DCU Superman #35

My eyes open as I get up with a sharp intake of breath. I immediately block the sunlight from my eyesight, still in a slight daze from earlier. I look down at myself,

 

“I’m still in my suit.” I get off the bed, looking around what seems to be a garage of some sort. I walk around the room, noticing small details. As the minutes pass by, most of my powers start to come back. I use my superhearing to detect two heartbeats, one of which getting closer.

 

“I see you’ve finally woken up.” I turn to see a guy who looks familar before it hits.

 

“Y-You’re the man who helped me with Metallo.” I look around again.

 

“Where am I?”

 

“My garage, where I usually make stuff. Like most garages.” He remarks.

 

“Right,” I walk up to him, putting my hand out.

 

“Superman, nice to meet you, properly I mean.” He looks up at me, eyebrow raised before shaking my hand.

 

“John Henry Irons.”

 

“Right. Um, I heard about your brother. I-I’m sorry, I wish I could’ve been there sooner.””

 

“It’s fine.” Right, clearly not a good topic to go on. I glance away, trying to change the topic

 

“How’d you find me?”

 

“He didn’t.” We turn to see a man dressed in black, with his hair completely gray and his eyes clouded by his sunglasses.

 

“I did.”

 

“And you are?”

 

“Calvin Hunter, special agent of the DEO.”

 

“The DEO?” John asks.

 

“Department of Extranormal Operations, the DEO for short. We deal with extraterrestrial beings. However, that is not my purpose here.” I step in, using my x-ray vision to notice his heat signature isn’t very prominent.

 

“And what is your purpose?” He gives a slight smile before replying.

 

“I should warn you to not be afraid of what comes next.” Before any of us can ask, his eyes start glowing red before shifting into the humanoid form I saw earlier.

 

“Well that explains a few things.” I comment.

 

“As I’ve said before Superman, my name is J’onn J’onzz, and we have much to discuss.”

 

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Lois sits in her son’s bedroom after taking him out for a trip to the park, checking her phone almost every other minute while playing with Jon to keep herself somewhat busy. Suddenly, she hears the ringtone coming from her phone, which she picks it up immediately.

 

“Hey honey.” I answer, trying to sound as positive as I can.

 

“Clark! Thank god you’re okay. I haven’t heard anything from you, what happened?” She asked with a sigh of relief.

 

“A lot, But I’ll try to give you the cliff notes, we’re dealing with a militia of metahumans that are being led by a cyborg gorilla man hybrid to destroy Metropolis with a metagene bomb.”

 

“Oh, so the usual then?”

 

“I’m not joking.”

 

“I know, you’re terrible at jokes. So what do we do?”

 

“You need to take you and Jon far away from the city before everything goes crazy.”

 

“We might be too late on that.” I hear from John. I turn back to see news footage of a shootout between cops and the Atomic Skulls along with a break-in at Lexcorp. I raise the phone back up.

 

“Nevermind, just lock the front door and make sure to not let anyone in, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

 

“Be careful.”

 

“I always am.” I hang up.

 

“We have to make sure Ultra-Humanite doesn’t activate the bomb.” J’onn says.

 

“I understand that, but I’m not allowing any more people to get hurt by these guys any longer. I’ll deal with the Atomic Skulls while you deal with Ultra-Humanite.” Before J’onn can argue against it, John intrudes.

 

“That won’t be necessary.” We look to John, suited up in high-tech armor.

 

“I’ll deal with them.”

 

“John, you don’t have to do this.”

 

“You’re right, I don’t, I’m choosing to. Look, this isn’t just about me, I’m doing this because whatever this guy is, he’s dangerous, dangerous enough that both of you need to stop him.” He reaches for his helmet, but I grab him by his forearm. He turns to me.

 

“I need this Superman.”

 

“For closure, or revenge?” I stare at him, searching for an answer through his emotions.

 

“Neither.” He grabs his helmet and hammer, putting the helmet on and applying the hammer onto his back..

 

“I’m doing this because it’s the right thing to do.” Moments go by before I finally reply.

 

“You know, I have a friend in Gotham who shares similar sentiments.” He scoffs, almost like he’s close to laughing.

 

“Now I know you’re crazy.” We all head to the roof of the garage.

 

“Lemme know when you guys have finished with the cyborg gorilla. Man does that still feel weird to say.”

 

“Try not to get too far into danger.”

 

“Are you kidding me?” The rockets in his ankles blast off into the sky. He looks back to make one final remark.

 

“Danger’s my middle name.” He flies offthrough the city.

 

“Well that’s a lie.” I reply when J’onn walks next to me.

 

“Shall we?” He asks. I nod before we fly straight for Lexcorp tower.

 

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A lone figure stands in the office for the once infamous Lex Luthor, the sunrise obscuring his look. As he waits patiently for their arrival, a thug walks into the office.

 

“Sir, we found him.”

 

“How badly damaged?”

 

“Honestly? With how fucked he looks, it’s a shock he’s still alive.”

 

“Of course he’s still alive.” The figure turns around.

 

“I made him as powerful as Superman, maybe even moreso. I’d be damned before I let my research go to waste.”

 

“Yes sir, what do we do with him?” The figure stands there a few moments before walking out of the light of the slowly rising dawn, and into the office light, revealing a tall, albino gorilla, his body modified with cybernetics.

 

“He may be a foolish mercenary, but he’s gotten farther than the rest. Bring in subject 323, it’ll help him in the long term.” The henchman nods before heading out to complete his tasks. The figure walks back to the window, staring as he sees two figures flying their way into the tower.

 

“Yes, things are now falling into place. And they will succeed.” He says with a smile.

 

“So says I, the Ultra-Humanite.”

 

Done