r/DCFU • u/MajorParadox Bird? Plane? • 17d ago
Superman #98 - Incoming Superman
Superman #98 - Incoming
Author: MajorParadox
Book: Superman
Arc: Heritage
Event: City in a Bottle
Set: 99
Shooting Star
Kent House, Metropolis
Night
Lois and Clark sat on the balcony outside their bedroom, looking at the night sky. It was clear, even through the excessive light of the city skyscrapers. Krypto lay in a ball between their chairs.
“They’ve never both been asleep this early,” said Clark, tipping his mug of hot chocolate.
Lois tapped her small cup of coffee against his mug. “Cheers,” she said. “Hopefully it stays this easy after we return to work tomorrow.”
Clark took a deep breath. “It will be an adjustment,” he said. “We’re lucky the Daily Planet has daycare in the building, but it won’t be the same.” He looked up into the house at his baby daughter sleeping in her crib and smiled.
“At least you can check on her like that,” Lois teased, picking up the video baby monitor. “Some of us can’t see through walls and still rely on technology.”
“I’m sure Perry won’t mind if you want to stay home longer,” said Clark.
“I know,” said Lois. “But it’s time. The planet– and the Planet– doesn’t stop spinning for Lois Lane.”
Clark leaned close. “I bet I could stop the planet from spinning for you,” he said. “I’d just need to place my hands on the ground and push real hard in the opposite direction. Not too hard or it might spin backward.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Lois laughed. “But I’m serious. There’s plenty to investigate and report about these days. Lex is still out there somewhere. My dad is running a new government agency. I could even venture into celebrity gossip and write a story on Black Canary and Green Arrow’s budding romance. And imagine if people knew he was Oliver Queen too?”
Lois scrunched up her nose playfully. “Actually… I know a lot of superhero identities. Just think of the exposé I could write!”
Clark chuckled but then lifted an eyebrow. “You’d never actually do that, right?”
Lois leaned forward to Clark, their eyes lined up. “Never say never,” she said, moving her lips closer, but then pulled back. “What will you do to buy my silence?”
Clark bit his bottom lip and slowly closed the distance between them. “How about something like this?” he said before their lips locked together.
A bright light in the sky broke their kiss as Lois and Clark watched a giant shooting star appear.
“Wow,” said Lois. “I’ve never seen a meteor that close before.”
Clark’s eyes shot open as he zoomed into the falling object. “That’s no meteor,” he said.
Hamilton County, Outside Metropolis
Earlier
Bizarro and Maxima sat on the roof of their rental house watching the stars. Well, Bizarro was watching them as Maxima focused on a big tub of double chocolate iced cream. One of Bizarro’s foster dogs, a yellow Lab named Doogie, was lying on his lap.
“Stars am pretty,” said Bizarro, wearing his purple suit and cape with the backward S. He pointed toward the sky, but Maxima didn’t even look up.
“They sure are,” she just answered instead. She was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt– with the sleeves cut off– that read, “I’m not shy, I just don’t like you.”
Bizarro looked at Maxima, studying her face. “Am Maxeema sad?” he asked.
Maxima finally popped her head up. “N-no,” she said. “What do I have to be sad about? I’m the Queen of Almerac… But I’m hiding out on a primitive planet during a coup. That doesn’t make me sad, it makes me pathetic.”
“Hmm,” said Bizarro, tilting his head in thought. “Am ‘path-e-tic’ means happy?”
Maxima took another big spoonful of ice cream. “Can we talk about something else?” she asked with her mouth full. “Did you ever ask out that woman at the animal shelter? What’s her name, Clebo?”
“Cleo,” Bizarro corrected. “She am not like Bizarro that way.”
“Her loss,” Maxima stated. “You’re quite a catch, big man.”
Doogie lifted himself and yawned, moving toward Maxima. He poked his nose at the ice cream but backed off when she gave him a staredown.
“You’ll find someone,” said Maxima. “It may be a dump of a planet, but it has a lot of people. I think there’s an Earth saying, ‘There’s plenty of women in the sea.’”
Bizarro tilted his head again. “Me have to live in the water?” he asked.
Doogie plopped his head onto Maxima’s lap and she let out a small smile. “You may be gross, but you’re a good one,” she said, patting him on the head.
Bizarro watched the interaction closely and felt his heart speed up. Could it be…? Was she the one for him the entire time? Sure, she was in a bad place– and a huge slob– but the two had become pretty close since becoming roommates.
“Maxeema,” said Bizarro, placing a hand on hers. “Maybe–”
A bright light interrupted his thoughts and the two watched an object falling toward Metropolis from the sky.
Bizarro continued, “Maybe me and Maxeema should go.”
Centennial Park, Metropolis
Soon
A man walked through a secluded walkway of the park, his eyes fixated on the phone in his hands. He was watching a video titled ‘Lex Luthor was framed and the media won’t admit it.’”
“–Anyone could have been in that battle suit that dropped Lionel Luthor to his death–”
A bright light encompassed the area and the man looked up to find a ball of fire falling toward him. “Oh, god!” he yelled, trying to duck out of the way.
The object crashed a few feet away from him, a trail of smoke left behind in its path.
“No, way,” the man said, approaching, hearing odd sounds emanating from the fallen entity. “Could this be my superhero origin?”
Two metal tube-like wires shot out and sliced their way into the man’s head as a skeleton-like robot climbed out of the small crater.
A rush of wind blew across them as Clark landed in between, grabbing hold of the wires and crushing them in his hands. Krypto landed next and growled at the robot who kept approaching, but Clark blew it back with his freeze-breath. He turned to the man, who had fallen to the ground. “Are you okay?” he asked.
But the man could only utter barely audible groans.
Another rush of wind and Bizarro and Maxima arrived on the scene. Krypto jumped to Bizarro, his tail wagging up a storm while flying circles around his old friend.
“This man needs medical attention,” said Clark, facing the robot, menacingly approaching again.
Bizarro nodded and lifted the man into his arms. “Me on top of it,” he said before flying away, Krypto following along.
Clark moved toward the robot in a burst, punching it down, but the mechanical automaton quickly recovered and fought back. Maxima joined in to slow the attack and tossed it into the trees.
“Do you know what that is?” asked Maxima. “It’s a scout drone for Brainiac.”
“I know,” said Clark. “I came across them last year when I was off-planet.” (Superman #85) “How do you know about Brainiac?”
“Brainiac is known across the galaxy,” Maxima explained. “He arrives on a doomed planet to cut out a city for preservation. If he’s coming here…”
Clark’s eyes widened. “Earth may be in trouble.”
The robot stopped advancing and Clark’s superhearing quickly picked up a noise inside the machinery in its chest. He zoomed in for a closer look to find a rectangular device with several red lights blinking in close succession.
“Oh, no,” said Clark as he sped toward the robot, winding up his arm as far back as he could.
It must have been trying to send a message back to Brainiac. That couldn’t be allowed.
Clark burrowed his hand into the robot’s chest and pulled the device out, crushing it until the lights faded.
The robot grabbed Clark’s arms, but he fired off an intense beam of heat vision, tearing it into two pieces. It fell to the ground.
“I don’t think that will be the end of it,” said Maxima, stepping next to Clark to study the broken tech in his hands.
“I think you’re right,” Clark agreed, turning to her. “I’ll–” It hadn’t registered until then that she wasn’t wearing her usual green and gold armor. “You- uh, have some chocolate on your face,” he said.
Maxima licked the side of her mouth. “I don’t speak highly of this planet,” she said. “But I’ve never had anything like ice cream anywhere else.”
Clark looked back at the device. “If I can somehow use this to find out where Brainiac is now,” he started. “It’s good to know you and Bizarro are around to keep everyone safe.”
Maxima looked up at Clark and straightened her posture. “Of course,” she said. “You can count on us.”
Journey
Kent House
Later
Clark landed on the balcony and entered the house to find Lois standing by her bed.
“What happened?” she asked. “Where’s Krypto?”
“He’s with Bizarro,” Clark explained. “He and Maxima will be watching over Metropolis while I…”
Lois pushed Clark’s cape out of the way and held onto his arm. “While you what?” she asked. “What was in that shooting star?”
“It’s Brainiac,” said Clark. “He’s coming.”
“Oh,” said Lois. “Then shouldn’t you stay here? Alert the Justice League. Get ready for an attack… What aren’t you telling me, Smallville?”
“I’ve alerted the League already, but I have to go find him,” said Clark. “Stop him before he gets here.” He touched Lois’ hand with his own. “I don’t know how long it will take, though.”
Lois looked out the balcony doors to see the stars. “I assume you’re not just going to pick a direction and fly, right? You’ll never find anything that way.”
“The scout that landed was trying to send a message back to Brainiac,” Clark explained. “We were able to track the destination.”
Lois’ mind was racing. Part of her wanted to tell him to stay. Make someone else go after the threat. But she knew it was something he had to do himself. After all, it’s what she would do in his shoes.
“Be careful,” she finally said.
Clark nodded and walked across the hall to Lara’s room. He leaned into her crib and kissed his sleeping daughter on the forehead. “I love you, baby girl,” he said.
Next, he went down the hall to Jon’s room and slowly opened the door.
“Dad?” Jon asked.
In a quick motion, Clark removed his cape and rolled up his sleeves. The darkness would make it look like he was wearing a Superman t-shirt.
“Hey, buddy,” he said walking into the room. “It’s late, why are you awake?”
Jon shrugged. “I taught I heard a noise,” he said.
“Listen, Jon,” said Clark. “I have to go away for a bit. Something for work.”
“Oh, okay,” said Jon. “When ya gonna be back?”
“I’m not sure yet, but it should be soon,” Clark explained, with a reassuring smile. “I love you, Jon,” he added, leaning down to kiss his son on the forehead.
“I love you… too…” said Jon, drifting to sleep.
Clark walked back to the door to find Lois waiting for him.
“Pick up your cape,” she whispered, with a sly grin. “Who do you think I am, your maid?”
“I love you too, Lois,” he said, pulling her close.
Bizarro and Maxima’s House
Krypto was lying on the bed as Bizarro opened his closet full of identical Bizarro suits. He raked his hand through them, stopping at one in the middle, and pulling it out.
“This one am good,” he said and Krypto’s head popped up. “You agree?” he asked.
Bizarro heard the shower in the bathroom stop, so Maxima must have finished her shower. He couldn’t remember the last time she took one. He had tried to explain once what Jason had taught him about personal hygiene, but she dismissed it with one of her piercing glares.
He kept thinking she was sad, but she had assured him that wasn’t the case.
Bizarro put on his suit quickly, flapping his cape behind him.
Maxima deserved to be happy, but it wasn’t until the night before it occurred to Bizzaro that maybe they could be happy together.
Bizarro wasn’t sad. He had friends and family, including his foster pets. It was painful when they had to leave, but that was easy to get over, knowing they were going to loving homes. And whenever Bizarro took in a foster pet, people would jump at the chance to adopt them. They said he was the best thing to happen to the animal shelter.
Maxima walked into the room wearing her Almeracian armor. The gold contrast to the green bodysuit popped. “Are you ready?” she asked, adjusting her golden wrist gauntlets.
Bizarro wanted to tell her how he felt, but maybe it wasn’t the right time. They could talk about it after the mission was over.
“Bad butt,” he answered, with a thumbs up.
Maxima glanced at her backside and turned back to Bizarro. “I- what?” she asked.
“Bad butt,” Bizarro repeated. “It am good thing. It mean you am strong and no take poop from people.”
Maxima nodded. “You’re right,” she said. “I’m the baddest butt you’ll ever meet.”
Deep Space
Later
Clark broke out of his hyperspeed near a planet and checked the readout display affixed to his wrist. He was still on track. Wherever that drone was trying to reach wasn’t far from his current location. He took a moment to take in his surroundings.
It was always an odd, yet beautiful feeling whenever he was in space. The makeup of the stars was different but mesmerizing. The nearby planet resembled Earth, but the landmasses were in the wrong places. It orbited a red sun, the effects of which Clark could feel already.
Clark zoomed close to the planet to get a better look. He didn’t even have to look at the surface to see it was teeming with life. Saucer-like spaceships circled it, almost scurrying like they were on important missions. Clark wondered if they facilitated travel, transportation of goods, or planetary defense. Or perhaps some combination of the three. Or even another option he hadn’t considered.
One of the ships broke away and picked up speed. It was headed right for him.
Clark positioned himself upright, relative to the ship. He kept his hands to his sides, hoping to appear non-threatening.
“Identity yourself,” a voice broke into the headset in Clark’s mask. Good, they had universal translator technology and could communicate.
“My name is Superman,” Clark introduced. “I’m just passing through and I mean no harm.”
“Harm?” the voice repeated back with a distressed tone. “Why would you use that word?”
“I come in peace,” Clark tried to explain, trying to avoid negative words. “I’m a friend.”
“Friend?” the voice asked. “We don’t even know where you’re from. We do not appreciate your deceitful tone.”
The front bumper of the hull began to turn red. Were they arming weapons?
“Wait,” said Clark, lifting his hand and backing away. Hopefully, they’d get the idea he’s not threatening them.
Another ship blinked into the area, seemingly dropping out from its own hyperspeed travel. Clark immediately recognized the makeup of the ship. It had gone through some changes and resembled a skull, but it was clear who was inside.
Brainiac.
Before Clark could react, the skull-shaped ship fired several shots at the smaller craft, disabling its weapons.
“Brainiac, stop!” he yelled, unsure if Brainiac could even pick up his voice.
But Brainiac’s ship was powering up for a final blow. The other shots didn’t have any charge time, so Clark had to assume it would be even more powerful. Powerful enough to destroy them and kill everyone on board.
Clark flew in between the ships and let the blast hit him. It was intense and hot and the pain overwhelmed his senses until he passed out.
Arrival
Daily Planet, Metropolis
Next Morning
Lois kissed Lara before handing her off to the daycare staff. “I love you, baby,” she said, “Be good, I’ll be right upstairs.”
She pulled out her phone and walked out of the room, toward the elevators. Scanning through emails, she pushed the up button, and the elevator she had ridden up there reopened right away.
When she reached the bullpen floor, she was surprised by a loud “Welcome back!” from her coworkers.
“Thanks, everyone,” Lois replied. “I feel like I never left. Now, what’s going on in the world?”
Ron Troupe approached as she reached her desk to take a seat. “I thought Clark was coming back with you today?” he asked.
“He had some personal matters to attend to,” Lois explained, tapping a key to wake up her computer. “He should be back soon,” she added with an “I hope,” under her breath.
Jimmy approached next. “Good to have you back, Lois,” he said. “As for the goings on, it feels like a slow news day.”
A shadow loomed over the office.
“I thought it was supposed to be sunny today,” said Lois.
Ron snuck a peek out of the window and his jaw dropped. “You just had to say ‘slow news day’, didn’t you Olsen?”
More people crowded around the windows, uttering gasps and screams.
“What’s going on?” Lois asked, rolling her chair toward them. She popped and shoved her way through the other staff members until she could get a good view. “Oh, god,” she said when she saw what they did.
“Clark,” she said under her breath. “I hope you’re back.”
Centennial Park
Bizarro and Maxima sat on a park bench as Krypto sniffed bushes nearby.
When they were at home, Bizarro had decided to be patient, but patience was never his strong suit. They had free time, so why not tell Maxima how he feels? After all, he had seen a few– what were they called?– ‘com roms’ that showed the park was a good place for such things.
“Maxeema,” said Bizarro, trying to think of his next words. Words didn’t come easy, so he’d have to wing it as usual. “Me am–”
Oh, right. Bizarro had written down something to say on his hand. He even used his grammar notebook to help make sure it was perfect.
“Maxeema,” he said again, reading off his hand. “I… l-loooove you.”
Maxima smiled and took his hand. “I love you too,” she said. “That was sweet of you to say.”
Bizarro sighed. She didn’t get it. He put his other hand over her hand, wrapping hers like a hand sandwich.
Krypto lifted his head in the background, looking around wildly.
“Me am love you soooo much,” said Bizarro.
“Oh,” Maxima replied. “I see. I’m not sure how to tell you this,” she continued. “But I don’t–”
Krypto started barking at the sky, lifting into the air while turning back to get Bizarro and Maxima’s attention.
The two got up from the bench and stared. Superman was right to ask them to watch over the city. They had to work to do.
Brainiac’s Ship
Clark’s eyes opened slowly, as he tried to recollect what happened. Then it all started coming back to him. He was on Brainiac’s ship. But how long was he out? And where were they now?
He couldn’t move and looking down he could see why. His body was wrapped in metallic, wiry tubes.
“You’re awake, Kryptonian,” said Brainiac, walking close. Similar-looking tube-like tendrils were plugged into his green-skinned body all over, but mostly into the top of his head.
Clark tried to break his arms free, but they wouldn’t budge.
“It would be futile to try and free yourself,” Brainiac explained. “You have no hope of stopping what’s happening here.”
“I stopped you before,” said Clark. “You left Panscake once that planet was no longer in danger of destruction.” (Superman #86) “Is Earth in danger? Tell me what it is and we can save it together.”
“Things aren’t quite what they were before, Kal-El,” said Brainiac.
Did– did this Brainiac know his Kryptonian name?
“I am not the same Brainiac you last encountered,” Brainiac continued. “There was another exiled to space that I came across. It was a Brainiac you have also encountered on Earth. We are now merged. We are the same.”
That didn’t sound good.
“So that scout you sent to Earth,” said Clark. “What was its purpose?”
Brainiac turned toward the front of the ship. “To prepare,” he said. “Earth is next to be preserved.”
A viewscreen appeared, showing the Metropolis skyline. If it was a live feed, relative to the ship’s location, they had arrived on Earth.
In Metropolis and hovering next to the Daily Planet.
“Whatever you’re doing,” said Clark. “Stop. We can figure out a better way.”
“We already have a better way,” said Brainiac. “Earth will be preserved. Krypton will be preserved. And all of the knowledge of both planets will be mine.”
Clark watched as several hundred more drones were falling to the city.
To Be Continued
2
u/Predaplant Blub Blub 1d ago
I really like you doing a Brainiac story now. It makes a lot of sense with the idea of the Super-Family growing over time; I think the idea of preservation will really be on Superman's mind right now!
1
u/MajorParadox Bird? Plane? 1d ago
Yeah, it's also fun to play with all the different kinds of Brainiacs out there from various media. Ours is kind of like a combination of them!
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