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Volume 2: Issue 1

Superman: The Man of Steel

#3

"Riot"

By Tony Thornley

He sat in his chamber, completely silent. His recharge cycle was nearly complete. He sensed someone in the space, but that didn't matter. The sentry droid would take care of it. He had nearly outed himself that day. Olsen had almost ruined things there, and the fight with Steel was unfortunate.*

His ruse was so perfect. He would ruin the man of steel. Kent was trapped within the walls of prison, and would never be freed, while he was on the outside. He'd ruined the Kent name, and next would be the image of Metropolis's shining saviour, Superman. If he could spend just a little more time, it would all be perfect.

The Cyborg opened his eyes. It was time to go.

* (See the Superman Family one-shot- Tony)

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Lois Lane-Kent hurried through the hospital as quickly as she could. It was difficult for a pregnant woman to slide through a crowd. That was one thing she cursed about her pregnancy. Fighting for an award-winning quote had become infinitely time more difficult. A quote wasn't what she was after at Metropolis General today.

She reached the elevator just before the doors shut, slid inside and pressed the button for the fifth floor- the location of the ICU. She smiled at the other inhabitant of the elevator- a young female doctor- and rested her hand on her stomach. Each day that passed, her anxiety about the baby grew. Her biggest fear was that they wouldn't be able to clear Clark before then. That he wouldn't be there for their child's... their daughter's birth. They were suddenly closer than ever though. What Jimmy had brought her was perfect, now they just needed to figure out how to present this without outing Clark 's Superman identity.

The elevator slowed to a stop and the door opened. Lois rushed out and towards the room she'd come to know so well. Rounding the corner, she saw Martha Kent laying in her bed, but fully awake. Martha turned and smiled as she saw Lois. Lois laughed out loud and rushed to her mother-in-law. The two embraced happily, reunited after such a long time.

"Lois!" Martha exclaimed. "How far along are you?"

"Almost seven months," she said, patting her stomach. "We found out just when... all this happened." She paused and bit her lip. "How are you feeling?"

"Still weak," Martha replied. "I guess that's expected after a coma that's lasted this long." She looked away reluctantly. "How's Clark ?"

"He's okay," Lois said. "Prison is draining him. His only hope is that we will find a way to free him." Martha turned back to Lois, hope suddenly in her eyes.

"And...?"

"And, with you awake," Lois said. "We have an eyewitness, and with evidence that both John Henry Irons and Jimmy Olsen have found... I think we almost have enough for an appeal."

"Thank goodness!" Martha exclaimed. She smiled sadly at Lois and patted her hand. "It wasn't Clark sweetheart. I know it wasn't."

"I know," Lois said with a smile. "I do too."

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Clark Kent tried his best to make his workout seem like it was taking effort. It had taken years of practice, but he had it down to an art. He laid down on the bench, and took the bar in his hands. A forty-five pound weight was slid onto each end of the bar. He pushed up and grunted, pretending to strain against the weight. He slowly pumped the bar up and down three times as he heard a set of footsteps approach him.

" Kent ," the voice belonging to the footsteps said. "Doesn't seem like much weight for a farm boy like you."

"Shane," Clark said, recognising the incarcerated Intergang thug's voice. "I'm a little out of shape. Have a problem with it?" Clark exhaled deeply and set the bar on the harness. He sat up and looked at Corrin Shane. He was a tall blonde man, with close crapped hair, a bulky build and a jagged scar from his chin to his ear, which was ripped in half.

"What do you want?" Clark asked. Shane smiled, revealing a missing canine. Clark shook his head slightly.

"I just wanted to make sure you realised how well Intergangers have treated you Kent ," he replied. "Despite the fact that you helped put half of here, we've taken care of you." Clark scowled.

"That's a relative term," he growled. "I've fended for myself most of the time Shane." Shane laughed and put his arm around Clark 's shoulder and leaned in close, his mouth just inches from Clark 's ear.

"This is prison Kent . Just think of whose side you want to be on when everything happens. Intergang can protect you if you're on our side."

"I'm not going to sell my soul," Clark growled. Shane laughed and backed away.

"You might be singing a different tune soon Kent ," he said. "Very soon." Clark 's gaze followed Shane for a few minutes, and then he lay back down on the bench, running his words through his mind. He had to keep an eye out.

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"He knows John Henry," Lois said into her cell phone. She walked down a familiar hallway, towards a destination she always dreaded. "Between that gamble you took to save Jimmy and Martha waking up... he knows."

"That said Lois," Steel said, "you're taking a damn big gamble yourself. Especially in your condition."

"John, I'm pregnant, not dead," she said. "I'll be okay." She sighed. "I always hate coming here John," she said.

"So do I," he replied. "Good luck Lois. Let us know when we're needed."

"I will." She snapped the phone shut and stopped at her destination, Room 1524 of the Grand Metro Hotel- the room in which Jonathan Kent was murdered. She inhaled deeply, and inserted the key card into the door. The Metro had stopped renting this room after the murder and had given Lois a permanent key. The small colored light on the knob changed from red to green and Lois turned the knob, pushed the door open and walked in.

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Clark leaned against the wall of his cell and listened. It was really his only escape from the darkness of the prison around him. It was surreal, almost out of body, which he preferred to the dirty feeling around him. After his encounter with Corrin Shane earlier, he needed it. So many men claimed to be innocent, but Clark knew. He couldn't say anything without potentially endangering the life of his entire family. His father was already a victim, and he knew it would be unbearable if the same happened to Ma, Lois... or their child.

"It's almost ready," a voice said. Although softer than all the others within the prison walls, this one caught his attention by the tone and volume of his voice. Whatever they were talking about, it was important.

"We're going after them," the voice growled. "Be ready for it this afternoon." Clark 's eyes flew open.

Someone was going to start a war in the middle of the prison. Although Superman wouldn't be able to stop it, Clark Kent might.

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Lois stood at the open window of the hotel room, watching the skies. John Henry was right. What she was about to do was the riskiest, and maybe the stupidest, thing she'd done in a long time.

She was going to call out Superman.

"Here goes nothing," she muttered. She reached into the pocket of her jeans, and pulled out a watch. The face was cracked, but otherwise it was intact, despite crushing pressure that had been placed on it recently. A simple backhand had almost ruined Jimmy Olsen's signal watch. Now, Lois prayed that what Steel had modified in the watch would work.

She pressed a button on its side, and the watch began transmitting an electronic signal, very similar to the watch's normal sonic squeal, but more attuned to attract the false Superman. There was a sudden breeze and then Lois sensed someone behind her.

"Are you sure this is a good idea Lois?" He sounded just like Clark . He always did. Ever since he tried to replace him.

"No, I'm not," she replied. She turned and glared at Superman. He'd ensured he looked identical to Clark , and it worked. It disturbed Lois. "You might just kill me like you did Jon Kent."

"Oh, I'd be more creative than that," he said. "After all, you've got a viable Kryptonian hybrid in your womb. I don't want to kill a potential assistant." He took several steps forward, reached out and ran his finger along her cheek. Lois recoiled at his touch, but he continued to press forward.

"Oh, come now Lois," he said softly, seductively. "I am not merely a mortal masquerading as your husband. I am a demigod. I have been given power greater than any being can imagine, and I can offer you a place as my empress."

"You killed my husband's father," Lois growled, backing away. "You ruined my life and his. You're a monster. You're the Cyborg."

"All true," he said. Lois smiled.

"That's all I needed to know." She dropped her hand to the watch and slid its control to another setting. It reverted to the standard sub-sonic squeal- Lois's call for back up. She heard a sonic boom outside and dropped to the floor instinctively. A blur of blue, red and white struck the Cyborg and plowed into him at superspeed, carrying him through the outer door of the room, and plowing through the hotel's exterior wall. Lois stood, patting her stomach, then walked over to the room's armchair and picked up the purse, and took her tape recorder from her purse. She pressed stop, then rewound the tape a few moments and pressed play. The Cyborg's confession played clearly from the speaker.

"Got him!" she whispered.

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"Stupid!" Karen Starr yelled as she punched the Cyborg. "Do you really think we didn't plan that?!" She punched him again, sending him flying towards the sky. She flew after him, caught up and hit him again. "We've got every second of that on tape."

"Then I'll just have to destroy that tape!" The Cyborg punched Power Girl away and turned to the Metro. A searing blast of energy shot from his eyes towards the hotel. Power Girl flew in front of it, the energy beam striking her full in the chest. She flew back several hundred feet from the sheer intensity of the blast. She stopped herself and turned back to the Cyborg. The false Superman began to laugh, thinking he had an edge against Power Girl. Karen smiled. Noticing this, the Cyborg frowned a turned, only to meet a massive sledgehammer. The hammer slammed into his chin and sent the Cyborg spinning. Steel grinned as he shifted the weight of the hammer in his hands.

"Damn that felt good," he said. Power Girl laughed and rocketed through the air after the Cyborg. She focused as she did though, her eyes beginning to glow red. A moment later, she blasted the Cyborg with concentrated heat, melting the synthetic skin that concealed his true identity. She then flew into his hard, fists first, driving him into the river below. Steel grinned beneath his mask.

"I like her," he said.

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Clark made sure to be outside his second-story cell. The time was growing closer. He could feel the electricity in the air. The prison was about to erupt into violence. Clark sat on the floor just outside his cell, when he heard the sound of a scuffle beginning below. He stood and walked to the edge of the balcony. Below two inmates he didn't recognise were wrestling with each other angrily. Scanning them with his X-ray vision, he saw a shiv in the sleeve of one of the two men. He started to cry out when he saw a guard approach them. His eyes widened in terror as he saw the armed inmate slip the shiv from his sleeve.

The guard put his hand on the man's shoulder, and the inmate spun and stabbed him in the chest. As the guard fell, the man grabbed his shotgun, raised it into the air, and fired a single round. Instantly, the space erupted into chaos and crowds of inmates overpowered the guards and stole their weapons.

The inmate turned back to the fallen guard and raised the shiv again with a wicked smile. The guard's chest heaved as he tried to catch a breath, despite his newly punctured lung. The inmate swung the shiv down only to have it stop and shatter against a very hard surface, several sharp shards of which were driven into his hand as it slammed against the same hard surface.

Clark knocked the man away from the fallen guard, then, turned back to the injured man. It was Roberts, he noticed, a good husband and father. He concentrated and cauterized the seeping wound in his chest with his heat vision. Roberts looked up at him, somewhat delirious and gasped a couple more times.

"S-superman?" he asked. Clark nodded.

"It's okay son," he said. "I'm here to help.

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In Superman: The Man of Steel #4: Steel and Power Girl versus the Cyborg! Clark Kent in the middle of a prison riot! And the long awaited return of the true MAN OF STEEL!