“Officers! Please stand aside, I don't wish to harm anyone,” Luthor called out, pulling levers and pressing buttons within the dome of his walking tank.
“Harley, is your camera still working?” Lois asked, not believing what she was seeing.
The flash of Harley's camera going off was her only reply. Even with the bright flashes though, Lois' eyes remained transfixed on Luthor's giant machine.
Something didn't add up. Luthor did government contracts, but this was something out of a science fiction novel. And why was it the metal man had attacked Luthor's latest buy? This smelled of publicity stunt, but Lois couldn't figure out how Luthor was faking it.
As Harley ran out of film, more police cars showed up. Luthor's protective dome opened up and he rose from it, the metal man still firmly in the tank's arm.
“Lex Luthor, step down from the-the,” the one officer attempted to order.
“Relax gentlemen. I will come very willingly, now that my opponent has been disabled-” Luthor began, stepping down an unfolding ladder from the top of the tank. As his feet met the ground, the metal man suddenly came to life again. It gave an infernal growl that made everyone freeze.
Suddenly it burst from the tank's grip, metal pieces flying everywhere as the metal man flew up into the sky. The police took out their guns and began firing after the monster, but it just kept flying. Flying as high as a bird. Then a plane. Then it was gone.
Over Twenty Years Ago...
The ship was hurtling through space, trying to divert Brainiac's drones from the other ships. Ashen had launched just in time, leaving into the Phantom Zone without any notice. Unfortunately for Korak, his ship had been hit first since it was the easiest target. All that remained, to Zod's knowledge, was a husk of metal floating above Krypton.
Zod had managed to keep the drones from breaching the hull of his ship for a good few hours, but he knew that for every drone they destroyed fifty more would be sent their way once they finally ran out of fuel.
They were supposed to be making limited jumps, primarily using wormholes to compensate for their conservative rations. Instead, they were burning through them in less than an eighth the distance they had planned on.
Now they were nearing empty and the drones had breached the hull. The coolant tanks had been ruptured for the primary engines and several lower decks had been locked down to try and contain the overflow.
Zod had been honest with his crew – they weren't likely going to survive this but at the very least they could unload stasis pods. The key thing was that they had to cover the pods, and Zod had devised a solution.
If the remaining fuel was dumped along with the pods, making it seem as if Zod were trying to cause an explosion big enough to eliminate any pursuing drones not on board the ship, it would give the stasis pods time to vanish beyond the drone's notice. Several small star systems were nearby, and each stasis pod had an internal drive system that, while not comparable to a ship, would pick a trajectory and move as fast as it could.
Zod's intention was to accompany one of the pods. He'd tag its navigational charts to an escape pod and would follow along. It was a risky bet for himself, but Brainiac would be too concerned with the ship to be worried about a lone escape pod.
As Zod reached the stasis pod in question, he linked his suit's computer to the data in the stasis pod, which was already calculating a destination in case of evacuation.
“Sol, Sector 5-2-6” the computer responded. Zod then made a break for the escape pods as the ship suddenly lurched, a loud grinding coursing through the ship.
Afterword: I'm afraid I'm going to be busy for the next few days. For now, here's the latest update in Man of Steel. On a side note: have you guys heard about this? Pcgamer.com It's worth reading. I hope that despite Lucas Arts, the game succeeds to be released properly, some day...
