Post by liquidsword34 on Jul 22, 2012 18:31:29 GMT -5
Ultimate Supergirl #4
Jax-Ur pt. 1
Jax-Ur pt. 1
"I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king
I've been up and down and over and out and I know one thing
Each time I find myself
I find myself
I find myself
I find myself"
I sighed before climbing up from my seat on the sofa and walking over to the record player on the other side of the tavern.
"It's just a bit of debris on the record" the bar maid Mary called over while wiping down the wooden bar, expertly navigating the sponge around the head of the passed out Neil Richards. Aside from Neil, an elderly couple were sat at one of the make-shift tables sharing a cup of water and Krypto was camped out on a broken arm chair with the arms missing and the stuffing ripped out. "Wipe it off with something". I rolled down the sleeve on my blouse and cleaned off the vinyl before putting it back in the record player, making Frank Sinatra's voice flicker back to life.
Mary had got the record player and records from a trader in exchange for a bottle of whiskey she'd found hidden beneath the floor boards. Most of the vinyls were chipped or scratched, barely working if at all, but the ones which played helped add a more cheerful atmosphere to the bar.
It was pretty early on in the day with most of Smallville's residents either being still asleep or out doing whatever work they needed to do. Sunlight managed to sneak through the battered roof of the bar, illuminating the rotting wood and dusty interior which would otherwise be hidden in shadows, for better or worse.
"Kara" I heard a voice from outside call. "There's somebody here looking for you". I walked out of the bar to see Jivan Shi talking to a boy of around my age wearing black and green Kryptonian armour. "Jax-Ur?"
---
Krypton, 1960 AD
"Who else from our class got selected?" I asked Jax-Ur while re-reading my acceptance letter for what must have been the hundredth time. I was lazily sank down in a cushion while Jax-Ur was pacing around my room in excitement, his face lit up with an ecstatic grin.
"Nobody, just us two. I think the other three are from Kandor. This is...this is amazing. We're going off planet!"
"I don't...wow" I murmured.
"Isn't this amazing, Kara?!" Jax-Ur roared, barely able to contain himself. "We're going to be famous! Heroes!"
"Well, if we go".
"Huh?" Jax-Ur stopped dead, like I'd just punched him in the gut. "Why wouldn't you go?"
"Going off planet could be amazing, but our family's are here. Are you sure you could just, leave behind all your loved ones like that?"
"Well if we both went, I wouldn't be leaving behind all my loved ones, would I?" I laughed loudly, making Jax-Ur snap his head around towards me. "It sounded better in my head, but you know what I mean".
"So...you really think we should go". I got up from the cushion and walked over to Jax-Ur. "What if something goes wrong?"
"Nothing'll go wrong Kara. Trust me". I sighed and took Jax-Ur's hand in mind. "Promise me if we get off Krypton, whichever planet we go to, we'll still do this".
"Do what?"
"This. Just, talk. You know? The two of us".
Jax-Ur hugged me and chuckled softly "You think I'd just abandon you if we went to another planet?"
---
Smallville, 2115
"I told you I wouldn't abandon you" Jax-Ur joked as we sat outside the bar on the boardwalk. He looked exactly as he did back on Krypton, with his immaculately shaped short black hair and piercing brown eyes, like he hadn't aged a day in over a hundred years. I had so many questions they seemed to all get jumbled up whenever I tried voicing one. "Although this isn't the amazing off-planet experience we thought it would be?"
"Not exactly, no, but it's great to see you Jax. My time on Earth has been..."
"Horrible? Hellish? Scary? Lonely?"
"All of the above" I replied, making us both laugh. "So, do you have, powers, you know?"
"Kara, are you serious? Powers? What powers?"
"You know...flying, being stronger, laser eyes".
"Kara...that's not normal it's..."
Jax-Ur stopped talking and stared at me, a trace of fear in his eyes. My stomach lurched up as I saw his reaction. After a few seconds he burst out laughing, rapping his hand against the table. "Of course I do, it's from this planets sun."
"I know that, I was just asking if.... You know you didn't have to scare me like that, Jax".
"I didn't have to, but I'm glad I did". I chuckled softly as Jax looked around over Smallville, taking in the decrepit buildings and dead land. "Not a great place here, is it?"
"Sure, but it's liveable. Where are you based?"
"A nice underground bunker a few miles from here. I built it around the year twenty-twelve on the local timeline, just in case of a disaster or apocalypse. I thought I was paranoid at the time but. I guess I was right to be. The whole thing's very state of the art. Climate control, clean water, it's like a paradise compared to this" Jax-Ur gestured around us. "Would you like to see it?"
"Of course!" I exclaimed. "Just let me get Krypto and we can head off".
"Krypto? Wow, I haven't seen him in so long". Hearing his name, Krypto ran from inside to my feet.
"Look Krypto, it's Jax" I called to Krypto, who responded by bearing his teeth and growling. "What's wrong?" Krypto backed away from Jax, barking loudly and aggressively.
"Ah, that will be me, Kara." Jax-Ur sighed. "This...well it's not me. I've been on Earth for so long, done so much, my body is in no condition to brave the creatures out here. This is a robot body I'm controlling remotely".
"But..." I touched Jax-Ur's cheek gently, "you feel so real".
"A Kryptonian with enough time and resources can do anything, Kara. You know that. I regret having to take this form but, it's for the best. So...do you still want to see me?"
"Why wouldn't I? You're still Jax-Ur aren't you?" I giggled, but Jax-Ur didn't reciprocate my joy, instead frowning.
"Follow this body, it'll take you to my bunker".
The two of us and Krypto rose up into the air until the clouds concealed us before jetting off away towards Jax-Urs bunker.
---
Mollo clawed deeper into the earth, crawling down the worm hole he'd found. "ALL HUMANITY WILL BE DESTROYED!" echoed through the tunnel as Mollo dug his hands into the soil, going deeper and deeper into the darkness. Insects clambered through his bleech blond hair and over his studded slaver armour. A loud hiss emitted as a drop of green goop trickled down the hole and landed on Mollo's ankle, causing Mollo to scream out in pain. More of the goo cascaded down the tunnel, burning through Mollo's flesh, bone and whatever else it came into contact with. Within seconds Mollo was no more than a puddle of toxic waste and burnt carcass at the bottom of a worms burrow.