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Volume 2: Issue 1

Superman: The Man of Steel

#2

"Solitary"

By Tony Thornley

The impish man backed away from his computer, a wide smile on his face. He called himself the Toyman, but he wasn't Winslow Schott. Or that annoying Japanese kid. He forgot the child's name. His name was Jack Denham, or it was after he legally changed it. He wanted to be untraceable, his past life to be completely wiped out. He assumed that was the best way to start a life of supervillainy. Renting the warehouse he resided in and remodeling it was the next step.

Jack slid off his chair and toddled towards the kitchen. Although he wasn't what was medically considered a dwarf, he was quite short, barely reaching four feet tall. He had shaved his head bald and grown a goatee, hoping to ape the bad guy look. His suit was in the tailor's almost ready for his "debut." When he reached the kitchen, all thoughts of that debut were pushed aside.

"Superman?!" he exclaimed as he looked at the red and blue clad figure standing in his kitchen. The Man of Steel turned to him and smiled. Jack resisted the urge to run.

"Nice set up you have here," Superman said. "How did you afford it?"

"Well, you know," he said nervously, "make millions in the robotics industry, then convert those earnings into capital for meta-terrorism." Jack shifted his weight nervously. Superman stepped into the warehouse proper and began looking around. "Why me?"

"Hmm?" he asked, looking at Jack briefly, then back at his equipment.

"You've been missing for... what? Nine months?" Jack wished he had some kind of weapon but no luck.

"Oh, I've been missing far longer," he replied. He looked back at Jack, his eyes beginning to glow red. "You see, I'm not really Superman. And I don't need any competition after I take over Metropolis, especially from a two-bit wannabe like you."

Two beams of concentrated heat lashed out from his eyes, piercing Jack's skull and ripping through his brain, lobotomizing him. Jack gasped, fell forward onto his knees, then flat on his face. Superman walked over to where he fell and placed his foot on his head.

"It was easy to figure out Jack," he said. "You didn't have a chance. Neither will the city."

The impostor slammed his foot down, crushing Jack's skull with a sickening crunch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lois Lane sat back in the chair John Henry Irons had given her. It had been a week since the quartet of herself, John, Karen and Kara had last met together, and their meetings were quickly growing futile.

"So, we've been over Clark 's alibi a million times," Lois said. Power Girl nodded.

"He was with me going through the ruins of Alex Luthor's tower," she said. "As Superman. A fact that we cannot reveal without endangering you."

"And no one would believe it," John Henry said. He ran his hand over his goatee. "It's too convenient that six months later, one of the superfriends shows up to prove he's not only innocent, but also Superman."

"Something we've gone over another million times," Lois replied.

"How's Martha Kent?" Supergirl asked.

"Getting better, but no sign of waking up," Lois said. "Which still puts our only eye witness out of the picture."

"Luthor?" John Henry asked.

"Still vanished, and there's no way we can find out if he knows the secret," Power Girl said. "I spoke with Batman a couple days ago and Checkmate is putting quite a bit towards finding him."

"Doesn't seem like his style either," Lois said. "I'd think he'd be more likely to hurt me than the Kents . Especially with our history." Lois paused to take a sip of water from a bottle she'd brought with her. "What about Brainiac?"

"Green Lantern Corps and the LEGION are both searching for him," Supergirl said. "Dox hasn't been seen or heard from in months."

"Right," Lois said. She looked at Karen. "What did Bruce have to say when you asked for his help?" Power Girl frowned and sighed.

"The same line of bull," she replied. "Ensuring Checkmate was clean was a top priority and he'd help Clark the moment he could pull himself away."

"You know he'd solve this bastard in ten minutes," John Henry said. "Whirl through the evidence, looking at pictures, lab analysis, checking evidence and doing his CSI impression, then coming to us with a solution."

"I know," Lois said, her face darkening. "Have we figured anything out with the mind control option?"

"Well," Supergirl said, "we know he is able to pull that two places at once trick if he works really hard at it. Not nearly as good as the Flash did, but still he can do it well. He could have been mind controlled."

"But Max Lord is still dead," John Henry said.

"And J'onn spent several hours with Clark after that ordeal ensuring that no one would be able to do what Lord did," Power Girl said.

"What if Lord isn't dead?" Kara said.

"Not likely," Lois replied. "He was just a man with psychic powers."

"What about a double?" Power Girl asked. "Someone who could imitate Clark perfectly?" She placed her fists on her hips and scowled slightly at the thought.

"There's a few we know of, like we've talked about," Lois said, "but none that know the secret. Not even the Cyborg, and he impersonated Clark after his death."

"Conduit?" Steel asked.

"Very dead," Lois said. "But if he were alive, I'd be sure it was him."

"Dammit!" Kara exclaimed, making each of the others jump. "Why can't we figure this out? What is it we're missing?!" Lois stood and walked to the girl's side. She wrapped her arms around her shoulders and drew her close.

"If we knew what was missing," she whispered, " Clark would be standing here with us right now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lex Luthor stood on the beach near the small complex he currently lived in. Three of his underlings stood nearby, the young woman known as Parasite, his longtime bodyguard Mercy, and Carl Renner, an experienced computer genius and one of Luthor's newest employees. He was or average height and weight, dark haired, and a quite dark complexion. As a result of his recent employment, Renner didn't know many of the... intricacies of working for Lex Luthor. Such as giving a task his full attention and pulling the damn KordPod out of his ears.

"Renner!" Lex hissed. Oblivious, Renner kept looking into the skies. "Renner!" The dark skinned man looked up at him.

"Yeah boss?"

"What are you listening to?" he growled.

"Three Doors Down boss," he said, scratching the beard stubble on his chin. Luthor smiled maliciously.

"Carry on." He turned back to the ocean, scanning the horizon. Mercy raised her hand to her ear and nodded.

"Mister Luthor," she said. "Four objects inbound." He looked back at her and she nodded. "It's them."

"Excellent." Luthor looked back to the horizon to see four craft speeding towards them, each slightly larger than a human being. They flew in a diamond formation, one craft leading with the other three trailing it. The craft appeared to be like obsidian, the black shiny surface reflecting the waves beneath them. There were no distinguishable features, not even a form of propulsion. Lex thought about attempting to attain one of the craft to attempt to reverse engineer it. As they neared the beach, they slowed and began hovering above the beach. Each of the four craft split open at their seams and their inhabitants disembarked.

By all appearances, each of these four were human, but Lex knew better. They were natives of the planet Daxam, a race that equaled Superman in raw power. At their center was their obvious leader, a decorated man, probably a general or equivalent.

"Welcome," Lex said, holding his arms out wide, trying to be non-threatening. "My name is Lex Luthor. I am the man who contacted you."

"Indeed," said the general, lowering himself to the earth. He took of the black helmet that covered his face, revealing an aged yet still powerful man, balding, with a white goatee.

"I am Zod."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clark Kent followed the guard into the visiting room. Every day he wished to hear more details about his case. He prayed that Lois would find something and be here to tell him about it.

Today he had something to tell her about.

He sat down at the booth, picked up the phone- more out of formality- and looked at Lois. She'd cut her hair and he abdomen had grown quite a bit since he'd last seen her.

"How is she?" he asked. "How's our girl?"

"She's good," Lois replied. "Karen and I went... down south last week and Kelex checked me out. She's perfect Clark ."

"Thank Rao," Clark muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. How close are we?"

"Three months on the outside," she replied. "That's assuming that there's no... unexpected complications."

"There won't be," Clark declared. Lois frowned and leaned closer to the glass.

"How do you know that?" she hissed. "This is the first Terran/Kryptonian hybrid ever. How do we know that she won't suddenly mature through the rest of the pregnancy in the matter of a week?"

"You have a point there." Clark reached out and put his hand against the glass. "Do have any ideas for a name?"

"Chloe," Lois said, then sighed. She pressed her hand against Clark 's. "I have a cousin named Chloe, also a reporter, but... this isn't because of her. It's not that I had her in mind. Chloe just seemed right."

"Yeah, it does," Clark said. "Honey, I have something to tell you."

"Oh?" Lois looked into his eyes, and saw the grave seriousness there.

"Something happened recently." His shoulders slumped. "I was sitting in my cell, when I heard a voice calling my name." A slight look of fear developed on his face. "It was me, Lois. He was just there, hovering outside my window. He looked exactly like me. He said he killed Pa. I couldn't tell exactly who he was, but Lois..." Clark made sure they had eye contact. "He is the killer. You guys find him... you have me back."

" Clark ... are you sure?" A rush of emotion went through her body. Hope. Something concrete, after almost months of searching. Hope.

"Positive. Lois... I love you." He almost cracked a smile.

"I love you too," she whispered. "So very much." The guard tapped Clark 's shoulder, and he nodded. He hung up the phone and stood. Lois watched as the guard led Clark out of the room. Just before he walked out the door, he turned and smiled. Lois smiled, and stood herself. As she left the visiting room, she pulled her phone from her purse. Her desired number was right at the top of the speed dial. She pressed send and it rang twice before someone picked up.

"John?" she said when Steel answered. "I've got a lead. Get ahold of the Sisters for me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clark sat in his cell, reclining on his bunk. This life had worn on him. Hope was the only thing that truly kept him going, as did visits from his wife. He stood, then looked out the window. Metropolis was as alive as ever. He longed to be back there. Back in the skies.

"Hey, dreamer!"

Clark turned to see one of the guards- Mulcahey- stood at the cell door, a slightly sympathetic smile on his face. He understood the desire to be out.

"Warden Olliver wants to see you," he said. "Come on." Clark nodded, walked over to the door, and waited for Mulcahey to unlock it. The lanky guard opened the door and motioned for Clark to go first. The pair walked through several corridors, and up a set of stairs. The stark prison corridor slowly gave way to administrative offices, an area that felt quite a bit more inviting. The guard led Clark up to the door, then knocked on the window.

"Come in," Olliver's voice called. Mulcahey opened the door, then motioned Clark in. The large African man motioned to a chair.

"Mister Kent," he said. "Welcome. I'm sorry I've never had a chance to visit with you before."

"And why now?" Clark asked.

"Well, I've been looking at your file here," he said. "You're an exemplary prisoner. No fights, no misconduct. You don't try to smuggle anything in. You don't try to get special treatment."

"Where are you going with this Warden?" Clark asked, his eyes narrowing. He already feared the response.

"So why did you do it?" Olliver asked. Clark 's grip tightened on the chair. "You have no violent history before you killed your father, nothing afterwards. You're not a violent person." He leaned forward, lowering his rich baritone voice. "Why did you kill him?"

"Are we done?" Clark growled. He still gripped the arms of the chair tightly. "I thought this would be important, not indulging your curiosity. I didn't kill my father."

"Evidence states otherwise."

Clark jumped to his feet, his face twisted in rage. "I DIDN'T KILL HIM!" he roared. Olliver jumped backwards, surprised at the outburst.

"Are... we... done?" he whispered, his rage barely contained.

"Yes, Mister Kent ," Olliver said. "We are." Clark nodded, turned and walked out of the office. The warden stood and watched Clark and Mulcahey walk out of the administrative offices. He glanced down at the chair Kent was sitting in and noticed that the metal arms were twisted and deep indentations were buried in the metal where Kent 's hands were.

Olliver frowned and went back to work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"They'll be looking for me." The faux Superman hovered in front of a holographic projector. "Lane visited Kent today. She knows about me."

"Let them come," said the hollow computerized voice of his master. "We knew this would happen. We wanted this to happen."

Superman nodded. "I understand. What should I do when they confront me? What should I expect?"

"The youngling is the one to be worried about," the voice said again. "The armored one and older woman are threats, yes, but not nearly as much as the youngling. Dispatch her quickly, and you shall have your victory."

"First Metropolis, then the world, eh?"

"Indeed my son. Indeed."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At Metropolis General Hospital , a woman lay in bed, comatose. She'd been in this state since an attack several months ago that had killed her husband. Her name was Martha Kent.

One of Martha's nurses- a young lady named Katie- walked into the room, planning on changing her sheets. She walked up to the IV's placed in her arm and ensured they were still full and securely fastened.

Katie looked at Mrs. Kent and noticed her lips were moving. She laughed out loud. She was finally starting to awake. Katie leaned in to try to listen to what Martha was saying.

"You're not Clark ," she said faintly. "You're not Clark ."

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In Superman: The Man of Steel #3 : Martha Kent awakens, giving Lois the best evidence of her husband's innocence yet! Meanwhile, Power Girl encounters the faux Superman, and Steel returns to action!