Ultimate Superman #4: Something Bizarre

[DiscipleofBob]

Ultimate Superman #4:
Something Bizarre

The resulting explosion from the sheer impact kicked up enough concrete dust to conceal the entire street. A red-and-blue streak shot from the dust cloud, followed shortly behind by a similar white streak.

Power Girl wasn't holding back. How could she, when for the first time in years she was fighting someone who could match her strength? Superman had only barely broken free of her grip before her punch slammed into the ground.

"Power Girl, just wait a-" Her fist struck his face, sending Superman rocketing down into the streets below. The problem with being faster than the speed of sound was that sometimes words became too slow a defense, never reaching their intended target. Her anger issues weren't helping either.

If Superman went all out right now, he might have stood a chance, but it would have been slim at best. Power Girl was the more aggressive and the more experienced when it came to pure combat. Although she never spoke of her life before they'd met, Superman could only imagine. She was a fighter, a survivor. She knew what it was like to fend for herself against stronger opponents, especially before she'd discovered what this galaxy's sunlight could grant her.

Superman took his time to get back up. He just needed to stall long enough for her to calm down, to explain the admittedly unbelievable scenario that there was another him flying around causing all this mischief. But where hiding in the smokescreen of the debris cloud for cover worked on other opponents, Power Girl, like him, could see right through it.

The brief respite he got was not because Power Girl had finally decided to let up, but because she had torn a streetlight from its foundation and swung it round like a golf club, with Superman as the unfortunate ball.

"This is for the tree!" Power Girl yelled as she sent him flying with a slice. Of course the problem with knocking him away was that she had to fly in his direction as he crashed several blocks away. The few seconds it took to catch up meant he could have easily fled, though she couldn't find any trace of him leaving the scene.

She scanned the area with her multi-spectrum vision, but Superman was nowhere to be seen. That only left one possibility, but that fraction of a second's confusion was what Superman needed to grab her from behind. One arm around her left arm and neck, the other twisting her other arm around in a basic hold.

What would have stopped any other criminal or supervillain was child's play for Power Girl. In one swift move she reversed the hold and rocketed both of them into the ground.

One arm was pinned by his own weight, the other Power Girl had twisted behind his back as her knee pressed his head and torso against the ground.

"Can we please just talk?" Superman managed to say without gagging even as Power Girl's hold cut off most of his airflow and circulation.

"Oh, now you want to talk? Do you know how much damage you've caused today? Everywhere I go I'm cleaning up another one of your messes!"

"Not... me..." Superman said gagging.

"Sure, because there's plenty of Supermen flying around Metropolis. It's so easy to get mistaken for someone else."

"Look, if I was out of my mind before, clearly I'm coherent now, so can you at least hear me out?"

"Or maybe you're acting normal so I'll let you go and you can do whatever it is you think you're doing."

"Kara... It's not me, I swear. I don't know how or why, but there's someone going around with my name and face committing these reckless acts in my name. Surely with everything you and I have seen over the years you can't say it's completely impossible."

"That doesn't mean I'll fall for any old story thrown at me."

At that moment a hardcover book struck Power Girl in the face. It was little more than an out of place nuisance, but it did draw her attention to the floating back end of a Barnes & Noble truck and the 'Superman' carrying it.

"You're welcome fair shitty! It's all in a days' work for Sooperman!" 'Sooperman' yelled giddily as he tore up books by the handful and tossed them like confetti in his wake, carrying the half a truck with the other in his own personal ticker tape parade.

It took a moment for both of the real superheroes to process the absurdity of the situation. "I... think I owe you an apology," Power Girl said slowly.

"It's understandable. Really. Though I'd appreciate it if you let me up," he mumbled from underneath her foot.

Something was missing. He was everything he was supposed to be, and yet everything was somehow off. He had his costume of course, the red and blue tights with the S-shield. He helped people as he was supposed to, though exactly how to help them was not always easy.

He still couldn't think straight. His head was still pounding in agony, and trying to think only worsened the pain. Instead he tried to take his mind off his mind with the usual heroics. Anything just to help clear his head, or, more accurately, numb it. Clearing his head brought pain and more confusing images. As if the life he knew as Superman wasn't strange enough being only half-complete, but trying to fill in the gaps conjured the strangest images, and all he wanted to do was forget.

He didn't think that the people should have to go through the trouble of organizing the parade in his honor, so he did all the work. How did one make a parade happen anyway? The only thing he could think of was confetti which he'd found earlier.

From the streets below, people were cheering at his good work. Some were running away to make room for the parade and to no doubt get a better vantage point. Just as well. Saving people was hard and dangerous for everyone involved. A few citizens were offering gifts of beer cans and bricks and assorted vegetables. He supposed he should be more grateful, but he really didn't have any use for such things, even if they went through the trouble of throwing them directly at him.

Something was still wrong though. Were the people cheering or shouting at him? Were they rushing to meet him or running away? It had to be the former, surely. People liked Superman. He was Superman. Therefore they should like him. No, something else was missing from 'Superman's' life. Maybe what he really needed was a supervilla-

Two supersonic streaks clashed into 'Superman,' their combined force more than enough to send him careening through downtown and past the city limits, crashing into the wilderness just outside Metropolis.

"Sad," he thought out loud as he slowly stood up in the forest crater. "Parade over."

"How on Earth could you possibly think that's me?!" Superman asked dejectedly as he and Power Girl descended towards the forest crater, the impostor 'Superman' now in clearer detail. "Just look at him!"

The thing that stepped out of the crater now only bore the slightest resemblance to Superman. In addition to the hastily cobbled together costume, the figure was awkwardly hunched over. Its skin had turned pale and deformed, like a slightly melted mannequin of Superman instead of a carbon copy.

"He was... more convincing before." The sight of a twisted, contorted version of Superman made Power Girl’s stomach churn.

"More convincing? The 'S' is backwards!"

"It's your planet's language, not mine," she retorted, even though both knew after several years on Earth her grasp of English was perfectly fine. "Look, I figured you were just acting weird and had your costume on inside-out or something. Maybe you'd been hypnotized or drugged. He also didn't look this bad when I first saw him."

"What... what happening?" the Superman-like creature managed to speak. Where before its impression of a drunk or deranged Superman was convincing, now its voice was distorted beyond any resemblance. Its words were disjointed and his vocabulary was degraded, as forming coherent sentences became more and more difficult.

Superman sighed and stepped forward. "All right then, let's get this over with. Who are you and why are you impersonating me?"

"Superman," the creature replied.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm Superman."

It paused, trying to work out the paradox in its clouded mind. "But me Superman?"

The real Superman shook his head. "No. You're not. You may sort of dress like me and have similar powers, but that's it. You aren't fooling anyone."

"I think more people were fooled than you think," Power Girl commented defensively.

"You... Superman? But me Superman," it repeated, confused.

Superman waited for the creature to drop the act, but with every second it seemed more like it wasn't acting. "You... really believe that don't you?"

"But if me not Superman, then what am me?" Fear joined the confusion in the creature's voice.

Superman adjusted his eyes to what was colloquially known as his 'x-ray vision' though there certainly weren't any x-rays or any other radiation involved. It was just an easy term to describe his ability to see through most solid matter. Not only that but with focus his vision could be adjusted telescopically and microscopically with more precision and detail than the most advanced camera on Earth. He scanned the creature as best he could, but even with his biological advantages he was a journalist, not a scientist. What he saw he could only guess at. "You're not another survivor of Krypton. I'm no expert, but your body looks like it's... degrading."

Power Girl did the same and scanned the creature. Although more familiar with Kryptonian biology, she was just as stumped as well as horrified. "That is... absolutely bizarre."

"Bizarre?" The creature repeated the word. "Bizarre? Bizarre. Bizarre." Over and over it recited the word like a mantra until it started clutching its head in agony. "Head hurt."

"We should take it to Star Labs. They might be able to figure what this thing is and what's wrong with it," Power Girl suggested.

"That's not a bad idea. Let's hope he'll come willingly," Superman agreed before turning to the creature. "There's something wrong with you. You're sick. We can take you to some very good doctors that will take care of you."

"Something... Sick... Wrong... Doctor... Lab... Bizarre..."

"This is the creepiest word association game I've ever seen," Power Girl muttered.

"No, me not Bizarre! Not something! Not sick! Not wrong! No doctor! No lab! Not Bizarre-o!" It flailed wildly and clutched its head in agony.

Power Girl tensed up, readying for the creature to inevitably resume its blind rampage. "Look, freak-show, I don't particularly care what you want to call yourself as long as it's not Superman, or anyone else I know for that matter."

"Kara, not helping!" Superman scolded.

The creature continued screaming as its own twisted logic paradox unraveled its sense of self at the seams. "Anything but Bizarre-o! Can't be Bizarro! Can't go back to Bizarro! Must be Superman!"

Superman spoke slowly and clearly, hoping to reach some kind of calm. "You aren't Superman. You can't be Superman. I'm Superman. You're someone else."

"If am not Superman, then am Bizarro. But can't be Bizarro, so must be Superman." Whichever it was, the creature stopped its mad lunatic raving and turned towards Superman with a cold, hateful stare. "Only one Superman. Can't be Superman if Superman is Superman. If am will be Superman, then Superman can't be."

Power Girl wasn't going to let the creature make the first move. At blinding speed she charged, hoping to incapacitate it. But the creature for whatever faults it possessed could react just as quickly. It turned its head and blue energy beams erupted from its eyes, enveloping Power Girl completely.

When the light faded, Power Girl had been flash frozen in mid-punch, iced over fist just inches from the creature's face.

Superman's gaze hardened. "That's enough. Either surrender and come quietly or I take you by force." His eyes glowed red as he warmed up his own powered vision to counter the cold just in case.

The creature responded by unleashing a blast of superheated plasma from its mouth like an energy cannon, catching the Man of Steel off guard and sending him reeling back.

Superman had been watching for telltale signs of his own powers: heat vision, freeze breath, and the like, but as the creature's body continued to destabilize, new and twisted powers seemed to form at will to mock his own natural strengths.

As soon as he regained his bearings from the blast to the chest, the creature was instantly in his face with a supersonic right hook.

When Superman flew at high speeds, he did so carefully to avoid shattering the sound barrier and damaging his surroundings whenever possible. This creature paid no attention to such concerns. Every punch was at Mach 5 or above, sending Superman flying hundreds of yards and instantly following up for another strike, destroying everything remotely near their path. In that short flurry of punches, the creature had ready beaten Superman back into the sky above the city limits.

Finally Superman caught one fist in his hand, followed shortly by the other as the two became gridlocked above the quickly panicking Metropolis.

With his one moment to act, Superman headbutted the creature in the face with a sickening thud. When he pulled back, the creature was barely bruised and even more enraged, returning the headbutt on Superman, bashing the superhero once, twice, three times with sickening cracks.

Superman's face was bruised and bloodied, and his vision blurred no doubt from a fresh concussion. All he could see was the bright glowing blue from the creature's eyes before everything went cold.

"ONLY ONE SUPERMAN!!!" the creature yelled at the block of ice containing Superman. Before gravity could do the work for it, the creature reared back and brought fists down, smashing the ice block like a comet into the street below.

Suddenly Power Girl rammed her shoulder into the creature's back. In her arms was a large tree from the outskirts she'd been left in to thaw. She swung the giant oak overhead and knocked the creature into the building below, making it crash through several floors. "Now THAT'S for the tree!" She dropped the trunk, satisfied with her payback, and flew down to Superman.

The ice block had shattered on impact, leaving Superman a little bruised but otherwise okay. "Come on, shake it off. This Bizarro thing is almost as tough as you," Power Girl said all too eagerly.

"We shouldn't call him that. It will only antagonize him more, and whatever he is, he's disoriented. He's attacking out of confusion more than anything else."

"You heard him. He's either Bizarro or Superman. So unless you want to volunteer to be Bizarro..."

Superman scowled. "Fine."

The building in front of them shook violently before being lifted off the ground, ripped from its foundations, held aloft by a slowly rising Bizarro.

"There are people inside!" Superman said after a quick scan. "One of us needs to go on damage control."

"Dibs on the doppelganger!" Power Girl yelled before charging, leaving Superman to rescue the trapped people.

"Wait!" Superman yelled with no effect. Bizarro hurled the building to crush Power Girl, but Superman flew up to catch it. He had the strength to hold it, but keeping a grip on the rapidly falling apart building was a challenge, especially as he took care not to jostle it and possibly risk harming the people inside.

He gently set the crumbling building at an angle resting on a nearby parking garage, carving an exit in the roof. Inside a mother and two children huddled together in the awkward corner. "It's okay. I'm here to help. Can you move on your own?"

The mother looked up and nodded. "Mr. Perez is on the ground floor! He's in a wheelchair!"

"Don't worry, ma'am. I'll make sure everyone gets to safety. Just get far away from here as quickly as possible," Superman said with a reassuring smile. He'd already known about the handicapped man trapped on the first floor as well as every other tenant still inside thanks to a quick scan of the building, down to their pets and the pests in the wall. He freed everyone as quickly as he could without risking injury or the building collapsing, even using his heat vision to create a small tunnel for the rats between the walls to scurry out.

Meanwhile, Power Girl blurred from point to point, zig-zagging as she closed the distance between her and Bizarro, superheated blasts from his breath exploding in her wake only a split microsecond to spare. When Power Girl was only a few feet away, Bizarro's eyes glowed blue as the flash of cold energy flooded everything in front of him.

But the resulting flash-frozen ice block, instantly formed from Bizarro's stare, was empty.

Power Girl struck from the target’s five o'clock, not that the creature would know what that meant, or even if it understood the concept of a feint.

Open-palmed strike to the ear. No need to hold back. Not when the target was someone as strong as her or Superman.

Bizarro crashed into the ground, its already confusing senses further distorted by the damaged inner ear canal. Along with no sense of balance, all it could do was fly haphazardly around, crashing through walls and anything else in its way, firing cold from its eyes and energy blasts from its mouth.

Even with the randomness, Power Girl quickly flew underneath Bizarro, coming up behind the creature. She wrapped one arm around its jaw, the other forcing its eyes shut, cutting off its projectile arsenal. With Bizarro resorting to flailing its arms wildly, Power Girl thrust one leg straight up into Bizarro’s back with a loud crunch.

"Stay down if you know what's good for you!" Power Girl growled. Bizarro couldn't speak even if it wanted to with its jaw held shut. Bizarro's entire body arched with its back, its limbs desperately reaching behind it. Power Girl knew how to maintain a hold, though, without exposing herself to such an attack. "Don't even think about it! Your arms won't bend back that far without breaking first!"

As if taking it as a hint, both of Bizarro's arms jerked back with a loud pop, dislocated from the shoulder. Power Girl was stunned by the self-destructive maneuver, just enough that Bizarro's rough, leathery white hands wrapped around her neck, hurling her overhead.

Power Girl crashed into a concrete foundation as rubble piled on top of her. It was enough to instantly crush any normal person instantly, but for her it was a mild nuisance to compound on the ache in her neck.

"You not can be Superman! Too soft and squishy! You stay down! Only Superman and not Superman fight to be Superman!" Bizarro snarled as a bolt of plasma erupted him from his gaping maw.

While Power Girl was trying to decide in split-seconds whether she could get out of the way in time or have to endure the attack, a water tower crashed between them, absorbing the blast in an eruption of steam. Superman hovered above the cloud, keeping an eye on both of the combatants.

"I was handling it!" Power Girl complained.

"The usual way I see," Superman replied disapprovingly, surveying the damage already caused. "You know we're both cleaning this up when we're done, right?"

"NOT-SUPERMAN FIGHT SUPERMAN!" Bizarro yelled as cold energy blasts shot from its eyes at the Man of Steel.

Superman quickly returned the gaze with his own glowing red-hot heat vision. It might have been an even match in power, but Bizarro’s freeze rays were spread over its entire field of vision, while Superman’s heat vision was focused into two precise lasers, cutting through the cold. The red beams struck Bizarro in his eyes as a hot flash of blinding, searing pain, and the creature clutched its face in agony.

As Bizarro was busy recoiling, Superman blasted the last bit of debris off of Power Girl, offering a hand to pull her out of the rubble. "I could have taken care of that myself you know. It wasn't that heavy," she said defensively.

"We need to coordinate our efforts. Bizarro's just as strong as us and has all our powers, or at least the equivalent. Fighting him one on one isn't getting us anywhere."

"But I can take him!"

"And how much of Metropolis would you bring down in the process?" Superman waited, but Power Girl could only hang her head. "Now's not the time for selfish pride. We need every advantage we can get, so we need to work together. Look at him." Superman motioned to Bizarro, who in its painful haze, tried to fly away but ended up crashing through the parking garage. "He literally can't even think straight. We can end his now, but only if we work together. Otherwise we risk drawing this out and putting the whole city in danger."

He was right. Power Girl knew he was right. It was the same conclusion she would have reached after a few more rounds with Bizarro, but Superman, ever the voice of reason, didn't have that same hot-blooded instinct to punch first and think up strategies later.

"Whatever," said Power Girl. Not 'I agree' or 'you're right' or anything her stubborn sense of pride could interpret as a sign of humility.

"This time, I'll take point," Superman said with a smile as he flew towards Bizarro's location. It had never been his intention to give orders or force Power Girl to do everything his way, but whatever lifestyle Power Girl had lived before, Earth was different, especially with their powers. Restraint and a delicate touch were never Power Girl's strongest attributes, but they were an absolute necessity.

Knowing exactly how much to hold back, how hard to strike without collateral damage, how fast to move without destroying everything in his wake. These traits defined Superman more than the powers ever would, and they were everything the creature before him lacked.

Superman hovered inches over the concrete as Bizarro wiped the sting from its eyes. "I really want to believe that you've had a chance to calm down. That no matter what happens, you're not going to win this. That if I ask politely, you'll turn yourself in peacefully and we can move on."

"NOT SUPERMAN!!!" Bizarro's eyes flashed blue, but this time Superman was instantly in front of it, jamming his fist into the creature's face before the cold energy could fire.

The punch sent Bizarro hurling out the other side of the parking garage, and Superman took a brief moment to shake the freshly formed ice crystals off his knuckles. "I was afraid of that."

Bizarro tried to right itself in midair before it crashed again, though by the time it could slow down enough to get its bearings, Power Girl was waiting just above him. Both fists slammed Bizarro back towards the ground.

Superman had already intercepted the creature's descent to uppercut it back into the air. They ricocheted the creature between them three more times in less than a second, passing him back and forth like a game of literal air hockey.

Even something as seemingly dimwitted as Bizarro recognized the pattern after a few hits though, and twisted himself in midair to throw a preemptive punch down at the Superman. It hit nothing but the ground.

Instead Superman blurred in from the side to strike, skipping along the street towards a waiting Power Girl. Bizarro managed to right itself long enough to fire a blast of cold energy, but Power Girl had already feinted to the right to elbow Bizarro from the side.

Bizarro couldn't get a shot in, either from his cold ray vision, his plasma breath, or even his super strength. Superman and Power Girl made sure it didn't have another second to try to right itself. Anything Bizarro tried was dodged, leaving patches of newly crystalized ice, pits of fire, and impact craters.

The creature could not understand what was happening. This fight was the most important of its entire life, one that would reaffirm its identity as Superman, of which there could only be one. But it was losing, and by its own twisted logic, that would mean it was not Superman, and if it was not Superman, than it could not be anything at all. It could not exist. There was no possibility of losing in its mind. And yet it was not winning either, instead left in a strange limbo.

Bizarro let loose another plasma blast, and once again Superman effortlessly dodged, but this time, Superman hesitated, if only for the slightest of moments. Although he had moved out of the way, Superman flew at top speed back into the path of the blast, bracing himself and taking the full brunt of the attack. The blast could have sent Superman reeling across the city, but Superman dug his heels into the ground and braved the attack.

"SUPERMAN!" Power Girl yelled. She knew he should have been fine, but those blasts were more than just heat, burning in ways that any other fire didn't, probably with some kind of intense radiation. But Power Girl wasn't sure how much a blast of that intensity could wound Superman.

The Man of Steel continued to hold his ground, though his chest was badly singed, the S-shield cleanly burnt through to reveal the red, blistering skin beneath. "What the hell were you thinking?!" Power Girl yelled, momentarily forgetting their fight.

When the blast subsided, Superman glanced behind him, where two children were paralyzed with fear in a nearby alleyway. No doubt they thought this spot would have been a great hiding place only a short time ago, but now if Superman hadn't intercepted the blast, they would be smoldering ash. "Go on, get out of here. It isn't safe!" Superman told the children calmly but firmly. They nodded and quickly complied.

"You... protect," Bizarro slowly muttered. Superman and Power Girl watched the creature cautiously, ready to resume the assault. "Superman protect people. If you protect then you Superman. But if you Superman... then me not Superman." Bizarro fell to his hands and knees, his aggression sated for now. "If me not Superman... then what am me?"

Neither Kryptonian had an answer. Power Girl looked to Superman silently, and the Man of Steel nodded. The battle was over.

"As of this moment, we still don't know much about the creature, where it came from, or why it tried to impersonate me," Superman declared into the microphone. "We don’t even know if the creature was acting of its own will or if it was being manipulated."

"Is there any possibility of another attack like this happening in the future?" asked Lois Lane the reporter, as opposed to Lois Lane the ex-girlfriend. Even without last night, maintaining their professional demeanors was always a challenge. It was a dance they'd been doing for years now, just a part of balancing the lives between Clark Kent and Superman.

"I can't confirm that one way or the other, but if there is a next time, we'll be ready. Now that we know that an impostor of me is a possibility, we can prepare ahead to better protect this city."

"And how exactly will you do that?"

"I leave that to the experts at STAR Labs. For now, the important thing is to help fix the city."

"As always, thank you, Superman, for being here for... Metropolis." Lois turned back to the camera. "The impostor Superman that caused the many incidents this morning has been subdued by the genuine article. Both Superman and Power Girl are working with emergency workers to fix the damage and restore order to the city. We'll have more on this story as it develops. I'm Lois Lane with Daily Planet Brodcast News.”

"Okay that's a rap. Take five, boys." Lois let the rest of the crew scatter to their normal routines, either doing technical work or grabbing coffee. Once they were alone, she turned back to Superman. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

Lois hesitated. Apologies were never something she was comfortable with. "For thinking for a second that it might have been you out there"

Superman smiled. "Well, you weren't the only one who thought so. I've still got a few bruises from Power Girl. But you’re here helping to set the record straight."

“I just... wasn’t sure how badly you’d react to last night.”

“You thought I’d go crazy and start smashing the city? Lois, this isn’t the first time we’ve separated, either as Clark Kent or as Superman.” The smile didn’t fade, but some of the comfort in Superman’s voice was lost.

“I didn’t... I just... I’m sorry. I should have trusted you.”

“But you haven’t changed your mind.” It was a statement, not a question.

Lois hesitated, her journalistic tendencies trying to think of a way to spin her answer to the positive. “No.”

“Well then. The interview’s over. If I stay much longer, people might get the wrong idea. And I know how much you don’t want that.” Superman flew away to where Power Girl was already hauling away rubble.

Lois was left standing alone. She had plenty of experience bottling her emotions and holding back her tears, especially on assignment. It was easier to ignore her feelings and be cold as ice in a career that dealt with war, murder, corruption, and all the other worst aspects of the world. Cynicism was practically a necessity.

Superman took away that cynicism. Clark never had it to begin with. He brought hope to this city, and restored things Lois had previously cut out of her life to focus on her career, like hope.

Now bottling those emotions was more difficult, yet more necessary than ever. Holding back tears while the man she rejected, the man she loved, flew off to save the world in every possible way.

Superman caught up to Power Girl and they worked tirelessly to clear rubble, fix streets, and save everything they could. Once the immediate life-threatening dangers had been stopped, of which there were few left, the rest was just cleanup work, stuff that would cost the city dearly in time, labor, and money to repair, but they could fix effortlessly in a few minutes.

“Superman, look.” Power Girl quietly pointed out where the creature was being escorted away in a large containment unit. “I thought Star Labs was taking Bizarro.” The truck loading the container lacked Star Labs’ logo, or any identifiable markers for that matter. The inside was heavily reinforced, even with a thin layer of lead insulation that could only have been developed to foil Superman’s x-ray vision. The outside looked like an unremarkable, if large Humvee. The guards wore neither Star Labs nor police uniforms, just something generic and black, like they were designed to be generally unnoticed and forgettable.

“I’ll go check it out,” Superman said as he flew over to a nearby policeman.

“Excuse me, officer. I thought Star Labs would be taking the creature.”

The policeman was certainly surprised, but it wasn’t unusual for the local superheroes to converse with the police to offer their help or other encouragement. “These guys showed up, waved some federal badges and claimed jurisdiction.”

“FBI? CIA?”

The officer shrugged. “Beats me. Any time I asked something they’d say it was classified and tell me to scram.”

“I see. Thank you for all your hard work, officer.” The policeman smiled and nodded. It wasn’t every day for an officer to receive a personal thank you from Superman himself.

He quickly regrouped with Power Girl, who was making some interesting observations of her own. “Check it out,” she whispered. Less than a block away from the truck hauling Bizarro was a black limousine. In the back, Lex Luthor cast occasional glances in their direction, but otherwise preoccupied with a smartphone. “Anytime Luthor’s involved you know something fishy is going on. He’s texting so we can’t hear whatever he’s saying. Give me five minutes. I’ll get him to talk.”

Before Power Girl could rush off and do something else Superman could regret, he stepped in front and cut her off. “That didn’t work last time and it won’t work now. We need a different approach. Come on.” Superman flew off, waiting expectingly for Power Girl to follow.

“Where are you going?”

“I need to make a call. This isn’t a job for Superman.”

To be continued...