Ultimate Superman #6: Eyes On Argus, Part Two

[DiscipleofBob]

Ultimate Superman #6:
Eyes On Argus, Part Two

All eyes were glued to the monitors. On one set of screens, Power Girl was squaring off against Lex Luthor's bodyguards, Mercy and Hope, and, against everyone's expectations, losing. On the other, Superman, the world's number one threat in the eyes of Argus, was being held at gunpoint like a common criminal.

Lex Luthor had dreamed of this moment. In the more self-gratifying versions it would be him pulling the trigger, but Luthor was a pragmatist. Just being the one to give the order to kill Superman was more than he could ever ask for. As icing on the cake, he could lord his victory over Amanda Waller, who until now had been happy to take his money but tried to shut him out of the Cadmus project at every opportunity.

"And that, Ms. Waller, is how to do your job. Everyone take notes."

"If it were as easy as a cheap shot from a kryptonite gun Superman would've been taken out of the picture years ago, if not by you then by someone else," Waller was quick to rebut.

"95 percent of all success in business is preparing for, recognizing, and exploiting opportunity. We don't blame our successes or failures on fortune."

Waller could have responded, but thought better of feeding anymore into Lex's ego. She didn't have to endure silence for long, as the door opened and an older man in a suit heavily decorated with military medals walked in. "What in the sam hill is going on?" the general asked before scowling at Luthor's presence. "What's he doing here?"

"General Lane, good of you to join us. I thought you military types were supposed to be punctual," Luthor said with an arrogant smile.

"Superman and Power Girl managed to locate this facility. They attacked, and now they're being dealt with," Waller explained.

"Through my resources, not yours," Luthor corrected with great pleasure.

"Agent Knyazev's our man."

"True, but that experimental suit is my design. As are the two ladies who are currently in the process of subduing Power Girl."

Lex Luthor motioned to the monitors for General Lane to look over. It didn't take long for the grizzled veteran to weigh in his opinion. "If you have that alien menace, hurry up and give the kill order before he flies away or something!"

"Don't be ridiculous, General! We can't just kill Superman!" Waller interjected.

"Why not? He just broke into a top secret military facility. Anyone else we'd execute for less, and isn't the entire purpose of this organization to eliminate the kind of threat 'Superman' represents?" General Lane and Luthor famously didn't get along, one representing the U.S. military and defending his actions as protecting the nation, the other a living incarnation of the military industrial complex and how a bigger wallet often trumped a bigger army. Their views on Superman were similar, however.

"No, Ms. Waller's right."

Luthor's casual response caught both officials completely off-guard. "That's something I never thought I'd hear you say."

"Believe me I'd love nothing more than to personally rid the world of Superman once and for all, but Superman is more than just an alien menace. To the rest of the world, he's a hero. You know what happens when you put a bullet in a hero? They become a legend. The only thing worse than one Superman is a hundred misguided copycats 'inspired' by his heroic death at the hands of a tyrannical government."

General Lane quickly protested. "So, what, he gets to trespass into any military base he wants because he's Superman? He's not above the U.S. government and neither are you, Luthor. You seem to think you have all the answers. What now?"

"What indeed," Luthor said smugly, all but ignoring the General for the time being. "I feel like a dog that's just caught the car I've been chasing all these years."

"This is Agent Knyazev. I have the target in my custody. Awaiting additional instructions," the Russian assassin said with a finger to his ear and a glowing green wrist-mounted gun to the head of Earth's greatest hero. After a moment of silence, he was forced to curtly respond slowly, emphasizing each syllable. "Agent Anatoli Knyazev." The response on the other end made him growl into the comm before reluctantly saying, "KGBeast."

Superman was careful not to move too quickly and risk another kryptonite blast. The suit was clearly powered by the stuff like Metallo, but unlike the robot version, the kryptonite wasn't exposed. He was certainly weaker than normal, but whatever kryptonite exposure he was under was slight compared to what he was used to. Still he had to give his body a moment to recover from the initial shot. "And here I thought the cold war ended with Rocky 4. What are Russians doing with a base near Metropolis?"

"I have not taken orders from Russia in a long time," KGBeast replied. Superman's hearing picked up digitally filtered muzak from the receiver and he couldn't help but feel somewhat sympathetic.

"Then who?"

KGBeast shot a glare before returning to his call. "Awaiting orders."

Superman knew that it was a long shot to get the information so easily, but it was worth it to at least try. His strength hadn't completely returned yet, but with Power Girl on her own he couldn't afford to wait too long.

As much of a professional as he appeared to be, Superman knew from personal experience just how much people would overestimate their own reaction times. They also thought his heat vision always appeared as glowing red laser eyes. Focusing his gaze on the offending barrel, it suddenly overheated, sparked, and let out a column of smoke.

Superman had to give his captor credit. Most people in that situation would be too shocked at their exploding guns to do anything, but this man reacted instantly bringing the gun on his other hand around to fire. Superman had already moved out of the trajectory, but even just being near the green energy blast weakened him a little bit.

Before he could aim again, Superman instantaneously rushed forward grabbed his working gun arm and yanked it to the side. KGBeast balled a fist and threw it at Superman's face. The Man of Steel didn't even flinch, feeling more sorry for the guy who was about to break his fist.

He was more than surprised when KGBeast's fist sent him flying into the other end of the room. "Incredible. This suit augments my strength, my speed, everything I need to make me a match for you."

Superman rubbed his jaw, which for once actually hurt, and picked himself back up, as KGBeast laughed. "Enjoying yourself?" Superman said with a grimace.

KGBeast flexed his arm, moving metal cybernetic fingers and smiling. "How many opportunities does one have to go up against a true legend?"

"Let me guess. Luthor's work."

"Merely the sling that I will use to slay Goliath. Come, Superman. Give me something to brag about to my descendants." KGBeast put up his fists, truly believing that the enhancements from Luthor's power suit would put him on the same level as Superman. Whether his perceptions were remotely accurate or not, the kryptonite exposure was another handicap in his favor. Superman wanted to take the high road and offer the Russian a chance to stand down. That wasn't going to happen as long as he thought he stood a chance.

Since he was waiting for the first swing, Superman took it, throwing punches at his shoulder and torso. KGBeast's strikes came fast and hard, sharpened with years of experience in Russian boxing and Spetsnaz training. Superman, on the other hand, had never even taken so much as a karate class. His experience throwing and taking a punch came from his years in the cape, from which only a fraction of a percentage of his opponents could actually hurt him.

The damage the power suit suffered worked in both favors. With every strike the suit's functionality wore down, but also the more power lines were exposed, weakening Superman further. At some point, KGBeast started to lose faith in his armor's integrity. He finally resorted to aiming his other wrist-mounted kryptonite cannon at point-blank range into Superman's chest.

He'd been waiting for the other gun. It was a sign that KGBeast was no longer interested in an honest fistfight. Before it could fire, Superman wrapped his hand around the gun and crushed it. The energy buildup exploded, and most of his arm went numb. It was probably as much exposure as he'd get from a direct hit, but at least the weapon couldn't be used again.

The loss of his most effective weapons didn't phase KGBeast. Superman was slowed enough that he was unable to completely dodge a quick jab, grazing his cheek, and very unexpectedly drawing blood. Superman zipped back to get some distance, the lingering effects of the kryptonite exposure causing some minor nausea from moving that fast. He had to press his hand to his cheek to confirm the blood from the small scratch. A second look at KGBeast found that one hand had folded back to reveal a metal blade. Under normal circumstances it would have shattered into pieces on contact with Superman's skin, but weakened enough by kryptonite a sufficiently strong, sharp weapon could draw blood.

"My new employers have been quite generous," KGBeast gloated as his other cybernetic hand transformed into a large gun barrel. "One of your kind took away my hands, but I will say the trade was worth it in the end." His knife-hand switched to a matching gun.

"My kind?" Superman briefly suspected that Power Girl might have encountered him before, but he thought he'd manage to keep track of all of Power Girl's heroic deeds over the years.

"Self-proclaimed heroes," KGBeast clarified before rapid-firing both arms.

Superman knew better than to try to endure whatever sort of ammunition KGBeast was firing. He rapidly shifted from side to side as the bullets exploded on the wall behind him. Superman remained untouched until both guns started clicking empty.

"I don't mean to sound prideful, but I think people like me have done a bit more to qualify as more than just 'self-proclaimed'. And you're out of bullets."

"I am not unprepared for that," KGBeast grimaced as both of his gun arms transformed again, extending into three-foot long blades. "I still have many possible ways to kill you!" Perhaps he didn't want to admit his reliance on the kryptonite's debilitating effects, but KGBeast charged and slashed with one of his new blades.

This time Superman stood still, having mostly recovered except for his numb arm. He caught the blade with his other arm and stopped it mid-swing. After letting KGBeast struggle for a few seconds, he gently pushed him back. Superman smiled. "Are you done?"

Frustrated, KGBeast stepped back before activating his cloak, his form slowly fading from view. "I am an assassin first. You cannot defend against what you cannot see!"

Superman stood still for a few moments before suddenly reaching out and seemingly grabbing at mid-air. On the first try though he managed to grab KGBeast's wrist and twisted it around, slamming him against the wall. "I have more different types of vision than I honestly know the name for. Your cloaking technology only worked for as long as I didn't know what and how to look for. It's over, Anatoli. You're done."

"You won't hurt me. It's not in your nature," KGBeast grunted.

"You're absolutely right. I would do everything in my power to subdue or disarm you rather than inflict any real damage on you." Superman briefly adjusted the pressure he was putting on KGBeast's arm. "These prosthetics look like they're very advanced, very expensive. I wonder how much it would cost your boss to replace them, or if they would bother if you did something stupid like pick a fight you couldn't win."

Suddenly KGBeast thought better than to struggle against Superman's grip. "What do you want?"

Superman leaned in to KGBeast's ear. "What do you say we end this pretense? I'm pretty sure you're watching all this. And I hope by now you realize how stubborn I can be. Either we can talk about this peacefully, or I can tear apart this entire facility."

Power Girl's fist glanced off the silver bracelet almost frictionlessly, just in time for the other woman to deck her in her unguarded cheek. For the umpteenth time she was sent flying without understanding how. She was stronger. She was faster. She could fly for Rao's sake! She had every advantage over Lex's hired muscle and she hadn't landed a hit yet. Every time she tried, they'd flank her. As soon as her guard was down trying to attack one the other struck.

Her body slammed into yet another freshly formed crater shaped vaguely like her body. She was actually starting to have trouble picking herself up from the ground. "What... What the hell are you? You're not human, that's for sure."

"More human than you, alien," Mercy replied.

"Point taken," Power Girl conceded as she picked up a nearby jeep and tossed it at the pair. They easily sidestepped it, but two lasers from Power Girl's eyes struck and ignited the fuel tank. The vehicle exploded and blew both of her opponents off their feet, finally separating them.

Every second counted. Power Girl launched at Mercy before the girls could regroup. She threw a flurry of punches and jabs. Any hit could potentially change the battle in her favor, but Mercy blocked every single strike with those damned bracers. It was as if she knew Power Girl's moves before she did.

Before she could think of a new angle of attack, Hope had already come up behind her, grabbing her arms from under her shoulders and putting Power Girl in an effective hold.

Mercy returned the pummeling, but unlike the bodyguard, Power Girl had no way to defend herself against the multiple super-powered punches. Power Girl tried to fly backwards to regroup, but Hope had her in a tight hold and was rooted to the ground. Her only consolation was that the strikes were spread out evenly enough that her body would at least bruise evenly.

Power Girl swung her legs up, the only part of her body still free, and wrapped them around Mercy's throat. She swung her head back to catch Hope in the face, and although she couldn't fly away, she could angle the rest of her body up, throwing Mercy across the hangar with her legs and positioning herself to be able to fly straight down, crushing Hope into the ground like a reverse suplex.

"Just when I thought Luthor's flunkies couldn't be any more of a pain," Power Girl growled before rearing back and delivering a full-power kick to the prone Hope. Or at least she tried, but Hope's arm reached up and deflected Power Girl's leg sending her flying. She barely managed to stabilize herself in midair. "Getting real sick of that!"

Hope had quickly picked herself up no worse for wear and was closing the distance, as was Mercy from across the room. Desperate to buy herself some time, Power Girl shot two laser blasts from her eyes, but again they were deflected by Hope's bracers. This time she somehow angled the lasers towards Mercy, who deflected them back at Power Girl, shooting her out of the air with her own heat vision. A smoking singe mark in her torso, Power Girl backed up midair to try and recover. "Okay, seriously! Take a hit already! It's only polite!"

One of the only ways Power Girl could avoid getting into a brawl with the two seemingly untouchable women was to stay in the air. Mercy caught up with Hope and used the latter as a pivot to leap straight up to Power Girl's position, spinning around and delivering a full-power kick to Power Girl's torso, launching her all the way across the room, tearing through three aircraft before she cratered into the far wall.

Power Girl was barely able to pick herself back up. Every single bone in her body ached, and yet her opponents hadn't even broken a sweat. Mercy and Hope casually approached Power Girl, stone-faced and completely assured of their perfect victory.

"It doesn't matter whatever you try next."

"Nothing you can possibly do can touch either of us."

"All you have is brute force."

Power Girl grimaced as she spat blood. "Let me guess. Next you start finishing each other sentences. I don't care if you're psychic or can see the future or whatever weird power or tech Lex gave you. I won't be beaten by one or even two of Luthor's stooges!"

For once, Mercy and Hope both smiled, giving a light chuckle.

"We are so far beyond Luthor or any man you've ever faced. Our protections come from forces you can't possibly imagine."

"No matter what you do, you cannot hurt us."

Their nonchalance incensed Power Girl. Where before she could barely muster the energy to hold herself up, now merely flexing her muscles destroyed the ground and wall around her. Her fists clenched tight and her entire face contorted in rage and screamed, "DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN OR CAN'T DO!"

Power Girl charged through the air. Mercy and Hope shrugged and ran to meet her with the same confidence they had before. At the last second before they could clash, Power Girl suddenly changed her trajectory ninety degrees, flying straight up.

"Didn't learn from last time? Fine," Mercy said before nodding to Hope. Again Hope helped to launch Mercy straight up in the air. Even with the advantage of flight, Mercy knew she could take the Woman of Steel no matter how high she went. What she didn't expect was for Power Girl to bust straight through the ceiling to tear through several heavily reinforced stories. Mercy without the momentum of flight, could only pivot off the ceiling and land on her feet.

"I didn't think she would flee," Hope commented.

"She didn't strike me as the cowardly type, no," Mercy agreed, somewhat annoyed.

"I guess we don't really have the capability to pursue?"

"I'll contact Mr. Luthor."

There was no rumbling or shaking, no warning, when an entire house-sized chunk of the ceiling fell, wrenched from the rest of the base by force. Several rooms in a row along with the concrete and titanium enforced floors and ceiling between them. At the top, pushing the whole stack down was Power Girl, repeatedly punching down, continuing to crunch the building on top of her two targets. "PROTECT AGAINST THIS!" She continued pushing the building down, her full strength behind each punch as she buried it so far down to be level with the hangar floor. Her rampage continued as long as her adrenaline allowed it. Only when her exhaustion finally surpassed her rage did she finally stop, barely able to stand.

Power Girl had to concentrate just to avoid falling unconscious. Superman might still need her. She couldn't even muster the energy to slightly hover much less fly.

Suddenly the ground beneath her shook, and she quickly realized the cause. "Oh you bi-" Two holes erupted from the wreckage, Mercy and Hope burst through, though now they looked as banged up as Power Girl. Flanked again by the two warrior women, Power Girl couldn't exactly look tough, but she could do her best to get ready for the fight to continue and readied her stance.

Instead of attacking, Mercy tapped her ear a few times, unsuccessfully raising her boss before Hope took the hint and tried. Power Girl relished the few moments to catch her breath, so she wasn't about to throw the first punch if she could use that time to recover. Finally, Hope spoke. "New orders. We're to stand down."

"You have got to be kidding me," Power Girl said dumbfounded. "Now you're going to surrender?"

"Circumstances have changed. Our superiors have negotiated with Superman. We are to escort you."

Power Girl was led to a conference room where Superman was negotiating with three individuals, two of which she recognized. The third seemed to be heading the negotiation.

"So we have a deal?" Superman asked.

The woman nodded. "You and your protégé stand down and will not reveal any details of Argus or Cadmus. We'll give you the information you're looking for and overlook the significant damages you've inflicted on classified military installation."

"You better know what you're doing, Waller," Luthor warned.

"We tried it your way, Luthor. Now it's my turn."

Just as negotiations were wrapping up, Superman turned to Power Girl. "Are you okay?"

"Don't. Want. To talk about it," she responded with grit teeth. "Are we really going to buddy up with Lex Luthor and... those two?"

"This is Amanda Waller and General Sam Lane. Both high-ranking government officials," Superman explained.

"So much for plausible deniability," Power Girl muttered.

"Now then, we're here about the... creature. The one with my likeness," Superman tried to explain without using the possibly insensitive Bizarro moniker.

"Please tell me all this isn't about some copyright lawsuit," Luthor groaned.

"I don't know what he is, but that creature's at least part Kryptonian. You don't have any right to hold it here," said Power Girl.

"It's not only our right, but our responsibility," Waller replied before adding, "Perhaps it would be easier to show you." She pressed a button on the conference table and the entire room started to shift and gradually go down, the lights from the windows confirming their direction. Once they'd traveled several hundred feet below the surface, the doors opened to reveal a vastly different room than the one that connected to the conference room above.

It was a vast, yet mostly deserted laboratory, with the exception of one glass tube in the center of the room, where the bizarre knock-off of Superman lay asleep. The glass tube had a large marking that read 'B-Zero.'

"B-zero. Bizarro," Power Girl pointed out, realizing why the name was significant to the creature.

"That explains a bit," Superman agreed.

"What are you doing to him?!"

"Subject B-Zero has to be sedated at all times. It's the only way to safely contain him. We don't yet have the capability to safely hold something as powerful as, well, you. The only alternative is to put it out of its misery, and I personally doubt that you would take the latter option," Waller explained.

"You expect us to believe you're keeping it alive out of the goodness of your heart?"

"Not at all. The primary purpose of B-Zero at this facility now is to give us a test subject. Argus's goal is to keep an eye on superhuman activities across the world and respond accordingly. Cadmus was supposed to give us the tools needed to respond to superhuman threats, such as yourself. Honestly, nothing we ever came up with could trump the mighty Superman, so at one point, we tried to clone you."

"What?!" Superman and Power Girl yelled at the same time, Superman more out of shock and Power Girl with outrage.

"The goal was never to clone a full body mind you. Just tissue samples, organs, things we could experiment on. Or perhaps even the Man of Steel might just needs donor organ in the future to survive a disease."

"You're trying to clone us so you can learn how to kill us," Power Girl realized.

"You're damn right!" General Lane interjected. "And before you get all high and mighty on us, keep in mind that if one day, one or both of you go rogue, or if another alien with power like yours shows up with less than benevolent intentions, the U.S. military needs some way to combat threats like you. Otherwise we may as well save time and surrender to the first alien race to make contact."

"Are there any other clones?" Superman asked.

Luthor, Waller, and General Lane all hesitated before Waller sighed and answered. "No, the cloning was a failure. Not only could we not stop a full body from being grown, but as you can see, the clone has a severely degrading genetic structure. The entire cloning aspect of Cadmus ceased a long time ago. Now Cadmus concerns itself with other, less hazardous genetic experiments. It's a miracle B-Zero has survived as long as it has, but eventually its own body will destroy itself."

Power Girl's outrage was momentarily replaced by sympathy for the poor pathetic creature. "How long?"

"That our scientists cannot tell. Some say days, other say weeks or months, but no one has given the creature more than a year even under ideal conditions. That was six months ago," Waller explained before giving time for it to sink in. "I get that you have reservations about this creature being kept in this state, especially since you share some DNA with it, but I can assure you that this is best. B-Zero is in a comfortable sleep and won't cause mass destruction just by waking up."

"How did Biz... the creature get out in the first place?" Power Girl corrected herself.

"The hardline to our power supply was cut off. Our tech support managed to repair most of the damage before any real harm was done. Our backup generator wasn't working either. Some programs malfunctioned, and the sedatives were not delivered in a timely manner thanks to the outages. After that, it was just bad luck. Since then our backup generators have been replaced and our tech support managed to fix the glitch that caused the initial problem. The only way this creature is getting out again is if someone lets him."

Staring at the sleeping distorted copy of himself was unnerving for Superman to say the least. Especially with the tattered copy of his uniform with the backward S. With a heavy sigh, he finally reached his own decision. "Thank you for being forthright with us, even if we did have to persuade you some. That being said, this was a severe breach of our privacy. I understand the need for you to develop ways to defend yourselves, and while I can promise you that the American people have nothing to fear from me, I understand how I might be the standard by which you measure your self-defense capabilities. But even by the grayest of moralities this crosses a line. If I find out about any future experiments of his caliber, whether it be from Argus, the military, or even LuthorCorp, I'll personally put a stop to it."

Neither Luthor, Waller, nor the General showed anything but disdain for Superman's warnings, but stayed silent for now.

"Come on, Power Girl, we should be going," Superman said as he turned to leave.

"Wait, you can't be serious!" Power Girl objected. "We're just going to leave Bizarro here?"

"I don't see another option. We don't have any ways of confining the creature so he doesn't hurt others or himself any more than they do. We can't just drop him off in the wilderness or on the moon. Bizarro is just as capable of flying and traveling as we are, and even if there were no people around, the damage he could commit on whatever environment he was in would be catastrophic. Someday, organizations like Argus may develop more humane ways of incarceration, both for superpowered criminals or even superpowered troubled individuals. For now, the best place for Bizarro is here. It's not the ideal scenario, but for now it is the best one."

Maybe if she wasn't still exhausted from the fight with Mercy and Hope she'd have the energy to debate Superman. But she honestly couldn't refute him for now. Instead she shot accusing glares at the General, Waller, and especially at Luthor before turning to follow Superman out.

Later that night, while repair crews were toiling away to try and fix even a portion of the damage, Luthor, Waller, and General Lane made their way down to the subbasement where B-Zero rested. This time they were met by a gray-haired scientist in a full lab coat. When he heard the superiors approaching, he paused his experiment and took out his glasses and placed the STAR Labs pen back in his coat pocket. "Well, today was certainly eventful."

"It certainly was, Dr. Hamilton. Now that things have settled down a little bit, our investor, Luthor, has some questions about our results," said Waller.

"Of course. I assume Superman didn't find out everything?" Dr. Hamilton asked.

"He believes B-Zero is the extent of things."

Dr. Hamilton sighed in relief. "Very well, Mr. Luthor. If you'll follow me this way." Dr. Hamilton led them to seemingly a bare wall, where he pressed the false panel and opened up the glass elevator to the next level of subbasements. "Project Cadmus started with B-Zero, who, as you can see, suffered some setbacks during the process." They all fit into the glass elevator and as it descended, warehouse lights were turned on, revealing rows and rows of tanks just like the one with B-Zero. "After B-Zero, we were able to stabilize the cloning process. There are some minor variations between specimens, but the most important development is we were able to completely eliminate higher brain functions, removing any possibility of developing sentience. They're essentially now drones, only made of meat and bone instead of computers.

Lex Luthor looked over the seemingly endless warehouse of glass tubes. All of them had figures suspended in animation, but unlike B-Zero which seemed distorted physically and appeared to be sleeping, all of the other specimens stood upright and emotionless, like dolls still in the box.

"What about that one in the back?" Lex pointed out the last tube to be illuminated, one isolated from the rest in a heavily reinforced cell three times as large.

Hamilton gulped nervously before responding. "We would make minor variations during each cloning. Most changes we implemented had no effect whatsoever. That specimen, however, that one grew more rapidly and more unpredictably than ANY of the other subjects, including B-Zero."

"Are you saying that one might be sentient?"

"If it ever wakes up, it would actually be more stronger, faster, more intelligent, and more invulnerable than any other lifeform known to us, including Superman."

"Sounds like the perfect weapon," Luthor grinned.

"You don't understand. The power surge that released B-Zero? It occurred because of that specimen. It tried to wake up, and we blew several generators trying to contain it.

"These other specimens? They're weapons. But that one? That's the Atomic Bomb. That's Doomsday in a box."

To Be Continued...