Chapter 2
“Find him. He’s looking for you. You have to
find him.” A voice seemed to echo across eternity. Lois found herself
walking across a platform of unknown material, something like plastic, but also
like metal. Her foot falls were muffled, almost non-existent. She
walked, not knowing where she was walking to, but feeling called forward.
Someone stood in the distance, a dark cape slightly moving against some barely
felt breeze. Ivory white hair cascaded down the back of the figure
halfway down it’s back. As the cape and hair moved, they revealed a
feminine form, standing with arms crossed, like a captain or a general
overseeing some great force. She stood before a massive wall of stars,
planets and galaxies expanding into forever. The figure turned to her,
with stern expression across an olive drab face, something like a head band or
headdress forged of bronze, or a bronze like metal, and a single emerald eye
burning with some fierce inner fire looked directly at her. She said
again firmly “Find him!” Lois awoke.
Metropolis Nuclear Power Plant, little more than a housing facility for
radioactive waste since Superman helped the entire city work off of green
energy five years prior. On an ordinary day, it served as an abandoned
corpse of a bygone era, populated only by scientists trying to uncover secrets
behind radiation related phenomenon. Today, however, was not an ordinary
day. One of the main reactors had exploded, and out stepped a ghost
forgotten for almost a decade. A tattered cape fluttered in the
wind. It’s scarred face, rotten and decayed, glared around in pure,
unadulterated hate. It’s head, once full of golden locks now erupting
with radioactive fire. Its hands gripped the sides of the containment
unit, clawed talons melting the industrial strength metal. Its suit, once
black and gold now tarnished to charcoal gray and ash white, and where there
once was a starburst emblem with a stylized “N”, now was a constant eruption of
nuclear energy. “Superman!” it roared in Lex Luthor’s voice. “Where…is…Superman!”
“I’m right here.” Superman said descending from the
sky. “You don’t look so good, Nuclear Man. Perhaps you should lie
down.”
“I’ll tear you apart!” Nuclear Man growled as he launched
himself at Superman. He swiped wildly at Superman, but remembering too
vividly their first encounter, Superman dodged. The scientists had fled
the area, and the power plant existed on a manmade island to protect the city
from the event of a fall out. Nuclear Man swung around again, but
Superman caught his arm and spun him into one of the satellite buildings,
creating a massive hole. He felt a stinging in his hand and looked to see
it suffering heat rash. It soon healed itself, but he felt disoriented by
the contact. He looked and saw Nuclear Man standing back up, seemingly
unaffected by the fight. If anything, his fanged grinned made him look
stronger, more confident.
Superman unleashed his heat vision, striking Nuclear
Man. A white flash of light erupted knocking both back. Nuclear Man
was first to stand up, laughing with a sound like two rocks grinding together
“I like that. Give me more.” Superman struggled to his feet as
Nuclear Man unleashed another barrage of raw power from his chest. It
launched forward like a white hot flame. Superman braced himself against
the barrage, pushing forward against the blast. Burns started to appear
on his skin, his cape disintegrated and pieces of his uniform caught flame, but
he pushed forward. Nuclear Man halted his assault and Superman collapsed
to the ground. Standing over him, Nuclear Man let out a mocking chuckle
and kicked Superman onto his back. Looming over his fallen foe, Nuclear
Man reached down with a clawed hand. Superman’s eyes snapped open and he
unleashed his heat vision into Nuclear Man’s white eyes. He summoned all
he hand and pushed it out through his eyes. The blast launched Nuclear
Man back, his eyes smoldering as he clawed his face against the pain. He
saw cracks form in his skin, seeing white light starting to pour out. He
glanced back at Superman, and moved to end his foe, when yellow lightning
seemed to spark around him. He could feel some energy he didn’t
understand pushing him back. A red wind moving too fast to understand
moved between him and Superman. He stepped back, and heard the rush of
sound from a distance. He looked at his glowing hands again; he realized
that if he delayed or engaged whatever was coming, he would die. The
cavalry was arriving. He took flight and disappeared over the horizon.
With a sonic boom, Jason landed on the battlefield. He
saw Superman, prone, beaten, burned and helpless. He could see Nuclear
Man flying off, but his attention flipped back to Superman. Something
whispered in his ear. He recognized it, he knew the voice and trusted it.
He nodded in silent agreement and scooping up the Man of Steel, Jason
disappeared in the opposite direction of Nuclear Man’s flight.
Lois woke up in some kind of solid cell, just a cot, a sink, and a
toilet. The room was maybe ten feet across at best and about six feet
deep from the door. The door itself was solid metal with a single
window. She could hear creaking outside the cell. “Alright, Luthor,
what are you doing?” she asked the empty air. A speaker concealed in the
ceiling popped on “Oh, good, Ms. Lane, you’re awake. Or is it
Lane-White? It’s so hard to keep up with the times. I’ve been, eh,
a little busy these last eight years.
“Why am I here?” She asked angrily. “Insurance.”
Luthor said before he clicked off the speaker. Lois paced the cell, it
was chilly and there was no visible means of escape. She wondered if she
could call for help, but figured this cell was what Luthor considered
“Superman-Proof”. But what was the creaking noise, she wondered.
She paced the inside of the cell, her mind unable to think about anything but
the strange dream. “Find him…” she whispered. “Find who?” The
wall suddenly shuddered and began sliding down revealing some kind of glass
that was at least five inches thick. Lex Luthor, bald head gleaming stood
before her. He wore some kind of black body suit with electric nodes
placed on his shoulders, elbows, back of his hands, chest, thighs, and lower
legs. Behind him was a large lab featuring a large robotic suit.
Lois pursed her lips. “Nice outfit.” Lex glanced at his suit.
“A necessary evil, I assure you.”
“There’s really nothing necessary about you, Lex.” She
quipped. He smiled. “Touched.” He tapped his heart “Really.”
His face went suddenly serious “Now who do you need to find?”
“What?”
“You said…and I quote: “Find him.” Find who? Who
are you looking for?”
Lois shook her head. “I don’t know. Crazy dream,
probably brought on by whatever you drugged me with.” Lex grimace.
“Possibly.” He turned and went to a control panel. “Mercy. We’re
leaving.”
“Yes, Mr. Luthor.” Said a female voice over the
intercom. The entire building lurched and Lois was unceremoniously dumped
to the floor while Lex braced himself on the mounted work table. “Oh, you
might want to hold onto something.”
Superman awoke at S.T.A.R. Labs, his head felt heavy. His whole body felt
heavy. He struggled to get up, not having felt this weak since he first
threw New Krypton into orbit. “Its okay, dad, take it slow.” Jason
whispered. He was in some kind of hospital room, sensors and machines
were hooked up to him. “I…don’t…what happened to Nuclear Man?”
“You knocked him pretty good, I think he was starting to
destabilize. But he flew off before I got there. If I had been
there, we could have ended it.”
“No…it’s alright. We’ll get another…ouch.” He looked
down at his arms, left bare from the scorching of his suit. “I’m…hurt.”
Dr. Hamilton entered the room “Superman, I’m here. I’m
sorry I don’t have more answers for you, but everything indicates you’re powers
have been greatly weakened. It’s like the solar energy that fuels your
abilities has been…siphoned away.”
Superman clutched the side of his bed and twisted its metal
frame. He looked back at Hamilton. “You do have some residual
powers, your strength and foot speed is still far beyond human abilities.
You can still take quite a bit of damage. Judging from satellite
recordings of your fight with Nuclear Man, the blast he fired at you would have
vaporized a tank…so there’s that.”
General Lane burst through the door. “Goddammit what
the hell happened out there.”
“I’m fine, thanks for asking, Sam.” Superman said, getting
to his feet.
“Screw you, big blue. I’m talking about the walking,
talking nuclear bomb that just few off to god knows where. Besides, I
thought you were dead.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, General.”
“Jason, what the hell are you doing here?” Lane glared
at his grandson. Jason looked around, not knowing how to respond.
Every computer monitor and cellular telephone clicked on. General Lane
spun around to look, but at the same time a signal emitted, at a decibel that
no normal human could hear. Superman could barely pick it up, but Jason
clutched his own ear. The screens showed an image of Lex Luthor.
“Good afternoon world, and I do mean world, because I’m hacking into every
communication device on the planet. Superman! How are you? I know
you can here this, you and I’m guessing your kid side kick as well. Well
the Nuclear Man is out of the bag. Here’s the thing, I suspect he’s
probably not going to be happy with dear old dad here…” he tapped his chest.
“So I have a proposal. You defeat Nuclear Man within the next 48
hours. End him as a threat. If you don’t, and he comes after me,
Lois Lane will die.” An image of Lois pacing her cell flashed on the
screen. “Pretty straight forward really. You kill Nuclear Man, I
set Lois free. Nuclear Man kills me, she dies since I’m the only one who
can release her. You try to find me, and you just might, Nuclear Man is
left to run rampant across the globe. So…this looks like a job for Superman.”
The screen cut off. Lane turned and glared at
Superman. “This is your fault. You brought this on us and now my
daughter. I thought she was safe from you on the other side of the
country, but no.”
“Grandpa, stop.” Jason said, his voice brimming with
rage. “You hush up, Jason.” Lane pointed at the young man. “Me and
this…thing are talking.”
“I said, stop Grandpa.” Jason said again.
“Jason, no.” Superman said, holding up a hand. “Let
him say what he has to say.”
“I’m afraid we don’t have time. General Lane, I am
speaking with my patient.” Dr. Hamilton said. “Which is under
doctor/patient confidentiality and you have no business in here. We are
now aware of the situation and any more time you spend flapping your mustached
mouth about it is time not spent on finding a solution.”
“What the hell are you saying, Hamilton.” Lane growled.
“I’m saying get out.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?”
“The head of S.T.A.R. Labs, a private institution that works
with the U.S. government on an at-will basis, which means at any time I see
fit, I can pull out of our deal with the government without
repercussions. Do you want to be the one telling the president that the
institution with the most meta-human knowledge on the planet won’t work with
them because you can’t shut your damn mouth!”
Lane glared at Hamilton, then at Superman, then at
Jason. “Come on, Jason, let’s go.”
“Screw you.” Jason said. “I’m staying to help.”
“You are my grandson, you have to go with me.”
“I am eighteen and the hell I do.”
Lane stormed out. Hamilton picked up a phone
“Security. Please advise General Lane his clearance to the lab has
officially been revoked. He is no longer welcomed on the premises.”
Hanging up “I’ll set up a new liaison with the government
later. Right now we need to address your problems.”
“Problems?” Superman asked.
“Yes, I’m afraid your physiology isn’t absorbing solar
radiation like it used to. This isn’t a matter of flying into the upper
atmosphere to re-charge. I’m frankly at a complete loss of how to help
you on this.”
Superman thought for a moment. “If Earth science can’t
help us, maybe Kryptonian science can.”
“That might have to wait…” Jason said motioning to the
television. It was helicopter footage of Nuclear Man at Three Mile
Island. He glared at the helicopter and fired his eye beams destroying it
instantly. The footage cut back to Kat Grant asking “Where is Superman?”
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