Ultimate Superman #2: One Man's Trash

[DiscipleofBob]

Ultimate Superman #2:
One Man's Trash

2013

That day...

A lot happened that day. It was the day I met Kara. It was the day I learned where I actually came from. It was the day everything started making sense, and yet raised many more unanswered questions.

It was also the day that another alien ship attacked Metropolis, making me wonder whether if it and the Humanite were working together. Or if maybe the Humanite was just waiting for an opportunity to capture me and the rest of Metropolis was distracted. Or maybe the other aliens were watching for a time when Superman, defender of Metropolis, was no longer an obstacle. Or maybe even it was a complete coincidence.

It was almost the end of Metropolis. It was almost the end of the world. But that day the Great Machine made his first appearance, stopped the attacking aliens and saved the city.

Before that day, I thought the weight of the world was solely on my shoulders, the one person strong enough to save it. I've never been happier to be wrong. That day, the superhero population of Metropolis tripled, Now there was Superman, the Great Machine, and Power Girl.

Power Girl was the name Kara took as a superhero, wanting to follow my example but also needing her own identity. She also took a cue from me and for her secret "human" identity she took the name Karen Starr. It wasn't until then that I appreciated just how much work my parents had gone to for me. For me my parents just needed a friend in the foster system. For Karen it meant forging a completely new identity. It's the type of thing I wouldn't normally approve of, but American laws don't really cover all the needs of superhuman alien refugees. Fortunately, I had a friend from high school who knew just what we needed and how to hook us up. Chloe was always the resourceful one.

It was difficult for Kara to adjust. I was raised here on Earth with the same education and upbringing as any other Smallville citizen. But all she knew was the language, and there weren't any alien pills to help her here. She knew more math and physics than I ever did, but history, geography, even geology and biology had to be taught from scratch. Anything Earth-specific was completely new to her. It took a while, but with a public library and online classes she was a quick study.

So much has happened since then, and yet at the end of the day when the alien invasions have been repelled and the supervillains have been caught, things always return to normal. No matter how bad things get they'll always get better. No matter how dark it gets it the sun will always rise again.

Since then, Great Machine has gone public and stopped his work as a superhero (at least officially). He's even mayor now. But I still have Power Girl to watch my back or cover for me in case Clark Kent can't suddenly leave so Superman can conveniently arrive. That doesn't mean I leave all the hard work to her though. The world will always need a Superman.

Superman ducked and weaved through the air as blasts of neon green energy missed him by inches. Below him a heavily armed robot growled in frustration as its shots kept missing. "If you're not going to leave me alone you could at least stand still!"

"Sorry, John, but you're still wanted for a dozen counts of armed robbery, assault, and murder from the last time you showed up here."

"John Corben is dead!" the robot shouted. "Now there's only Metallo!" More energy blasts in a wider arc. Metallo's aim was getting more off-mark, which actually made dodging them more difficult as they were more difficult to predict. The closer each blast got to Superman, the more he felt nauseous. Even a graze could potentially knock Superman out of the air, and then he'd be a sitting duck. Still, dodging at this distance was easier and far safer than risking a frontal assault. The energy blasts would fire past him into the sky, dispersing harmlessly in the air. It was a battle of attrition, Superman relying on his speed and endurance outlasting Metallo's power source, the rare radioactive green rock that could kill Superman with its presence alone. The strategy took longer and posed more danger for Superman, but would hopefully cause less collateral damage overall.

Suddenly, two parallel red energy blasts struck Metallo's chest, knocking the robot onto his back. Metallo's barrage ceased long enough for Superman to see the familiar superheroine soar down to meet him. "Need some help?" Power Girl smirked.

Her costume had evolved over the years. At first, she had just worn a feminine version of Superman's red and blue tights, complete with a red skirt. But unlike Superman, every once in a while she felt a need for a change and revamped her costume as she saw fit. Superman wondered if it was because she never felt truly comfortable in her role as Power Girl, or if she just liked to change her outfit. Today she wore a sleeveless white top with her "P-shield" logo emblazoned on her chest. Along with blue leggings and leather gloves her outfit appeared almost casual if not for the small blue cape fluttering from her shoulder.

Not nearly as impressive as Superman's classic red and blue in his opinion, then again he'd been wearing the same costume for over a decade. He wasn't the most fashion-conscious of people anyway, and besides Kara's fashion choices were really not his business.

"Thanks, but I've got this under control," Superman insisted even as Metallo was slowly getting back up.

Power Girl smiled coyly. "I'm sure you do, but how about we save some time and both bring him down?"

The last thing Superman wanted to give Metallo was a second target to shoot at, and Power Girl was not known for her patience. "I'm not sure that's a-"

"You hit em high, I'll hit em low!" Power Girl said excitedly as she dove straight towards the ground.

"Power Girl, wait!" Superman tried to warn, but she was long gone.

Metallo got back to his feet and took aim at the descending superheroine. Power Girl waited until she was mere feet from the ground before making a sharp ninety-degree midair turn towards Metallo. The robot fired several blasts at Power Girl, but she easily maneuvered around them. "You're about to get recycled, tin can!"

As she closed in, Metallo's chest folded open and a green light flooded out. Power Girl dropped like a rock, skidding along the dirt until she stopped helpless at Metallo's feet. "I was wondering when one of you super freaks would get close." Metallo pointed his blaster down at point-blank range. "One down..."

Suddenly the blaster's building energy started to fade, the green lights starting to go dark. Before Metallo could realize what had happened, there was a sharp searing heat at the back of his neck. When he tried to reach back or turn around, his arms wouldn't obey. In fact his entire body remained perfectly still and stiff despite his will.

Metallo looked down to see both of Superman's arms reach around his sides. They pushed the robot's chest compartment closed again while being careful to avoid exposure to the sickly green light. Then with his bare hands Superman twisted the compartment doors together. Now it would take some heavy welding equipment just to open.

The robot paralyzed and rendered harmless, Superman turned to Power Girl. "Are you all right?" He offered a hand to help her up.

"I'll be fine. Nothing a few minutes tanning on the beach won't fix," she said smiling, taking the hand and getting to her feet.

"Next time you should be more careful. Metallo's one of the few threats that can consistently hurt us," Superman gently warned.

"We got him, didn't we? We've both taken him down before solo. Together he's a piece of cake," Power Girl said with a carefree smile.

"Just try to be more careful in the future. It's easy to think we're invincible when-"

"When we are?" Power Girl laughed. "Lighten up. You're supposed to be happy after you've saved the day."

As she spoke, the Metropolis Police approached with all the necessary equipment to haul off Metallo and hopefully keep him harmless. "Hold on a sec," Superman interrupted them as he approached the paralyzed robot.

"What did you do to me?" Metallo growled.

"X-Ray and heat vision as I'm sure you guessed. I'm not a robotics expert, but we've fought plenty of times before, Corben. Enough for me to remember which circuits I need to sever to cut off your motor control. But enough of that. You've been out of Metropolis for almost a year. Smart, so why are you back?"

"What can I say? I missed the sights and my favorite caped assholes," Metallo said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Really? Because my first guess would have been that you were working for Luthor again."

"Sorry, you're way off base," Metallo sneered. "I haven't seen Lex since he put my brain in a Terminator."

"Somehow I doubt that," Power Girl joined in. "Maybe we should take a cue from Terminator and throw him in a pit of molten steel?"

"You wouldn't," Metallo replied.

"Oh I-"

Superman interrupted her. "Definitely would do nothing of the sort, because we're heroes," he emphasized. "I think we're done here. You can take him away. Thank you, officers." He gently pulled Power Girl away before she could cause more of a scene.

"What? I wasn't actually going to kill him," Power Girl protested.

"I know, but it's wrong for us to even threaten that sort of thing. We're the two most powerful people on this planet. We can't make idle threats because the public knows we're physically capable of keeping them. Any potential abuse of power from either of us is reason for people to fear us, and they shouldn't have to."

"Fine," Power Girl half-whined. "But now we have no idea what Metallo might have been planning."

Superman gave a knowing smirk. "I've got a pretty good idea. He didn't verbally bash Lex nearly enough for a guy who lost his body due to a poor work environment."

"You think Luthor is behind this?"

"Only one way to find out. You can come as long as you don't threaten to reenact any other movie deaths on him. When did you of all people find time to watch Terminator?"

"I have decades of pop culture to catch up on and one Netflix queue. I'm doing my best here."

Lex Luthor, billionaire industrialist with one of the largest international mega corporations in the world, was enjoying his tea.

Running a decent percentage of the world's economy was tiring work after all. When he wasn't flying around the world to oversee his various holdings or brokering deals with everyone from foreign nations to crime lords, he'd be attending board meetings ranging from new research products to political campaigns. It was a rare moment when he could actually enjoy his main office in the tallest building in Metropolis. Sure he was looking over some quarterly reports and the yearly budget, but it was the closest thing to relaxation.

It had been a good year for LuthorCorp, one of a long streak of success. Only when the economy hit a recession did profits go down, and only because Luthor forbade any pay cuts or loss of benefits for anyone but the senior staff who wouldn't notice the difference anyway. This year, however, Luthor could afford to raise a few wages, perhaps throw in a bit extra for holiday bonuses. There was just the question of who deserved it.

Naturally the Metropolis branch was leading every chart, but being the head office that was to be expected. Gateway City's office was doing well too, having brokered new deals with Hedare Beauty and CyberComm. Star City was a different matter entirely. For the third year in a row they'd taken a hit. It was difficult competing with Queen Industries in their home city, but that was no excuse for failure. Luthor made a note to make some cutbacks in the Star City branch, especially in the pay for the senior staff. Which in turn reminded him to make sure this year's charity ball invitations were addressed to Mr. AND Mrs. Queen. Now as for the Gotham branch reports...

Two looming shadows blocked the natural sunlight coming from the window. Luthor didn't even bother turning around as Power Girl crashed through the window, glass flying everywhere, followed shortly by Superman. Luthor sighed and pressed the intercom button on his desk. "Ms. Graves, see if we can cancel the plans for the automatic windows installation. Apparently they'll just be broken anyway. Also, order a replacement pane for my office ASAP."

"I'm sure you can afford it," Power Girl quipped.

"But can either of you?" Luthor quickly replied. "When the rest of us break something, we have to pay for it. But I suppose that rule doesn't apply to capes without a billable address."

"Sorry about the window. It won't happen again," Superman apologized, glaring at Power Girl before her mouth could get her into more trouble. "But we need to ask you a few questions."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm a busy man. One that has an entire department to answer questions for me."

"Cut the crap, Luthor!" Power Girl shouted as she slammed her fist on the table, leaving a large fist-shaped crack.

Lex sighed in contempt. "This desk was an antique, hand-carved in 1806. It is worth more money than you will probably ever see in your life. I would appreciate it if you didn't smash irreplaceable pieces of our nation's history every time you needed some random trivia answered. We have Wikipedia for that."

Superman grimaced. The longer this dragged out, the more Lex and Power Girl would antagonize each other. This was going nowhere fast so he went straight to the point. "Metallo. Why's he back?"

Luthor scowled. "He has a name you know. And I had no idea Mr. Corben had returned to Metropolis."

"You want us to believe he's not working for you?" Power Girl accused.

"It doesn't matter to me what you believe," Luthor sneered in contempt. "John Corben hasn't been my chief of security since the unfortunate accident which resulted in his prosthetic body. A good thing too, since it turned out he was embezzling funds and otherwise abusing his position."

Superman always knew that the supposed 'embezzlement' was just Luthor's way of secretly paying Corben under the table whenever Luthor needed to resort to business tactics of questionable morality and legality. Of course nothing could ever be proven. Not with Luthor covering his tracks so completely and having the best legal team in the country at his beck and call. "So you have no idea why he might be in town?"

Luthor sighed, willing to at least give the bare minimum answer to get the two to leave. "Who can really say for sure except for Corben himself? He could be here for revenge against you. He could be here for revenge against me. He could be here because he's finally running low on the Kryptonite that powers him."

"Yeah, funny how your company designs a robot body that runs on the one substance that can kill us," Power Girl said with suspicion.

"I would've thought you'd be more grateful that I found an alternative use for it. Pity the Metallo prosthetic body didn't work out after all that testing," Luthor replied smugly. "Now if there's nothing else, I have a very busy schedule."

"Hold it!" Power Girl interrupted. "Your Kryptonite cache. Where is it?"

"I never actually said I had any Kryptonite."

"Don't you?"

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Either way I certainly wouldn't tell either of you," Luthor said, choosing his words carefully as usual.

"I could search this whole building in a matter of minutes, even with you lining your walls to prevent us looking through them."

"I'm sure you could. And I'm sure the police would just sit idly by as the city's great heroes commit such crimes as trespassing, excessive property damage, and corporate espionage. I'm sure the Daily Planet would continue to do anything but besmirch the good name of Superman and Power Girl even when they've taken it upon themselves to interrogate an American businessman without any provocation other than their own vague suspicions, circumventing every legal authority, law, and constitutional right that you see fit. Never mind the 10,000 people in this building who put in a hard day's work here every day. So go ahead, keep circumventing the rules of our society as you two see fit. Perhaps some day someone other than me will see you for the menaces you are."

"Listen, chromedome..." Power Girl growled before Superman’s hand rested on her shoulder.

"He's right. We can’t just break into private property because we feel like it. People have rights. Even Luthor."

The corporate mogul glared daggers at the pair, but said nothing, his eyes barely holding back over seven years’ worth of resentment between the overzealous woman and him. For Superman he held a lifetime’s worth of hatred, even though the so-called superhero had only been around for just over a decade. For LuthorCorp, Superman and his ilk were unnatural disasters. The collateral damage alone from their exploits cost the company billions every year, to say nothing of all the business deals that fell through because the aliens’ interference. And they had the gall to act like they were heroes.

Still, aside from a small amount of personal satisfaction, it wouldn’t be worth it to goad them further. "I'm sorry I couldn’t be of more help, Superman. Next time, feel free to call ahead," he said with a growing sneering grin. "I insist."

"We’ll be going now. Thanks for the information and sorry about the window," Superman sincerely apologized.

Lex gave a half-hearted wave as Superman almost had to drag Power Girl through the broken window she’d made earlier. "We’re watching you, Luthor!" she warned.

"Which is why all my holdings have lead lining," Luthor muttered under his breath before yelling after them, "Try not to destroy the building on your way out. I know you might find this hard to believe, but the people here actually work for a living."

As the pair floated away and into the Metropolis skyline away from Luthor’s view and earshot, Superman mentally counted down until Power Girl stated the obvious.

"He’s hiding something."

"Of course he is. Lex is the president of one of the largest companies in the world. He’ll always have secrets, just like the Koch Brothers or Oliver Queen." He paused in midair in front of Power Girl, his arms folded as he looked down at her sternly. "But that doesn’t give us the right to bully someone, even if we have good reason to suspect him of wrongdoing. You went too far."

"Oh come on, what are we supposed to do? Tip off the police that are likely in his pocket? Throw him in jail so he can post his own bail? Take him to a court so he can buy off another jury?"

Superman gave a heavy sigh. "I know with people like Luthor roaming free it sometimes feels like the system doesn't work at all. Maybe it doesn't. But we aren’t the people to change it."

"Why not?" Power Girl suggested with a smile, much to Superman's displeasure. "We could do anything we want and there's not much Luthor or anyone could do to stop us."

"And that’s exactly why we can't: because we shouldn't. If we use our power to try and force our will on the rest of the world, how does that make us any better than Luthor?"

Power Girl shrugged. "We’re still protecting the world. Luthor's still trying to con it out of its life savings. I say that still makes us better." Superman responded with only a stern glare. "What? I was just kidding."

"The point is we can’t do anything right now. Metallo's locked up. We don’' have anything to link him to Luthor other than a suspicion. For now, our job is done."

Lex Luthor went back to work reviewing the fiscal reports but kept one eye on the distant capes until they split apart and flew in separate directions. He had to rearrange some paperweights to offset the new sky high breeze blowing in through the shattered window, but otherwise remained no more than irritated at their interruption.

The intercom buzzed, having barely managing to avoid destruction from Power Girl's tantrum. "Mr. Luthor, the package you were waiting for has arrived."

A relieved grin creeped up on Luthor’s face. "Excellent! Send it in right away, Ms. Graves."

On cue, the double doors to his office swung open and a large, metal, high-tech container was rolled in. The two men rolling it in were not Luthor security, at least not by appearance, nor were they from some other delivery company. The badges signified their positions as Metropolis police officers. They made far more money than other members of the MPD, what with one paycheck coming from city taxpayer money and another check coming from the generous coffers of LuthorCorp.

"You can leave it right there, gentleman. And as always thank you for your service to our fair city," Luthor said earnestly.

The two officers exchanged nervous glances. "You sure you don’t want us around when you bust this thing open?"

"I appreciate the concern, but don’t worry, I have all the protection I need. Besides, I'm sure you both have routes to get back to." The two officers shrugged before leaving Luthor to his devices.

The containment unit was of LuthorCorp design, created to contain the most volatile of materials and subjects. In theory, it could even contain something as powerful as Superman, though he’d never had the opportunity to test its limits on a subject of such strength.

For now, he’d have to settle on the current occupant.

After undoing the electronic lock, Luthor stepped back as the vacuum-sealed chamber opened. For most prisoners, a cryonic stasis field would keep the subject in suspended animation. This prisoner required no such treatment. Luthor smiled as the chrome robot was revealed. "Hello, Corben."

The neon green eyes started to glow, the equivalent of opening his eyes after waking up. "Luthor," Metallo acknowledged with a spiteful tone overlaying his robotic voice. "Why am I not surprised to be here instead of a cell?"

Luthor chuckled. "It has been a while, hasn't it? I wouldn't have thought you'd ever willingly have come back to Metropolis. Then again..."

"Cut the crap. You know exactly why I’m here," the robot growled.

"Running on fumes I take it?"

"Refills are difficult when LuthorCorp has been buying every little piece of Kryptonite on the world market."

"Well, what would you expect? LuthorCorp is the only company in the world that has a commercial interest in the stuff," Luthor said casually as he carefully grabbed a nearby pitcher and refilled his tea. "Which leads me to wonder who would be willing and qualified for your most recent enhancements. The giant arm cannon is a bit much, don’t you think? Not exactly subtle."

"No, I suppose not," Metallo responded with what Luthor almost mistook for a grin on the skeletal chrome face. "But the failsafe upgrades were worth the money."

Lex arched his brow in interest. "Failsafes?"

The neon green veins along Metallo’s body suddenly started to glow again. The robot’s limbs started to shake violently as they quickly regained life. Metallo leapt into action, charging the arm cannon and keeping it point blank from Luthor, who hadn’t moved in the slightest. "You see, I had to fool the boy scout into thinking he'd gotten me down for good. Otherwise, he'd still be looking out for me, and I can't have him interfering with our negotiations. So I had some redundant systems installed."

"You’re interested in negotiations?" Luthor said calmly.

"You have no idea how much I'd like to reduce you to a smoldering pile of radioactive ash. Fortunately for you, you're more useful to me alive. Or rather, your stash of Kryptonite is."

"What? You think I just keep it all in a Scrooge McDuck vault downstairs?" Luthor chuckled.

"I'm sure you've got plenty of it stored in this building somewhere. So here's the deal: You're going to call whoever you need to and load a truck full of however much you've got. Then you and I are going to take a ride. If there's enough green to keep me going for a good, long while, I might let you live."

"Not much of a negotiation," Luthor criticised.

"Yeah, well, we can’t all be shrewd businessmen, Lex. Besides, I'm the one with the gun, so you're not really in a position to negotiate."

"Really? Allow me to make a counteroffer," Luthor reached inside his jacket pocket.

"Your checkbook isn't going to save you this time."

Suddenly, Metallo's body started to power down again. The lights faded and his limbs stiffened to the point of uselessness. Unlike his battle with Superman, where he kept his failsafe redundant circuitry secret, here none of his backup systems were activating when he willed it. "No way! How..." Metallo gasped in shock as Luthor pulled out not a checkbook from his pocket, but a small remote. "No... No way. I made sure all my systems were completely overhauled. You shouldn't be able to shut me down like this!"

"Personally, I don't blame you for your arrogance, Corben. After all, we can't all be shrewd businessmen," Luthor said triumphantly as he sipped his tea. "You think I haven't been tracking you? That I wasn't watching your every move in the past decade whether you're in some Middle Eastern war zone or a South American jungle? Superman may have fifty different kinds of super senses, but he has nothing compared to my information networks. As soon as you got your upgrades and were on your way back here to make your grand showing, I was already buying out your benefactors. I had your new schematics in my database before you even got on the boat."

After a few moments of struggling to move any part of his body, Metallo finally conceded. "All right, you made your point. You're the smart one, you cocky son of a..."

"Careful, Corben. You're not really in a position to negotiate."

"Whatever you’re going to do, get it over with. I'm sick of playing your lapdog. Luthor."

"Corben, really I'm surprised. We're friends, remember? The only things you have to worry about from me are hope and mercy." Luthor buzzed the intercom, and on cue the double doors opened, two women in professional business suits walked in, one blonde and one brunette, both fairly tall with their pressed suits concealing powerful frames. Both stood on opposite sides of Metallo, saying nothing as they awaited instruction.

"Who the hell are they?"

"Metallo, meet Hope and Mercy, my new, far more competent retainers. Ladies, take his arms and legs. He won't need them where he’s going." Metallo wondered how these two were supposed to dismantle his near indestructible robot body on their own, but both women casually grabbed a robotic arm and ripped him apart like a paper doll. The robot could do nothing but watch in shock as the two women tore him apart piece by piece.

"Damn you Luthor! I'll be back! And next time I won’t hesitate! I'll crush y-" The robotic audio was suddenly cut off as Luthor pressed another button on the remote, the moment no longer amusing him.

"That will be enough of that. Contact our business partners. Let them know we have a new subject for them," Luthor casually ordered as the two muscular women proceeded to methodically take Metallo apart. "And when you’re finished, go ahead and grab a round of coffee for myself and whoever else is working late tonight."

To be continued...