Chapter Forty-Nine: The Main Man Comes to Town Part One.
Time passed very quickly for many people, and it passed as fast as ever for one Clark Kent, known as Kal-El of Krypton. Clark went over the past few months in his head. It just seemed like yesterday he, with a lot of help from his friends, took down Lex after merging with HIVE technology and Brainiac. Lex currently rested deep underground in a catatonic state, his mental processes completely damaged. It seemed very unlikely he was going to recover anytime soon.
Clark had gotten a surprisingly lengthy reprieve from the chaos which went on in his life and in Smallville. There was a rogue meteor mutant here and there, a couple of fires he needed to put out, but for the most part, there was nothing threatening. At least, there was nothing which he could not handle very quickly.
Just because the last couple of months were very silent, it did not mean Clark had not been able to slack on his training. He stepped to the starting line of a course. In fact, he was the first one to do a test run of this particular course after it had been reconstructed on Earth, with the help of Astra and Lara. Clark felt privileged, just by a little bit, seeing what they had in store.
"It's developed to help train the Kandorian military," Astra explained. "It's one of the most rigorous courses they have gone through, although it is not the most rigorous course possible."
Unfortunately, Astra had some limitations setting up such a course here on Earth. She would have to use her imagination to get things done. It was a good thing she had such a vast and endless amount of imagination, otherwise, there would have been some problems.
Regardless, Clark stood at the starting line. She smiled, he was willing to learn, willing to expand, willing to test himself. She never thought the son of Jor-El would be the more physical type, built for battle. Hell, historically speaking, the House of El was geared towards thought and science, not towards battle. Astra thought Clark adapted well.
If he was going to break the mold than Astra was not going to fault him. She reminded herself she destroyed all expectations in her family. Alura became a respected science, while Astra went off to join the Kryptonian Military. It was something her parents did not appreciate too much, which was a shame. It was even more of a shame Astra did this for her, and not for them.
She turned to Lara, who finished calibrating a few of the components.
"So, Kal, I'm ready when you are," Lara said. "This is just a test, so don't think too hard on yourself, if you fail."
Lara figured, if she knew her son, he was going to put the best foot possible forward. This was a course which tripped up many seasoned people. People who entered basic training through the military, and perhaps thought they were more cut out for this type of activity than they really were.
"I'm ready," Clark said firmly.
"Very well, then let's do it."
A solo crystal pressed in and opened the gates. Clark stepped in, dressed in a newly modified version of his uniform. It was a darker blue, with the family crest, the symbol of the House of El imposed on it. He wore a red cape which flowed over his shoulders. Clark put his hands off to the side, took a long, deep, and casual breath. He knew this could be done, so it was time to do it.
Off went Clark, and the second he entered, the first of what he was certain was many pratfalls entered him. Red mist caused Clark to turn around. He would have been standing upside down, had he walked through this one. However, he was now flying upside down and flying at an awkward angle. He also could barely see what awaited in front of him.
Clark recalled his training. It was times like this where he should slow down, take a deep breath. Do not allow his surroundings to overwhelm him. Clark took these deep breaths, which got a little bit deeper the further on in he went. The young Kryptonian male flew as fast as he could. He veered off to one side, resembling a cork more than a human being, or indeed a Kryptonian.
A long moment passed, and Clark passed directly through the mist. He dropped down onto the ground, and he noticed the treacherous hills right in front of him. Parts of the rock looked like they were crumbling behind him.
Much to his surprise, the air seemed a bit too thin. He could not jump up and fly over the rocks. Therefore, Clark had to follow an alternate pathway up to the rocks. He took a deep breath and thought in his mind.
'Okay, I can do this.'
Clark jumped up to one of the rocks. The rock almost slid down underneath him when he made his way up to the rock. Clark listened closely for the rocks, so they did not shatter underneath him. He gently trampled on all of the rocks, and it was only one time where he almost plummeted to his doom.
He made his way up to the top of the mountain and crossed a rickety bridge. Clark learned very soon not to simply fly over the holes for molten hot lava shot over them. His heart raced, it was both very exciting and very nerve racking to try and cross over this bridge. Somehow though, Clark did it. Somehow, he made it to the other side of the bridge, for better or for worse.
Clark made his way to the endless field and noticed the field had a liquid at the bottom which he could sink in. Since it was only a simulation, he would not die, at least, he assumed he would not die. Still, it would mean he failed the simulation. His only way out was through a pathway of rings, through varying sizes and also they were moving. Some of them swooped up and some of them came down.
'So, I have to fly through rings.'
Astra mentioned she made a couple of modifications through the course. She figured the Kandorians would have to jump through them, and there was really no margin of error.
Astra and Lara watched the scene unfold. Clark was now coming to the part which tripped most new recruits up when they had gone through it. Astra took one look at it and smiled.
"He's doing only slightly worse than I did during my first run-through," Astra said.
"But, you did achieve even more in the future."
Astra slowly turned around and came face to face with her sister, who technically was her younger sister. Alura, looked like she had been observing the situation as it took place. Astra waved her sister over and smiled.
"How are you adjusting to your younger body?" Lara asked.
"It was a bit of a shock to learn Krypton is dead, and everything has changed," Alura said. "It's a wonder you had not entered the cloning process as well, Astra."
Astra shook her head. "I think we can both agree the last thing the universe needs, is a second version of me running around."
Alura smiled, her sister's blunt humor was right on point, as it was right on point many times. She observed her nephew moving through the rings. She always thought this was a very curious way. The people who designed this course were very cruel, and the rings seemed endless, especially on multiple levels.
The one person Alura thought to get information from, said it was to teach patience, focus, and the fact everything in life could not go smoothly as possible. Alura was going to take this person's word for it. It was true though, you needed a lot of patience to navigate these rings.
It had also been a long past couple of months. Her younger self-help repair her older self's artificial intelligence construct, and the artificial intelligence downloaded older Alura's mind into younger Alura's body. It had been the best of both worlds.
"And he's finally almost done."
Another couple of minutes passed, as Alura and Astra leaned forward, in an attempt to clock Clark's progress. Clark zipped through the exit ring and landed in the middle. His clothes were slightly tattered, with a couple of burn marks.
"Kal-El, the idea is not to hit the rings when you leap through them," Astra said. "If you were not super powered, it would have been a lot worse off."
"Yes, I gathered about as much," Clark responded, shaking his head. "So, how did I do?"
"If you must really ask that question, then there's room for improvement," Astra said. "Still, I'll say, you did no worse than most of the new recruits. In fact, the only new recruits you failed to beat were myself, Zod, and Faora."
Clark smiled, if that didn't put him in some good company, he did not know what would. Some time ago he would not have gotten even close to accomplishing what he did. Now times had changed.
"Well, I missed most of it, but if you made it through that course without wanting to kill something, then you're a lot more patient than I was."
Clark smiled when he saw the beautiful blonde haired woman approaching him in the Fortress. Her radiant smile lit up the entire room when she approached.
"Kara, you're back."
Kara In-Ze, known as Karen Starr just like Kal-El was known as Clark Kent, smiled, and she moved forward, to engulf her cousin in a heated embrace. An even more heated kiss followed that extremely heated embrace, with Clark grabbing onto the back of Karen's head and kissing her intensely.
Alura shook her head at the not so subtle actions of her niece, who she raised as a daughter given how much time Astra spent away with various military operations. Zor-El only approved of it, given Alura remained quiet about his various not so ethical operations with the mining.
"Yeah, sorry it took me so long," Karen said. "I was helping baby Kara go through a couple of things with her powers. She wants to do something to help. I guess it runs in our bloodline, it's hard to accept."
"It's time for us to go," Astra said. "To check up on the Kandorians, to see how they're doing. How they're reacting to life on Earth."
"Well, we have the entire Fortress to ourselves," Karen said, smiling. "Is Raya already there to meet you?"
"Yes, she is," Lara said. "She's helping replicate as much of Krypton. New Kandor isn't that far from the Fortress…..although if the humans ever discover there's a city of super powered aliens, I shudder to think how they're going to react."
"Well, they don't have their powers yet," Alura said. "And they may never, between the Blue Kryptonite and the Red Solar Radiation Jor-El used on the orb."
Alura's AI knew of the way to restore the powers, but she decided not to go there. She much preferred the challenge of dealing with life on a new planet, without the burden of super powers. She might have been very odd like that, but that was just how Alura liked to handle things.
The moment, Alura, Astra, and Lara moved off, Karen dragged Clark off by the arm to their bedchambers. She threw him down onto the bed and smiled when standing over him with a grin.
"You surveyed the entirely frustrating course of rings,'" Karen said. "I think this is a cause for celebration, wouldn't you think?"
Clark would have to agree. The older Kara joined him on the bed, their lips wrapped up in a kiss immediately. Kara's legs found themselves wrapped around Clark's waist, and their hands started to crumple each other's clothes, just in an attempt to remove them.
Kara closed her eyes, feeling Clark's hands part her legs, and go for the treasure underneath.
One finger slipped underneath Karen's skirt. Clark looked towards her, with a frown.
"No panties."
Karen smiled at him. His fingers touched her dripping slit and caused her breathing to increase, to escalate even.
"Yeah, none at all," Karen said. "You didn't think I was going to come here after all this time away, and not jump you, did you?"
He returned with an equally prominent smile. His fingers touched the edge of Karen's slit and caused her hips to rise up off of the bed she was on. He moved in to tear off her shirt. Her round, supple breasts had been contained in a bra. The energy from the yellow solar radiation left them nice, firm, and round. Clark pushed his fingers inside of her while going for her chest.
"Clark, oh Rao!" Karen moaned.
Her lover attacked Karen's chest without any pause. His mouth slowly lavished a path over the edge of nipples. One small suck of them spiked Karen's hormone levels. Her hips moved up to meet his intruding fingers. Clark pulled all the way out of her and slid deeper inside of her.
Clark loved the reaction of his lover to his fingers. Her mind and body spiked with heavy breathing. Clark was not going to back off, not in the slightest. He slowly pumped his way inside of her body. A second finger entered her and made Karen moan.
Time ticked down with Clark ramming his fingers deep inside of his lover's body. He also attacked her breasts, enjoying the moans coming from her when he nibbled on her eager nipples.
"You like that, don't you?" Clark asked.
"You seem a little….mmm…overdressed!"
Kara In-Ze's mind erupted in pleasure. Clark pushed his fingers deep inside of her core to stimulate her. Juices oozed to the surface. Clark pulled his fingers out of Karen and put them to her lips. Her fingers touched the edge of her lips.
Clark grew even harder in his pants when feeling Karen suckle on his fingers. Her talented mouth licked him, while her hands moved to undo his shirt and expose his sculpted upper body in the world.
Karen smiled, his already muscular frame had been even more prominent. She rolled her hands over Clark's chest and abs, feeling how firm he was. Her legs wrapped around him and flipped him over on the bed.
"Now, you're mine."
Slowly, Karen ground her sopping wet core on the other side of Clark's pants. The excitement began to build in the woman, to feel his bulge brush against her.
"I think your cock wants to be freed, doesn't it?"
Clark laid back, so he could let Karen have her fun for a moment. He knew his fun would be coming. She undid the bottom half of his pants and pulled his large cock out. Her blazing blue eyes followed Clark's cock when it extended like a steel pole up into the air.
Karen's lips parted, and she smacked them together. Hunger described what she felt. She needed this cock inside of her like no one's business. It had been a few weeks since she indulged in it, but that was more than long enough. Her hand wrapped around the base of his cock.
Her moist lips found the tip of his cock. Clark groaned when Karen slid down his pole, encasing her lips around the base and then came up to slurp on him. Each smack, each lick, each suck, each slurp, they grew in intensity. Karen lavished his cock, getting him nice and slippery.
When her fancy of sucking him off had passed, Karen moved into position and took her breasts, wrapping them around Clark. The base of his cock slid in between her breasts, disappearing within her cleavage. Her recent growth spurt had been obvious, both in height and in the mass of flesh in her chest.
Karen gripped the edge of Clark's thighs and allowed his thick rod to slip deep inside her immense cleavage. Karen's tongue brushed against the edge of Clark's head when bringing his cock deep inside of her cleavage.
"Kara, oh it feels so good!" Clark groaned.
The blonde smiled and leaned down against him. "Yes, Kal, it does feel so good…you know what would feel better? If you were inside my nice warm pussy when you were fucking me."
Clark's balls ached at her words. Karen slid away from him and moved over. She positioned her legs on either side of the bed. Her slit touched the tip of Clark's massive member. It did not intrude inside of her just yet. Karen leaned in, her chest bouncing when she rocked back and forth.
Seizing the hit, Clark took hold of Karen's breasts and gave them a squeeze. Her moan increased when grinding against his hard cock. It pushed against her entrance. Her pussy juices dripped against Clark's manhood and then it took just one more position to have him in position.
"I have you," Karen whispered hotly in his ear.
"Yes, you do," Clark said. "But, I have you just as much."
Clark gripped Karen's hips and she slammed herself down onto his hard cock. It entered her body with one fluid motion and spread her out.
The Kryptonian blonde shoved more of her body down onto Clark's very engorged and very swollen prick. She slid almost all the way down to the base, gripping Clark's engorged prick. She slowly pumped him with her insides, moving up and down on his base.
Karen rocked back on the bed, seeing Clark's hands move like a blur. They touched her bouncing chest. The blonde closed her eyes and started to bounce even further. Clark hit all of those pleasure points on her body. Karen's walls slid all the way down on him.
Clark could feel the burn, in more ways than one. She clenched and released Clark with each drop. Every time he entered her, it was a tighter squeeze. And speaking of a tight squeeze, Clark just had to grab hold of her round ass and squeeze it.
She moved all the way down on his pole. The Kryptonian survivor resembled a blur when she rode his cock. An orgasm spread through her body. Every inch of Karen's being was shot through pleasure. Her tight walls clamped down Clark's manhood and released him.
Karen bounced higher and higher on his manhood. Clark could feel her walls giving him a workout. She stretched over his love muscle and came all the way down. All Clark could do to response was grab onto her and drive his cock deep inside of her warm center.
"Mmm, that's the spot, right there!" Karen yelled at the top of her lungs.
She could feel Clark's engorged balls slap against her walls. It felt more than good, better than good as a matter of fact. Clark's hands clutched the side of Karen's hips and jammed inside of her.
"I have you, right where I want you now!" Clark yelled. "And there's nothing you can do about it, over than cum!"
Karen nodded, there was nothing she wanted to do other than cum. Her wet walls clamped down hard on Clark's intruding manhood. Her heart hammered several quick beats when sliding down onto his rod and then she released his hardening rod. She took his hard cock inside of her body.
"Yes!" Karen yelled. "There's nothing I want to do more than cum all over your big, strong, hard, thick, cock!"
She bounced even harder on Clark. Karen slid down to the base and lifted Clark off of the bed through the sheer strength of her vaginal muscles. She dropped down onto the bed. Karen's pussy dropped down onto him.
Time passed when Karen's continuous riding of his throbbing hard prick. She could feel the burn, of it, stretching inside of her body. Clark grabbed Karen's chest and squeezed it. This only caused her to moan even more.
"I'm getting close," Clark groaned.
"So, am I!" Karen yelled. "Together?"
Clark was down with that one. The familiar sensation of her tight pussy clamped down on him and started to milk his rod. His balls finally gave in to pressure and shot their immense load inside of her body. He released his tension inside of Karen's body.
Karen closed her eyes and felt his cum splatter inside of her body. She tightened around him and ensured every single last drop of burning seed entered her body. Karen refused to let a drop go to waste.
Both shuddered to a stop. Without another word, Karen pulled away from Clark and released his cock. She turned around on the bed and dropped down to her hands and knees to present herself for Clark. It was time for round two.
It did not take much to get Clark hard around her. Clark held his hands around her hips and slammed deep inside of her body. Karen clutched onto the bed sheets with Clark drilling inside of her with a quickening barrage of hard and fast thrusts. Her moaning showed Clark how much she enjoyed this.
Several intense rounds of love making later, Karen dropped her head onto Clark's neck. Clark and Karen, Kara and Kal, it did not matter, because the bond they shared was rather intense. Clark wrapped his hand around her waist when she snuggled his head.
"Is it just me, or have things been a bit too quiet?" Clark asked.
"Hey, we have more than enough to deal with, with preparing an entire group of Kandorians for life on Earth," Karen said. "Some have taken to it better than others."
She remembered her first awkward steps on Earth, in the original timeline. Boy, was it a challenge to be perfectly honest. Kara adapted though, went to the future, and adopted the name, Karen Starr as her alias, her mask, to further mingle with the humans.
Now, she returned to help Clark, and things were shaping up to be greater than ever. Having an entire army of Kandorian women extracted from the orb, that would prove to be interesting.
The universe was full of many fascinating individuals, creatures who had intelligence which was beyond the measure of what humans considered to be possible. Surely, there were many sophisticated creatures, who the people throughout the universe could learn a fair amount from during their studies.
A large, hulking figure dressed in biker gear on a flying bike, with a greasy black mullet, stopped at the edge of Earth's atmosphere, and let out a large belch.
Then, there was this man, Lobo, the Main Man, one of the most feared bounty hunters in the known galaxies. He was the best in the world at what he did, and what he did was hunt scumbags down for cash. Now, he was hunting this particular scumbag who had managed to acquire a significant price on his head.
He arrived outside of the third planet from this galaxy's yellow sun and checked his information. The sheet described a man who had been wanted in eight different galaxies, and on over thirty different planets. It would have been something which would not have caught Lobo's attention, only this particular piece of scum pissed off the bird men of Thanagar by stealing a priceless artifact.
This particular priceless artifact caused them to put a bounty on the man's head, and that was when Lobo cashed in. The Main Man gave a very toothy grin, but he made his way down on the bike through the very thick layer of pollution on the planet Earth.
"What a dive," Lobo growled. "The air's noxious…..think I might have to get a place where I can crash here."
Lobo tracked his mark, who he lost somewhere around Uranus. He chuckled at the unfortunate name of that particular planet. No matter what the universe was, that joke, it never ceased to be funny. Regardless, it was no more time for monkey business. No, the Main Man, he was strictly business.
He flew in, moving at the speed of light on his prized ride. He stopped at a sign which read "Smallville: Meteor Capital of the World." Lobo's tracker went off, and he parked his bike outside of the club.
A particularly surly human stood in front of Lobo.
"Hey, you're not on the list."
"Really, I'm not on the list?" Lobo asked. "Then, let me make a correction!"
Lobo grabbed the bouncer by the throat and hurled him down to the ground. He crashed head first onto the ground where his body landed. Lobo pulled out two guns from behind his back and looked at it.
"Think it might be a bit overkill."
The Main Man put the two guns behind his back, before removing a large honking bazooka from behind his back. Lobo snarled, looking pretty pleased with himself.
"There, that's more like it," Lobo said.
Lobo stepped in the front of the bar and blew the doors open. The Main Man entered the bar, bazooka at the ready. He looked around and looked around.
"Hey, Quintox!" Lobo yelled. "I'm here to cash in on you. So why don't you come out and face me like a man, you little pipsqueak!"
A bar fight started after Lobo entered as the patrons used this as a chance to settle their differences with themselves. Normally, this would be Lobo's idea of a party, but he had to stay on point.
'There's the little shit.'
Lobo gave chance to the man who ran out the door. He would not be getting away this easily, not if Lobo could help it.
Looking for weirdness was just something ingrained in the mind of one Chloe Sullivan ever since she lived in Smallville. If she could find the weirdness than she could assist Clark, find the things before they become the threat. She had been developing a small network of trustworthy people, who she knew would not bullshit her.
Lois sat on the bed, still dressed in her night shirt which extended down a small amount past her thighs. The brunette woman's frown deepened when she saw Chloe hunched over the computer. Her cousin got into this zone when working, it was almost scary to be perfectly honest.
"So, did you find anything?" Lois asked.
"No, not yet," Chloe admitted. "Wait, here's something."
"Is it something weird?" Lois asked.
"It wouldn't have caught my attention if it wasn't weird," Chloe said. "Let's see, some large hulking biker with white skin, dressed like a biker, has a greasy mullet, just dropped from the sky."
"Wow, is that one of…the meteor mutant people?" Lois asked.
Lois would be lying if the oddness in Smallville was something she could wrap her head around. There had been many times in the past where she tried to convince herself Smallville was just this quaint little town out in the middle of nowhere. Every moment that passed though, Lois realized Smallville was far from normal.
"I don't think it is," Chloe said. "The Smallville Special Meteor Mutant Defense unit, they got smacked down when they tried to engage him. He's carrying a large Bazooka, and a couple of other guns, if these eyewitness reports are like."
"Are you kidding me?" Lois asked. "Wow, that's a fine use of our tax dollars at work, isn't it?"
Chloe didn't say anything. Drastic times called for drastic measures. She activated her signal watch and knew Clark would come in a blink of an eye.
'And here is, faster than a speeding bullet.'
She managed to secure the papers on her desk.
"So, we've got something interesting," Chloe said. "I'm not sure if it's the good kind of interesting, the bad kind of interesting, or something else, but we're dealing with something very dangerous."
"Whatever it is, I can handle it," Clark said.
"There's this large, bruising figure, looks like a biker, pale skin, with a greasy mullet, thick as a brick wall by the reports," Chloe said. She punched up more information on the computer. "He has a nasty, rude, temperament. A foul stench if what this guy is saying is right."
Clark frowned, and he read some more of the eyewitness reports.
"That almost sounds like a Czarnian," Clark said. "But, that's impossible, their planet blew up ages ago."
"Well, your planet blew up, and you're here," Chloe said.
And Clark shook his head in response. Chloe nailed him full on with a logic bomb he could not discount.
"He's been sighted, going South," Chloe said.
If this guy, if he was a Czarnian or something else, was going South, then Clark had to go south. He adjusted the ear piece to make sure he was in constant contact with Chloe on his way.
Quntox didn't know how this went south. He had been a small time smuggler, trafficking in rare and stolen goods. Sure, he made his share of enemies, but it was just simple stuff. He didn't ask questions, as long as he got paid. Then, Quintox got involved in this particular mess. He had stolen a big time weapon for a big time arm's dealer.
The weapon turned out to be something Thangar developed for their latest war. The Hawkmen were not pleased with this particular development and the next thing he knew, Lobo, the last man someone of Quintox's nominal work output, wanted his attention towards him.
"Alright, you punk, you're not getting out. You might have given me the slip back at Uranus, but you're not going to get any further. So, come quietly, and I might not slap you around as much."
Quintox thought the race had been run. He would much rather deal with the Thangarians than Lobo. He turned around and saw the large man move towards him.
"Alright, just step forward," Lobo said. "Any tricks, and I'll nail you so hard, even your mother won't know who you are."
"Alright, freeze!"
Several members of the DEO turned up on the scene and made their way towards Lobo. Daisy and Alex were in the front of the charge. Quintox's eyes widened and he ran in their general direction.
"Please, please, lock me up, throw away the key, dissect me in some lab!" Quintox yelled. "Whatever you humans do to aliens, just please, don't….let me anywhere near that madman. I don't know where he's been, but he's pretty nasty."
Alex and Daisy exchanged a look. Both of the girls wondered what the hell was going on. They knew of Lobo, it was hard not to learn of him through the various aliens they dealt with.
Lobo walked over towards Alex and Daisy and gave them one look over.
"Hello, ladies!"
"Okay, fire!" Daisy yelled.
The members of the DEO with Alex and Daisy fired on Lobo. Their rounds, made to drop even the toughest alien, did not have much of any effect. Lobo gave a loud, rumbling laugh when staring them down. His gaze continued to grow even more in prominence when looking at them.
"Ha, tickles," Lobo said.
"Keep firing!" Daisy yelled.
"Alright, listen up," Lobo said. "You caught me in a good mood, so we're going to make you a deal. Step away from the dweeb, let me pick him up, get my bounty, and you'll all have a hell of a story when you go to the bar for an after work drink….do humans do that?"
Daisy was getting sick of Lobo, and his foul breath.
"Everyone stand clear."
"What are you going to do, Toots?" Lobo asked.
Daisy raised her hand and vibrated Lobo off of the ground. The Main Man flung up into the ground and landed with a sickening thud.
Lobo rolled over onto his back, and Daisy used her powers to pin him face first onto the ground. The Main Man dug into the ground and hurled a large chunk of rock out towards Daisy. He came just mere inches from taking her head off from that one.
"Alright, alright," Lobo said. "Play time's over…..I like a girl who plays a bit rough as much as the next guy. In fact, I like a girl who plays rough, even more than the next guy."
Lobo rolled over and whistled. His bike flew over and caused the DEO agents to scatter back. The Main Man reached over and picked up a large gun from the bike. It resembled a flame thrower more than a gun.
"Alright, clear, now!"
Lobo fired the gun and flames shot onto the ground. The members of the DEO backed up. A nasty grin went over Lobo's face, going from ear to ear. The Main Man stepped forward.
"I'm done asking nice, Quintox!" Lobo yelled. "I get paid more if you're alive, but you can still be alive and a bit crispy, can't you?"
A blur shot up on the other side of Lobo and caught him with an uppercut punch. Lobo flipped over and smashed into the ground.
"Could someone get the number of the ship that ran me over," Lobo grumbled.
A figure dressed in blue with a flowing red cape dropped down. Lobo looked up and immediately, he knew what he was up against.
"Kryptonian, get the frag out!"
"So, you are a Czarian."
"Yeah, the one and only," Lobo said. "Nuked the rest of my planet…."
Story time would have to be over when the Kryptonian plucked the main man off of the ground and hurled him halfway across the field. Lobo dropped down to the ground and rolled over.
"Okay, we got off on the wrong foot," Lobo said. "Look, I'll level with you. I just want that little twerp, Quintox, and I'll leave your scummy little backwater alone. Can't believe a Kryptonian would call a dump like this home, but, hey, who am I to judge?"
Lobo put a hand on Clark's shoulder.
"So, we don't have a problem, do we, scout?"
Clark slapped Lobo's hand away.
"If you're putting people in danger, then you have a huge problem," Clark said.
"Fine, you want to go, let's go!" Lobo yelled. "Come at me, Fly Boy! I'm going to make you wish you were on your planet when it blew up!"
Chapter Fifty: The Main Man Comes to Town Part Two
Clark rushed the large uncouth alien survivor and nailed him with a huge uppercut punch straight to the face. Lobo flipped head over heels and landed onto the ground with a solid thud. The Kryptonian survivor rushed Lobo with a full head of steam and knocked him for a loop with a tremendous spear which put Lobo directly onto his back. The Main Man rolled over onto the ground, coughing, and turned his attention towards the man.
Another charge towards Lobo and Lobo had been nailed with an uppercut punch which caught him on the side of the neck. Another couple of uppercut punches rocked Lobo and resulted in him bending at the knees. The Main Man's breathing increased before Clark hoisted him up off of the ground and knocked him back several feet causing him to land in the middle of the field, mostly away from civilization.
Lobo dropped down, the Kryptonian had been throwing him around like a sack of garbage. Granted, this had been how most of his dates ever ended, but this Kryptonian was not his type to be perfectly honest. Lobo pulled himself up on the ground and looked towards the flying man who rushed towards him. Lobo evaded the swinging punch one more time, did a tuck and roll and whistled.
Clark looked up jump in time to see Lobo's ride flying through him at full force. It started blasting lasers from the handle bars in an attempt to take Clark out. Clark avoided the bars from attacking him.
Bang! Lobo thumped Clark down across the back of the head with a punch. The Main Man lifted Clark over the top of his head and hurled him down to the ground. Lobo jumped onto his bike and reached into the side car. He pulled up a grenade, armed it, and tossed it at Clark's head. Clark threw himself down onto the ground to avoid the grenade from blowing himself up.
"Are you insane?" Clark demanded.
Lobo now had a miniature rocket launcher and fired it at Clark. The rocket missed Clark and nailed a tree hard. The Kryptonian drew in a breath and also smelled the decay in the air around him. His watering eyes showed how much of a problem he was now in. Those widened eyes of Lobo locked onto him, with a sadistic grin forming on the face of the Main Man.
"Nah, I'm not the one who is insane," Lobo said. "You're the one who got in another man's way when collecting a bounty."
"Innocent people were at risk," Clark said.
Lobo jumped down to fire at Clark one more time. He dodged the rocket blast one more time. Clark blocked Lobo's arm and the two aliens scrapped for a minute. Lobo caught him down across the back of the neck and dropped Clark to the ground. Clark whipped back and Lobo pressed his hands against the neck of the young man, forcing him to the ground.
"Yeah, well they wouldn't be in much danger if they just stayed out of my way," Lobo growled. "That's the thing, you stay out of the way, and you don't get hurt. Seems simple enough, doesn't it? Why do more people not do it? I don't know, do you, kid?"
Clark came in from underneath Lobo and knocked him back a couple of inches. Lobo ripped a huge chain off of his bike, wrapped it around his huge hand, and motioned for Clark to come at him. So Clark did, flying at Lobo at the speed of light. Lobo blocked Clark's face with his fist and knocked him back a couple of feet. Both of them engaged each other in battle.
"It's no wonder you're the last of them," Clark said.
"Hey, no need to get all high and mighty on me, pal," Lobo said. "And there's no need to give them any more credit. That was all on me. I nuked my planet for a science project."
Clark and Lobo battled with each other, both of them trading punches which resounded. Clark managed to sweep the Main Ma's legs out from underneath him.
"Gave myself an A!"
"You're not helping with the insanity thing!" Clark yelled. "You committed genocide and you're amused by it!"
"Hey, hey, hey, settle down fly boy," Lobo responded. "If you asked me, and I know you kind of didn't, but if you did, you would realize I was doing you a favor. A bunch of assholes, with no sense of personal hygiene or etiquette at all."
Lobo belched loudly in Clark's face, which caused the young man to stagger back a couple of inches. Lobo's teeth curled into a very devious grin when he looked at him.
"Really, did the people a huge favor."
Both Lobo and Clark went at it with each other again. Both of them traded huge cannon ball like punches. Clark finally gripped Lobo and took him up into the air. His arm wrapped around Lobo's neck and pushed him down onto the ground hard.
Lobo rolled over and tried to whistle his bike over. Only this time, Clark grabbed it and stopped its progress much to Lobo's very obvious chagrin.
"Hey, hey, hey! "Lobo yelled. "Hands off the Hog!"
Lobo whistled one more time and a blast of purple fire shot out of the motor cycle and caused him to fly head over heels. Lobo took the biker chain and walked over Clark to prepare a serious hurting to the young man lying on the ground beneath him.
A bright light appeared in the sky above them and sucked them both into oblivion. Lobo and Clark were both caught off guard.
Lara had been drawn away from her monitoring of the progress of the people of New Krypton by a strange flux of energy. She heard of the arrival of the Czarnian. The planet's demise was not even a blip on the radar, given the overall brutish nature of the people of this particular planet. Nothing of value had been lost.
Once one arrived on Earth, she knew Kal could have handled it one hundred percent of the way. The only problem was everything did not go completely, one hundred percent as planned, and now Lara lost touch with her son.
"Kara, could you go out to Kal's last known source, please?" Lara asked.
"Right," Karen responded. "I'll be there in a minute."
Lara, from her position, tried to piece together an explanation of what happened, at least the best she could. She just had one of those sinking feelings there was a really weird explanation for all of what happened. She just had a feeling, twisting in the pit of her gut that something was in fact very much entirely wrong. She could not figure it out off hand, it was just one of those feelings she had.
An incoming signal from the DEO had caused Lara to lean back a fraction of an inch. She had given Daisy and Alex access to the Fortress communications, given their potential future role in Kal's life. However, Lara stressed to both of the girls only to call the Fortress in the case of a dire emergency.
'Which, I'm guessing this is now. A dire emergency.'
Lara pressed a button inside of the Fortress and waited for the answer.
"Alex? Daisy?" Lara asked.
"We saw it with our eyes," Daisy said. "Clark, he vanished right out in the middle of the field when he was throwing down punches with that Lobo guy."
"Yeah, just when he was about ready to smack Lobo one too."
Lara could only smile at Alex's passionate words regarding Clark's chance for success. She hoped her son would have taken down this Lobo character as well, even though it seemed to be easier said than done.
"Are you saying my son and the Czarnian vanished?" Lara asked.
"Yeah, we were about ready to head over to their location to make sure there were no civilians to evacuation," Daisy reported. "We saw the fight, brutal by the way."
Lara hoped the brutality had been more inflicted by her son than inflicted on her son. Regardless she patiently waited for both Alex and Daisy to finish what they were saying.
"Then, suddenly, there's a blast of light," Alex said. "Just like that, Clark disappears, along with Lobo, and we don't even know. The DEO's on the ground now, but there's no scorch marks in the grass, nothing."
"Send me your coordinates."
Lara knew for obvious reasons there was not going to be anything picked up by human eyes or human invention through that field. She hoped the technology in the Fortress would have better luck pinpointing something. The moment Daisy fed her the coordinates, she accesses the satellites above the Earth.
The imagery of the field appeared, and Lara tried to heighten the sensitivity. It was very difficult to tell with all of the damage after the fight. Lara's frustration heightened when she looked over towards her.
"So, anything?"
Lara hated to have failed in finding something so crucial in her investigations, especially considering her son's life was at stake. She never once liked to fail, no matter what. Regardless, she could not deny undisputed proof when it laid out in front of her.
"Nothing," Lara said. "See what you can find on your end, and I'll see what I can find on my end."
"Right, I'll let you know," Daisy said.
There was both the worry of a mother who thought something happened to her son and also the worry of her adopted planet being destroyed. Lara tried to lock onto the energy signatures, but whoever was there, they did not waste much time standing around.
"I searched the area, there's nothing."
Lara just barely acknowledged her niece. She thought about bringing Alura and Astra back from New Krypton.
"So, what do you think happened?" Karen asked.
"I don't know," Lara said. "Go to New Krypton and bring Astra and Alura back for me. I'm going to need their expertise."
She already locked onto a strange energy signature around the area of Earth's Moon, but she could not be one hundred percent certain what it was. Lara hated to speculate on anything, especially something like this.
Lobo indulged himself in some of the most exotic drinks in the entire universe, but now, he felt like he had been flipped over and put back together the long way. He dropped down onto the ground. The Kryptonian dropped right next to him.
They were in the middle of some room, with no doors, no windows, and no obvious way out. Lobo looked towards him.
"Great, I go to Earth, to collect a bounty, and I wind up on some prison ship!" Lobo said. "And not to mention, I'm going to have to spend the rest of my life as a bunkmate for some self-righteous Kryptonian asshole!"
"Hey, I'm not too happy about it either," Clark said. "Instead of just sitting around, why don't we try to find a way out of here?"
"Sounds like a plan, champ," Lobo said. "You're the one with that big Kryptonian brain though? So you should be doing the thinking, and if we get out of there, I'll do the punching. Sound good?"
Clark didn't have any chance to argue. He just stood at the edge of the door, trying to figure out what he wanted to do, and how he wanted to get out of here. He knew these doors had to open somehow.
And if by magic, the doors opened and Clark's eyes widened.
"I don't like this," Clark said.
Lobo gave him one of those disgusted looks before shaking his head in response. "Hey, I don't know what the big deal is. Doors opened, what's the big deal? We can get out of here!"
The two of them walked down the hallway. Lobo took a step forward and saw through the door two large, ugly aliens, getting into a fight with each other. One of the aliens was just a bit bigger, and a bit meaner, pounding the other alien into submission with the use of a large metal ax. The alien dropped down to the ground, blood spurting out of the creature's head.
Then the man retracted a large bone spike from his foot and nailed him directly in the face. The brutality was savage, and Clark looked towards it with disgust, while Lobo looked towards it with awe.
"Gentlemen, good day."
Clark and Lobo turned around and saw a large hulking man dressed in purple with an ugly yellow face and red eyes. The man towered over both Clark and Lobo, who were both no small men.
"My name is Mongul," he said. "I'm the owner and promoter in this War World. And the two of you have been chosen to fight in today's games."
"Games?" Clark asked. "Is that what you're calling that display out there?"
The larger alien finally stopped beating the smaller one into absolute submission. Blood dripped from the rotting teeth of the large alien who stood over the smaller one.
"Good, old fashioned brutality is the source of entertainment and it's what the masses want," Mongul responded, his teeth curling into a nasty grin. "You always want to give the people what they want, because if you don't, they won't come back for a little bit more."
Mongul touched his finger and thumb together. Clark could see the battles in the arena.
"Hey, I see where you're coming from, big guy," Lobo said. "Good old fashioned violence, it's a nice way to spend the night, pounding the frag out of some poor chump who never saw it coming. Isn't that right, Fly Boy?"
Lobo smacked Clark on the shoulder and caused him to stagger a moment. The Main Man laughed, but then grew rather serious.
"But, you know, I've got a bounty to collect, and I've already put a lot of distance between myself and the twerp already thanks to this Boy Scout over here," Lobo said, jabbing Clark in the shoulder. "So, I'll be finding a way out, no need to hold my hand."
"You can't just expect us to fight in your games," Clark said.
"Oh, but I can," Mongul said. "You aren't the first person to try and deny me when I have invited them to fight in my games. Nor will you be the last. But, there's one thing you need to know. This War World is equipped with weapons far beyond your imagination. It can obliterate an entire planet in the time it takes to tie your shoelaces."
Clark was sickened by the thought of this.
"So, we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way," Mongul said. "You play my game, or Earth perishes."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, nuke the Fly Boy's new hang out if he doesn't play," Lobo said. "That might work good and well for him, but you're forgetting something. I'm not some chump boy scout who thinks Earth is all that and a bag of Tamarian crisps. And besides, no planet to blow up, fragrance!"
"Ah, Lobo, I wondered if you would hold that kind of attitude."
"Mongul, you should know all about my charming attitude by now," Lobo said, teeth curling into one of the more prominent grins possible. "And you should know, the Main Man doesn't play by your rules."
Mongul pushed a button and the image of Quintox appeared on the screen, in a prison cell.
"There's an interesting bounty on him," Mongul said. "So interesting, I'm going to have to turn him in myself and reap the rewards."
"Hey, listen up here, you butt ugly bastard!" Lobo yelled. "I put a lot of time into that one…"
"Or, I can hold him, and you can compete in my games!" Mongul said. "The choice is yours, Czarnian. What's it going to be?"
"Fine, you want to play, let's play," Lobo said. 'But when I take out whatever dweebs you threw in that arena at me, I'm gunning for you."
"I'd pay to see that," Mongul said.
"Oh, you'd pay alright," Lobo said. "You'd pay alright!"
"And I trust I know what the Kryptonians answer is going to be," Mongul said. "After all, their honor is amusing, if not a bit unsettling, with how they would hold affection to an obscure planet."
Clark nodded, not trusting himself to do anything else. He had no idea what this War World was all about, but it was very dangerous. He had been suckered into fighting these games, and he did not like it, he did not like it by a longshot. What choice did he have?
Lara parked herself in front of the computer at the Fortress. She now needed to know what they were going up against. Her obsession had been perfectly blunt. The gates opened and Alura and Astra made their way in. Alura moved over, and her mouth hung completely open the moment she stopped in front of the computer system.
"Is that, what I think it is?" Alura asked.
Astra looked up towards the blip of energy, along with the strange images flashing across the screen. "It almost looks like there's a War World hovering above the planet."
"That's what I thought as well," Lara said. "Which means, Kal has been selected to compete."
Astra's very audible groan showed precisely what she thought about this particular situation. She tried not to lose her mind over this, but she was very annoyed.
"Yes, the last male Kryptonian fighting atop of War World, to the death, would be the sick thing he could be into," Astra said. "Mongul, if he's still around, then he hasn't changed his tricks since Krypton died."
The trio of Kryptonian women had been joined by Raya and Karen. Their expertise would be welcomed. Astra's eyes glazed over when she hovered over the screen in an attempt to piece together a working theory.
"If he refuses to compete, Earth is forfeit," Astra said. "If he doesn't win, Earth is forfeit. Mongul always blows up the planets of the loser."
"We're aware of what that abomination does," Alura said. "Why haven't the Guardians of the Universe done anything about him yet?"
Astra could not help to give a very prominent scoff at the thought of the Guardians doing anything. Those glorified space elves spent too much time debating protocol, and not enough time actually doing anything which might help the people they claim to serve. Astra held no confidence they could help anyone, in any way whatsoever.
"We have a slight issue," Astra responded. "If our army was anywhere near ready, we would have a chance."
"The War World is the most dangerous weapon in the universe, and it has defenses which are just as dangerous as its offensive capabilities," Raya said. "It would take a miracle to even get onboard the ship."
"We don't need miracles, we don't do miracles, we need competence," Astra said. "And thankfully, we have the most brilliant mind Krypton ever produced at our disposal."
Astra turned towards the younger copy of her sister. Alura tried to look modest. Her sister did not do the compliments that often, so when she did, it was a very magical moment. Alura put her attention towards the War World.
"We're going to need help," Alura said.
"I know," Lara said. "And I know where we're going to have to get it as well."
Lara bit down on her lip and made contact with someone on the outside.
"Tess," Lara said. "We have a situation, Plan Seven needs to be executed."
"Well, that's not something I expected to happen, but….at the same time, we should have expected it," Tess said. Her voice sounded very solemn and very somber. "I'll make sure to get the necessary ready to execute Plan Seven."
"So, Plan Seven?" Karen asked.
"Yes," Astra said. "Hopefully, it's going to pay off…although, once we take care of Mongul and get him off of the War World, we should consider something. You know, it's very useful and it's…"
"Astra, no!" Alura said bluntly.
"But….."
"No!" Lara, Alura, and Karen all piped up in unison.
Astra sighed, it was just a suggestion, and she had been shut down rather cold in the process. Her arms shifted together a couple of seconds, but she decided to remain business as usual. Her gaze locked onto Alura who was hard at work on the computer.
"So, I think we might have a potential access point," Alura said. "Indigo, are you here?"
"Present. And it's good to see you again, Alura."
Mongul stepped out to address the blood thirsty patrons of War World. Everyone was getting very rowdy tonight, all of them pumping their fists into the air and screaming. They wanted blood, they wanted carnage, they wanted all of the benefits of War World.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another day of games!" Mongul yelled. "Now that the preliminary competition has been over, and your bloodlust is warmed up, we can move forward. And we've got a special treat for you today. Here she is, the undisputed, the undefeated champion of the games. You know her as the one, the only, Big Barda!"
A woman standing close to seven feet tall stepped into the arena. She walked past the cheering crowd, dressed in a black top, and a pair of short black shorts. She stepped into the arena with nothing other than her bare hands as a weapon.
"Damn, what a number," Lobo said, whistling from the side.
"Yeah, well one of you two are going to fight her next," one of the other competitors said to the side. "Maybe you could ask her out on a date when she's busy ripping you limb from limb."
"Hey, buddy, getting beat up by a woman is foreplay on some planets," Lobo said. He turned towards Clark and gave him a smile. "So, do you think I have a chance?"
"Against her in a fight, or asking her out?" Clark asked.
"Ha, ha, what a card," Lobo chuckled.
Barda stepped into the arena and a large, grotesque alien with purple arms, with slime dripping out of his mouth, stepped into the center of the ring. Barda looked up towards him, without blinking.
"And here we have Maxus, from Sector Nineteen, a favorite of the Games!" Mongul yelled. "Do you think he has a chance to take down Big Barda?"
Maxus charged Barda with all six arms swinging. Barda dodged the fists of fury and grabbed one of the arms. She snapped it back and caused a huge break. The snapping of the arm brought Maxus down to the ground in agony. Barda threw him down to the ground and resulted in him in hitting with a solid crash.
Barda charged her adversary and nailed him with a punch to the fleshy part of the stomach. He doubled over and a grayish, green blood splattered out of his mouth. Barda slammed her fist into the man's chest and doubled him over once again. Multiple punches rocked him and doubled him over.
Then, she flipped the alien onto the ground and caused him to slam down hard with one swift shot. Barda took half of a step back and surveyed her handiwork.
"Who else wants some?"
"So, how about it, Fly Boy?" Lobo asked. "Rock, paper, scissors, the winner gets the first crack at Big Bertha."
"Actually, it's…"
"Ready, set, go!" Lobo yelled.
Clark sighed and engaged the Czarnian in the universal tradition of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Lobo held out his hands in scissors while Clark got rock.
"Ah, I won!" Lobo said.
"Rock beats scissors though," Clark said.
"Nah, you don't get how this works, the humans have taught you wrong," Lobo said. "You see, I take the scissors, stab you, and you drop the rock. Easy enough, right?"
Lobo stepped into the battle arena. Mongul looked down at him with a smile. Barda stared at him, with very obvious contempt.
Clark watched from the side. He had to admit, Barda was impressive, but there was something about her demeanor. She was not here willingly, then again, given Mongul's practices, he doubted anyone in this fighting arena was here willingly.
"And we have the final Czarnian," Mongul said. "Will he join the rest of his species? Stay tuned right after this!"
Chapter Fifty-One: The Main Man Comes to Town Part Three
Lobo stepped into the center of the ring. The fans in the war world were getting loud the second Lobo stepped into the center of the ring. They knew one of two things were going to happen. A Czarnian was going to cause all kind of violence, mayhem, and carnage, or a Czarnian was going to step into the center of the ring and get his ass kicked. Regardless, they were excited at the prospect of what was going to happen.
The Main Man raised his hands and stepped forward to lock eyes with a very unimpressed Big Barda. The woman's pointed gazed locked onto Lobo's own the very second he stepped into the ring. The Main Man smiled and slicked his hair back when approaching Barda.
"Alright, I'll go easy on you, and then after we find a way off of this hellhole, we can hook up," Lobo said. "You got it?"
Lobo raised his hand into the air and then extended it out for his hand to be shaken. Everyone booed this gesture of sportsmanship from Lobo. The Main Man just responded with a shrug, and Barda looked over, staring him down. Those eyes burned into his face.
For a brief second, Barda reached forward and took Lobo's hand. She gripped it tight and caused the Main Man to drop to his knees in agony. The Main Man's screams followed when Barda held him down to his knees, squeezing his hand. The sound of bones snapping could be heard.
"Argh, I like it rough!" Lobo growled. "But, you know, we normally need a safe word for this sort of thing….."
Barda hoisted Lobo off of the ground by one hand and twirled him into the air. The people watching in the War World got excited when Barda hurled Lobo halfway across the arena. He fell down onto the dirt, impacting face first onto the ground.
The breath knocked out of his body made Lobo very dazed. He struggled back up to his feet and growled. The Main Man stared down Barda who stood at the other side of the arena. Lobo held his hands together, cracking his knuckles.
"Alright, you want to dance, let's dance!" Lobo yelled. "No more Mister Nice Guy. No more holding back."
Lobo charged into the battle and Barda dodged his punch. The Main Man turned around and nailed Lobo right in the small of the back with a huge punch. More punches started to rock Lobo so hard. Barda hoisted him up, hooking him around the arms in a full nelson. She swung Lobo around.
The fans got to their feet and cheered in excitement. Barda hurled Lobo around like he was on a super-powerful top. The Main Man's horrified screams continued to escalate the second Barda whirled him around. She hurled him down onto the ground and forced him to slam down to the ground very hard. The Main Man pulled himself up to a standing position.
Barda reached in, grabbed Lobo by the throat, and hoisted him off of the ground one more time. She caused him to fly into the side of the arena. The people who were on their feet started to cheer. Lobo got to his feet, and spit on his hands, before rushing Barda.
He caught her with a glancing punch. Another punch had been blocked and Barda swept the legs out from underneath Lobo. She grabbed him by the neck, turned him over, and curb stomped him into the ground. Every single second was hell with Lobo's face being drilled into the ground.
"Is that all you got?" Lobo asked.
"Oh, the Czarnian still has some fight left in him!" Mongul yelled. "Good, because if he loses, his bounty is forfeit. And you know how the Czarnian is about his money."
This reminder inspired Lobo to get back to his feet and swept Barda off of her legs. Barda rolled over and landed on her feet. Lobo charged her, fist swinging in the air. He tried to nail her with one vicious punch to the side of the head. Barda stepped off to the side, ducking the punch before it connected. Barda dropped behind him and grabbed him around the waist.
She muscled him up in a dead lift and hurled Lobo head over heels onto the ground. The Main Man smacked into the ground very hard. Barda jumped down onto the back of his head and grabbed him by the greasy mullet.
"You disgust me."
"Not the first time I've heard that from a woman," Lobo grumbled, tasting the floor of the War World arena while Barda dug her foot into the back of his head. Lobo thrashed and Barda stomped down on the back of his head. She drilled more stomps onto the back of his head, before stepping back.
Lobo rolled over and Barda tossed him off to the side like he was nothing other than a glorified piece of trash. He smashed down onto the ground. Barda stood over Lobo's fallen body.
"Alright, I thought I was going to get some real competition!" Barda yelled. "Who wants to step into the ring with me next?"
"I will!"
Everyone rose to their feet. They had a rare treat today, a Kryptonian stepping into the War World. First a Czarnian, now a Kryptonian, no wonder Mongul was broadcasting his event live and in living color on Pay Per View. The Kryptonian stepped into the ring.
Lobo's body had been scraped off of the arena by several of the guards. He was still breathing, so there was still some use for him in War World.
"Did I get her number?" Lobo grumbled in a slurred voice.
War World was a heavily disguised Fortress, and it was almost impossible to get inside, without any help. Thankfully, Astra had access to an alien computer who had access to programming of several planets throughout the universe. And who could also hack into this War World and find them an entrance inside. It was going to be a careful squeeze, especially not to get in there, and trigger the alarm.
Astra stepped inside and looked around. They moved down a dark hallway, with Lara, Alura, and Karen following her a couple of steps behind them. The cheers of the crowd echoed through the arena.
"He's still kidnapping people and using them for sport," Lara said.
"Old habits, they die very hard," Astra said. "The main control room is right down the hallway."
"Which means it will be heavily guarded," Alura said. "I trust you have a plan, don't you?"
"Well, you have one, obviously," Astra said. "Do you think we can take control of War World before Mongul uses it to nuke Earth?"
Alura thought about the matters for a few minutes and responded with a nod. She had a pretty good idea they could take control of War World. Would the plan work? That was up for a lot of debate, but none of the members of this crew entered the ship with the intentions of failing.
"Fall in line, and return him to the cells!"
Karen frowned, and she looked forward. The guards were making their way towards their location. She prepared herself to fight them, but Astra put a hand on her daughter's shoulder and shook her head. She leaned in and whispered a couple of words.
"Pick your battles."
Astra surveyed the scene around them and wondered if the guards were coming down their way. The Kryptonian General turned a couple of inches to the side and discovered there was a small set of prison cells. People who would likely have either just been captured or Mongul was not using currently for the games.
"So, let's hurry up in and get him back there then! We're missing the Kryptonian fight"
This piece of news caused Lara's blood to boil a slight amount. They knew there was only one Kryptonian. Astra gave her a look and Alura frowned. They stepped closer towards the area and could see a screen leading to the arena. They saw an image of Clark dodging an attack from an Amazonian Looking woman who towered over him.
"The guards are coming our way," Astra responded. "We better be ready."
Alura noticed a couple of crystals in a console off to the side. It was the air filtration system. The Kryptonian females had breather masks when they entered the War World. The guards, obviously used to the air, did not. Alura had figured out what needed to be done to even the odds. She stepped forward and grabbed onto the crystals, slowly and surely yanking them out of the console, adjusting the air flow.
The guards noticed a couple of seconds later, something was very wrong. One of the guards stepped forward, his breathing turned very heavy.
"Hey, what the….what's going on here?" one of the guards asked.
"Ah, what's the matter, that flight of stairs kill you?" a gruff voice asked. "Oh, and hey1"
Lobo ripped himself free and used the heavy chains wrapped around his wrist to bash the winded guard in the back of the head. The other guards slowly reached for their weapons, but Lobo kicked one of the guards all the way down the stairs with a thud.
He broke the chain over the neck of one of the men and force him down to the ground. The Main Man slammed the chains into the back of the head of the goon and forced him back a couple of inches. He grabbed a blaster and turned it on the guards. The Main Man fired the gun blast and knocked the goons all the way down the stairs. One of the reached for his radio.
"No fair squealing," Lobo said, pressing his foot on the top of the guard's arm. He screamed in agony, with Lobo pressing his foot harder and harder onto the man's wrist.
Lobo turned around to face the bevy of beauties walking down the hall.
"Hey, maybe I died now, and instead of going to the bad place, I'm moving on," Lobo said.
"You better move," Astra said. "I won't hesitate to hurl you into one of those prison cells. It's better than you deserve, Czarnian."
"Hey, hey, no trouble, no trouble at all!" Lobo yelled, holding his hands up in the air when looking at the women. "All I want to do is go down, pick up that little punk Quintox, and get the bounty. Then I'll be out of your hair, all of your hair."
Lobo didn't really want to be on Earth, hell he didn't want to be on War World. He just hoped Mongul didn't already turn Quintox in. There would be hell to pay after all the hell Lobo went through to get the asshole.
"Lives by the bounty, dies by the bounty, doesn't he?" Karen asked.
"Yeah," Astra said. "I wonder if he knows there are a couple of big bounties on Mongul that he can cash in on."
Lobo, who was almost down at the end of the hallway, stopped, his eyebrow corking up in surprise. A big shit-eating grin spread across his face when he took the last couple of steps down the hallway. It resulted in Karen, Lara, and Alura just looking at each other.
"So, is our secret weapon ready to go?" Karen asked.
"Of course," Astra said.
Clark could see Barda rushing towards him. She did pack a punch and Clark thought the best idea would be not to be around when those punches connected. He played a very deadly game of ducking the punch, and then he dodged the punch.
"You should stand up and fight me straight on!" Barda yelled. "It was going to be a lot easier when you fight me!"
Barda charged Clark and caused him to flip into the air. Clark landed on his feet and used Barda's momentum against her. He caught her in an arm hold, just like Astra taught him, and put her down onto the ground. Barda's own size was used against him, with Clark hooking onto the arm hard.
"I understand if you're upset because Mongul has threatened your planet…."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Barda said. "I have no planet to threaten. I have nowhere to go home to."
Barda kicked Clark back and he flew to the ground. He obviously opened some very hard wounds. The larger woman rushed Clark and tried to punch him hard. Barda rushed him one more time and tried to punch him again. Clark dodged the attack again. This game of ducking and dodging continued, with Clark trying to stay a couple of steps ahead of Barda when she nailed him with a succession of punches.
"What do you fight for?"
Clark grabbed Barda around the neck, leaping on her back. She tried to spin around, but Clark already jumped off. The woman rushed towards Clark one more time. Her hand impacted the ground and left a miniature crater.
"I fight because it's all I have left to do after all I've lost!"
"You must have some other reason to live beyond fighting!" Clark yelled at her.
"Not anymore!" Barda yelled.
Memories, painful memories, crept up in the back of her mind. Barda tried to force them down, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't keep them down for very long.
"Mongul destroys the planets of the champions of the people you defeat, and the people who refuse to fight in these games," Clark said.
Barda stopped for a minute. Most would take advantage of this opportunity to attack her while she was distracted, while she contemplated where to go next in life. This young man had enough honor where he did not strike out and attack her.
"I believe it," Barda said.
She hated the fact he reminded her of the very obvious. After Granny captured her, and sold her to Mongul, in exchange for a couple of favors, Barda almost lost sight of the reason why she fought against the rule in the first place.
"What are you doing?" Mongul demanded.
Barda almost lost sight, until she had been reminded. She remembered despite the fact her fight had been lost, despite she lost everything, and had been humiliated, there were still people out there who were fighting the good fight. Barda recalled everything.
Reluctantly, she turned around and faced away from her opponent. He did not attack her, proving how valiant he was. Barda stared up into the box, eyes locked onto Mongul. She never had this much hatred for another person as long as she lived like she had for Mongul.
She fought to try and heal the scars from failure, but those scars just flashed out, being more prominent than ever before. Barda put her hands on her hips and stared up. She didn't believe in the destruction of the universe.
"I surrender!" Barda yelled. "I can't defeat him, and I won't…..I won't allow you to do this anymore!"
Everyone booed after Barda surrendered. The people in the War World, they came to see violence, they came to see carnage and mayhem and everything else that went along with it. Now they had been robbed of their glory and each and every one of them hated it. They hurled their drinks into the arena.
"You think this is over just because she went soft, Kryptonian?" Mongul asked. "You still haven't won, you will take her place. You will fight opponent after opponent, and they will fall. You will either beat them, or you will fail. And Earth will fall as well."
Clark sensed someone else coming, and he smiled.
"No, Mongul, you've already failed."
The big boom which followed signaled a huge disturbance from above. Clark could see Lara, Alura, and Karen moving their way from above, taking care of Mongul's guards. Barda looked towards Clark, and then back towards the battle up above. Her eyes finally completely stopped on Clark, resting on him.
"For an extinct race, there seems to be a lot of you," Barda said.
Clark smiled, and to think, she didn't know about the females of New Krypton just yet.
Mongul hated when his well-placed plans had been destroyed. His fingers curled into an angry fist. He came close to smashing everything. One deep breath later, and Mongul stepped back.
"No, this is not over," Mongul said. "I'm not going to let him win. Earth will serve as an example, and it won't be the only one."
Mongul stepped over the control console and started to access the onboard weapons systems of War World. Only, something had gone wrong. The systems were not responding. The weapons systems went fuzzy, and a bright blue triangle, upside down, with three dots connected appeared. Mongul knew the symbol, everyone in the universe knew to fear the symbol.
One look at the symbol resulted in horror to spread through Mongul's eyes. He locked onto the symbol and threw his hands into the air.
"No, you can't do this!" Mongul yelled. "We had a deal."
"No, you had a deal with Brainiac Prime," Indigo said. "I'm not him, and I'm taking control of your little War World now….thanks Alura for the hookup, but I'll take it from here."
The master of War World took a deep breath and could have hurled something. He could hear his guards going down, and made his way towards the side entrance. He had an escape pod if worse came to worse.
The doors blew open and Mongul had been sent flying a couple of steps back. Lobo stepped into the room.
"So, I'm sure you're wondering how your day could get any worse?" Lobo asked. "Well, then, I came calling, and yep, you better believe your day just got a lot a lot worse!"
Lobo rushed in and nailed his adversary with one of the biggest punches ever. Mongul dropped down to his knees, the Main Man rushing towards him.
"I'm not going to smash your face in," Lobo said. "Granted, it might be an improvement, but they need to know what your face looks up."
Mongul reached up and grabbed Lobo by the throat. Lobo went flying through the glass window. He rolled over, onto the balcony, trying to pull himself to his feet in the middle of all of the glass and carnage. Mongul stood on his back and rolled Lobo over. Lobo struggled to find his way to a standing position.
"That's the problem with you Czarnians," Mongul said. "You might be able to take a beating, but you never, never, shut up!"
Mongul hoisted Lobo up around the head, spun him around, and threw him as hard as he could in the other direction. The Main Man dropped down to the ground. Mongul took another step forward. Lobo pulled himself to his feet.
The master of the War World stopped and he came face to face with the fabled General Astra In-Ze of Krypton. She did not look too happy with him either.
"You target a planet which I've decided to call home," Astra said. "What did you think was going to happen?"
Astra punched Mongul hard in the face and caused him to bounce over the railing, slamming down onto the ground with a thud. Mongul rose to his feet and turned around.
He came face to face with his undefeated champion, Barda. Barda stared down at him, arms folded, and a snarl on her face. Mongul stepped back from him.
"Can we discuss this?" Mongul asked.
Barda nailed him with a punch to the face which answered that particular question. Barda reared back and nailed Mongul with multiple rapid fire punches. She threw him around and caused him to smash into the ground. Mongul received a worse beating than ever before.
"Please, have mercy!" Mongul yelled.
Astra leaned down and shook her head, it was pathetic. Barda hoisted Mongul up and slammed him down to the ground. She pushed him into the ground.
The dust cleared, and Mongul's face had been covered in bruises, and he was chained. His guards were chained. All of the patrons of War World had been escorted out by the Green Lantern Corps. They all grumbled about the fact that War World was shut down.
Astra and Alura walked off to the side, both of them are in deep concentration. The look on Astra's face turned a bit surly, and not to mention extremely sour. Alura leaned closer towards her sister and looked her straight in the eye.
"You can't tell me this isn't for the best," Alura responded.
"We could have used a War World if Earth had been threatened by invaders," Astra said. "We could have blasted an entire invading fleet before they even threatened their first human life."
Alura sighed, Astra had a good point, as she always did. Unfortunately, though, there were other points to be considered, and Alura had to think of everything. She leaned forward and touched a hand to the top of her sister's shoulder.
"Do you really think people would trust us if we had a dangerous weapon?" Alura asked. "The humans aren't very comfortable with aliens in the first place. Aliens having weapons, that would be a far lot worse, when you really boil it down."
Astra groaned, Alura was right, as she always was, and there was a huge part of Astra hating it. The most frustrating governing body, this side of the Kryptonian Council, the Guardians of Oa, were overseeing the moving of the War World and the returning of all of the prisoners.
It was amazing how the Guardians got anything done, Astra thought they would be handcuffed by Protocol.
Meanwhile, Clark waited for one person, in particular, to make her way off of the ship. Barda stepped closer towards him and offered him a brief smile.
"I don't like admitting I'm wrong," Barda said. "But, I was wrong, and you helped show me the light. Just because, I've lost everything, it doesn't mean there are not others who have something to hold onto. And something to hold dear in their lives."
Barda gave the young man the once over.
"You are a credit to the legacy of Krypton, Kal," Barda said. "It's a shame they ended up where they were, a tragedy, a tale which many planets wouldn't learn."
The taller woman swooped down, and kissed him on the cheek very lightly. She had been surprised by her own daring, but she did not regret it at all, not by a longshot.
"Where are you going?" Clark asked.
"I'm going to a place where I hope someone with a virtuous heart like yourself is never going to visit," Barda said. "And I hope this heart never gets corrupted. You have a dangerous time ahead of you though, so I wish you the best of luck, Kal."
Especially if the influence of that madman and his cackling witch of a second-hand reached the planet Earth. She hoped to do something to stop it, even if it meant more great sacrifices of her life.
"There are others who haven't escaped the rule of the Madwoman who sold me to Mongul, along with her master," Barda said. "I hope to liberate them from that evil can spread throughout the universe….and yes, it can spread even to Earth."
A planet as young as Earth, they were prime for trouble, and they were vulnerable even during the worst of times. Barda hoped to prevent this darkness from spreading.
"So, if I can help you in any way….."
Barda smiled and lightly squeezed Clark's shoulder. "You've helped me re-find my purpose. That's more than enough, but….perhaps our paths will cross again someday."
Lobo made his way out and he did not look like a happy campier.
"I can't believe it, the Guardians of Oa aren't going to pay me for turning in that dirtbag Mongul," Lobo said.
"To be fair, you were on the ground, and it was Barda and me who did all the work," Astra told him.
"Yeah, yeah, split some hairs, why don't you?" Lobo asked. "Look, I might not have gotten that ugly fragface, but I've got this little twerp, finally."
Quintox struggled underneath Lobo's grip, and he realized he was going to be turned in.
"After all of this, I need a freaking drink!" Lobo grumbled.
He moved his way outside, where his motorcycle waited for him. He made sure Quintox was secured and went into the night.
Clark joined the group of Kryptonians watching Lobo leave.
"So, will he ever be back?" Clark asked.
"Unfortunately," Karen said. "Well, the Green Lanterns will take care of everything, so we can head home."
Astra, Lara, and Alura followed, with Clark catching a glimpse of Barda going in the opposite direction. She most certainly had the weight of several worlds on her shoulder.
"It's her mission," Lara said. "Worry about yours."
Clark had a feeling Barda's mission, and his might intertwine sooner than they all wanted it to.