurled one before either Superman or the Humanite could see her move and it pierced the glass of the Humanite’s brain jar, the tip only micrometers away from the vulnerable brain. With the other dagger she stabbed up into one drone’s vulnerable spot hidden in its mass if tentacles. The drone’s lights dimmed and it fell limp at her feet.

"What happened to the master plan?" Superman yelled, being taken completely by surprise as well.

"New plan!" Kara said as she cut off the tentacles of an approaching drone and kicked it away. "We fight our way out!"

"That's easy for you to say! You've actually got something to fight with!"

"I already gave you a weapon! Use it!"

Superman realized the weapon she referred to was the large spike embedded in the glass head of a flailing gorilla, which didn't do him much good. even if he could reach it, removing the spike would leave a large leak behind. "I can't! That would kill him!"

"Are you insane?!" Kara raged as she fended off three more drones. "That's the point! I already did most of the work for you, now finish him!

"No," Superman remained steadfast even as he dodged wide gorilla swings. "He may be a monster trying to violate us in the worst possible way, but he's still a sentient being, and I'm not a murderer!"

"It's either it, or us!" Kara said as she was being gradually overwhelmed by drones.

"No! There's got to be another way!" Superman protested as he dodged his way up to the upper levels of the bridge, the dark side of Earth visible through the glass panes. But moving evasively like this without his strength or speed was awkward and new to Superman. Eventually the Humanite had little trouble catching Superman by the cake and squeezing his body between two gorilla arms.

"ONCE AGAIN THE FEMALE PROVES THE INTELLECTUALLY SUPERIOR OF THE SPECIES," said the enraged Humanite, slowly crushing a helpless Superman. Kara had finally been overtaken by the drones as metal tendrils wrapped around her arms and legs. "THE TIME FOR ME TO BE ACCOMMODATING HAS ENDED. DRONES, REMOVE THE FEMALE'S LIMBS! SHE WILL NOT NEED THEM FOR MY PURPOSE!"

Neither screamed, but both grimaced in pain as their bodies were slowly crushed.

"YOU SHOULD HAVE COMPLIED. YOUR DEATHS WOULD HAVE BEEN FAR LESS PAINFUL."

It hurt Superman to even breathe. The pain was unbearable, more than he ever had felt, or even could feel, in his life until now. "Let me tell you something. You'll never get what you want. You'll never become this perfect super being you want so badly. It doesn't matter if you get a gorilla or a Kryptonian or whatever else you can find. The reason all your previous bodies failed was not because of their flaws. Even if you had the perfect body, and that brilliant mind, you will always lack heart."

"INACCURATE. THIS AND EVERY OTHER BODY I'VE OWNED HAS HAD HEARTS IN BOTH SUFFICIENT QUALITY AND QUANTITY TO MAINTAIN IDEAL..."

"The fact that you think a heart is just something that just pumps blood through your veins proves why you'll never really understand. Hearts contain our souls, our feelings, our emotions," Superman smirked, "and our faith in something so simple as whether or not the sun will rise today." As he spoke, a yellow ribbon of light peaked over the horizon of the Earth until the first rays of the sun filtered in through the bridge windows.

As the first rays of light touched his fingers, Superman started to feel the pain melt away, even though the gorilla was still trying to crush him.

The remaining liquid in the brain jar started to bubble as the Humanite panicked. "MISCALCULATION!"

"You sure did," Superman said smiling as he easily broke out of the Humanite's hold. Strength returned to his muscles. It was like having a cast removed and experiencing freedom of movement again. Flexing his arm, Superman threw a punch so hard it sent the gorilla flying through two consoles and leaving a crater in the thick metal wall on the other end of the bridge. Really it was just a light tap. He didn't want to hurt the creep too badly.

Once the sunlight filled the room, Kara, who'd been struggling to stay alive, destroyed all of the robots grabbing her, turning them all in to shrapnel just by struggling against their grip. For Superman this was a return to normalcy, but for Kara this was some kind of Nirvana. She felt stronger than ever, invincible, and that wasn't likely an understatement. Her senses heightened to levels she hadn't realized were possible. She looked at her hands, at her own body, at everything around her as if seeing it all for the first time.

Superman smiled. While growing up and getting used to his burgeoning powers had been a challenge, he nostalgically remembered the first time his powers truly synced up. "Welcome to Earth."

Kara gazed at everything around her in awe. As her vision alternated between frequencies, she could see electronic waves emitting from machinery, watch power flow in rivers of circuitry, even see through the walls to everything that lay beyond. As she was testing her new forms of sight, beams of energy erupted from her eyes, destroying a console. "What's happening?!" she asked suddenly frightened, turning her gaze towards Superman.

Fortunately his speed had returned, and he easily ducked out of the way of the oncoming blasts. Kara only glanced around in more panic, causing more destruction all over the bridge.

"Focus, Kara! Reel it in. You can control it. Turn it off and on like a switch."

With Superman's advice, Kara forced herself to calm down and found it surprisingly easy to not vaporize everything with a glance. "This is that power you spoke of? And you've had this your entire life?"

"Well no. I was pretty sickly as a child. It wasn't until my teenage years that a lot of this kicked in."

The euphoria was lost when the ship started to shake, and the Earth in view started to come steadily closer. "The ship's going down! We need to get out of here!"

With his own returned vision, Superman looked past the ship's walls, exploring every nook and cranny. "I can't find any life forms anywhere else on the ship, and the Humanite's gone. He must have grabbed an escape pod or something when we weren't looking."

"WE need to find an escape pod!" Kara said as the ship was entering Earth's atmosphere. The bridge was heating up quickly. Circuitry fried and exploded. The metal walls and support structures glowed red hot before melting. Smoke filled the room.

With no time to spare, Superman leapt into action. Moving faster than a speeding bullet, he picked up Kara in his arms and rocketed through the hull of the ship, taking the brunt of the impact but relying on both of their invulnerability to make it out of the exploding ship. When they broke through, the ship had already broken through the atmosphere, leaving sky above and ocean below. The brain-shaped spaceship continued to combust as it hurled itself to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

Once they were safely away, Kara went by Superman's example, gradually letting herself be carried less and less. Finally she let go of Superman's hand and soared through the air on her own power.

"This is amazing! How are we even doing this?"

"I was hoping you could tell me. It all just seems to come naturally."

Superman smiled and watched as Kara pushed the limits of her new freedom.

"So this is your planet, Superman. Are you going to give me the tour or not?"

He hesitated before responding. "Actually, you can call me
Clark."

"Clark?"

"The man beneath the cape. Actually, there's a lot to explain on both ends. Come on, let's go. First off, there's some people I want you to meet."

"Indigenous lifeforms?" Kara wondered.

"My parents," Superman explained as he led Kara across the world, watching oceans, coastlines, mountains and fields pass by underneath as they soared to a small farm town in Kansas.

To be continued...