Post by liquidsword34 on Aug 12, 2012 19:19:05 GMT -5
Ultimate Supergirl #5
Jax-Ur Pt. 2
Jax-Ur Pt. 2
Jax-Ur's bunker sat at least fifty feet beneath the atomic wasteland under thick layers of dirt and sand. A metal hatch opened as the robotic Jax-Ur and I approached, giving us just enough room to fly down a vertical tunnel and into the bunker. Bright solar powered lights filled almost every wall of the huge bunker where Jax-Ur kept his work while small robots sped around on either treds or tyres carrying pieces of material or cleaning things up. As well as the main area cluttered with shipping crates and half finished projects, there were smaller rooms off to the side with glass windows through which I could see Jax-Urs finished projects. The robotic Jax took me through them like a tour guide, showing off various marvels of biology and technology Jax had created. Robotic versions of himself, repaired vehicles, unmanned drones, an artificial water fall with the first clean water I'd seen in months, enlarged bugs from the wasteland and even plant life which could never have survived outside. I held Krypto up to each of the windows while the robotic Jax-Ur explained each and every display and cool air blew through the cold and sterile room.
"Kara?" the robot asked me as I admired a fluffy white artificial cloud, gracefully hanging in a test chamber a few feet off the ground. "Do you want to see me?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Kara, I'm not what I used to be. Time and this planet have changed me, for the worse," Jax-Ur replied through the life like robot. The words sort of went right past me as I stared at the robots face. All I could think of was how it looked no different to how it was on Krypton, like my brain was rejecting the idea that the robot wasn't Jax-Ur.
"Jax, if you're the same person you could look like The Doomsday of Krypton and I wouldn't care!" I cried out. I'd often got myself in trouble on Krypton, forgetting how the very mentioning of Doomsdays name made some Kryptonians scared. Jax was one of the few people I knew who never scolded me for saying Doomsday's name out loud. "I've been on Earth for months and haven't managed to contact Krypton or any Kryptonians. I just want to talk to you, Jax. Face to face," I sighed and turned back to the cloud.
"OK, Kara. Follow this robot, it'll bring you down to me. But don't say I didn't warn you".
Slowly the robot led me through the bunker to a huge circular metal door. After a few seconds it rolled to one side, opening up to a black staircase filled with lime green lights built into the floor, walls and ceiling. I descended the stairs, feeling cold air being blasted through the deeper parts of the bunker to keep it cool. Each step seemed harder than the last, hundreds of them creating what felt like an endless descent into the freezing abyss. Eventually the stairs levelled out into a wide open chamber filled with the same neon lights as the stairs as well as hundreds of computers. Identical robot Jax-Ur's tapped away at keyboards hurriedly or stood perfectly still with their eyes closed to recharge.
In the centre of the room stood Jax-Ur, wearing a tight black bodysuit with a red toga style item over it. His body was withered and thin, both arms so small and frail they looked like they would snap off from a handshake. His skin was a pasty white and a metal helmet covered the top of Jax's head, on occasion letting off a quick spark of electricity.
"J...Jax?" I asked hesitantly as I weaved through the computers and robots towards Jax. Jax grasped a cane tightly, putting most of his weight onto it to avoid falling over.
"Kara?" he replied in a raspy voice, almost a whisper. "I told you...I'm not...how I used to be" he gasped before turning and walking towards a glass bubble of sorts in the back of the room, containing a bed, toilet and sink. Just being outside of the bubble seemed to drain him because he started to look weaker and weaker until he reached the transparent sphere.
"Jax, I don't care!" I called after him, following him to his bubble. As soon as I entered the bubble my body temperature plummeted due to the air being pumped in. Krypto backed away, preferring to sit just outside. "I don't care how old you are, you're still my friend Jax." The pressure in the bubble was crushing me like a vice, it was easily enough to kill most Earth based creatures.
Jax sat down on his bed and breathed in deeply. "I know Kara but...I hate seeing you on this hell hole of a planet." I sat down on a seat next to Jax's bed as Jax took a few more deep breaths. While the pressure was clearly affecting him, the cold also seemed to heal and refresh Jax. "This planet...the people on it...it's changed me. My body can't handle the radiation anymore...the sunlight...the years of damage," every word was a struggle for him, and every time he paused I was unsure if he would continue talking or simply fall silent and pass out. "If my body gets too warm...my cells die," .
"But...but how?" I balled my fist as I looked over my best friend, angry at what had become of him. "Who did this to you, Jax?"
"Humans," he muttered. "They hated me...for trying to help them."
"I don't..." I started, but trailed off as I welled up. The young, happy, athletic boy I once loved was a dying old man, unable to even leave a sterile freezer or say a full sentence. "Why couldn't you go back to Krypton? You have these robots, and with our powers..."
"Haven't you worked it out, Kara?" Jax's stare seemed to pierce through me. "Krypton...is gone. Everybody on it...dead,"
"No Jax, you're delusional" I muttered.
"Kara,"
"NO!"
"Kara, I"
"YOU LIAR!" I screamed out, slamming my fist against the bubble. Despite yelling at him, I wasn't really angry at Jax. I could always tell when he was lying, from when we first met at children starting school to when I sat talking to an elderly man in his underground bunker. He never even tried lying to me because he knew I could tell. And at that moment, I was sure he was telling the truth. I put my head in my hands and sat crying for some time while my gut tried to rip itself apart from the anxiety. My throat closed up and my hands tightened as I struggled to fight off a panic attack.
"How?"
"I...I don't know. Some time...between leaving Krypton...and reaching Earth"
"And you never went back?" I flew into a fit of rage again, my brains attempt to stop me fully analysing on the situation and going into a panic attack. "You never tried to find out? You ne..."
"Kara" Jax interrupted. "It's...too late. Nothing...I could do."
"This can't be happening, Jax. How...how did it end up like this? This planet, our planet, you?"
"It....is the way of the universe, Kara. The humans....savages. Hurt me...for trying...for trying to save them...from themselves"
"What?"
"Remember my father?"
Jax-Ur's father was always in support of Krypton being seclusive and insistent of Kryptonians being the universes dominant species, in stark contrast to my own fathers views on how Krypton should have been more diplomatic toward the outside world.
"He...he was right. Humans...are savages. Killed...this planet...and themselves," Jax put his head down on the pillow and closed his eyes. "We can...we can start again, Kara."
"Start again? Jax, there's society on Earth. Towns, tribes..."
"Brutes...unintelligent gangs...from a failure race. We can start again," Jax repeated as his robots inside the chamber moved to the edge of the room. The computers folded into the floor before said floor seemed to rip apart, revealing a deep pit. I pushed my face up against the window of the bubble looking down into the abyss while the entire bunker shook steadily along with a gentle hum. The roof of the chamber also folded back to form a silo going hundreds of feet up and out towards the world. An elevator came up from the pit with a green monstrosity stood on it as Jax's helmet light up slightly and a smile spread across his face.
"Chemo...will wipe Earth clean...of the failures" Jax called over to me as I looked at the monster. It was at least twenty feet tall and humanoid with huge thick arms and legs. Its "skin" was transparent allowing me to see the green plasma inside it. Metal tubing ran from the arms, legs and torso up to the head area where a thick metal helmet similar to the one Jax wore sat. "I can control...my creation. We will have...this planet, Kara. Chemo will...Chemo will purge the failures...and then you can be my Queen."
"Jax, Jax stop!" I screamed as the monster stood up, showing me its full size. On the palm of each hand was a vent of sorts through which toxic goop dripped every so often. "You can't just kill people!"
"Humanity...has done worse," Jax-Ur seemed to drop into a trance as he controlled Chemo. The elevator carried on up towards the light, leaving a small gap through which I could see Jax-Ur's monster. "And how...can they stop me? First...the ones who corrupted you, my Queen. Then all the humans." I tried opening the door to the bubble but it wouldn't budge and instead let out a series of beeps. "It's locked...for your own...good" Jax murmured. After a few seconds I gave up on pushing the door and instead kicked it clean off its hinges. "Please, Kara...we can save this planet...from its people."
"Jax, you're crazy! Stop that thing!"
"It must...be done, Kara. You cannot...stop it. You'll...you'll thank me."
The elevator hit ground level and Chemo began to sprint away like a bull out of its cage. Grabbing Krypto in my arms I took flight, intent on stopping Chemo from harming anyone. Jax-Urs robots fired beams of blue light at me as I flew up the elevator shaft, managing to exit the silo just before it closed and just avoiding the beams (Which I'm sure mostly likely couldn't hurt me, but I couldn't take the chance). From the outside it would be impossible to tell what sat beneath the seemingly random piece of dead Earth. In the distance I saw Chemo charging in the direction of Smallville at full speed. I let go of Krypto, allowing him to float alongside me as I made a futile attempt to mentally note the location based on landmarks (Which mostly consisted of rocks and more rocks) so I could confront Jax later.
"Stay close Krypto" I commanded while rising up to the clouds before setting off, speeding after Chemo.