Him who chastens his God - (Superman)

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The explosion could be heard across town, and the thing that popped out of the explosion was beyond description, but attempts must be made anyway. The thing was malevolent, and moving oddly like an amoeba with a skeletal system that was little more than a suggestion, breaking and regrowing new bones as it moved, pressing out like an incredible bulk of flesh and eyes, scar tissue run amok, the hair that sprouted in random clumps and then shed in the wind useless. One million mouths screamed in the tentacled mass, teeth grew from random places and then twisted. At one point a face could be visible, screaming, then reshaping itself and devoured into the fleshy mass.

The extension of fleshy tissue bent in noneuclidian ways as it smashed through part of the ground floor of the nearby building. It had a horrific pale fleshy tone to it, fingernails that formed into odd spikes that smelled of a weird mix of formaldehyde and fungus. It wasn't slimy. It was very dry indeed, and had the consistency of hardened keloid skin. The sound of bones growing and breaking and regrowing was audible as it slammed into the side of the building and started to stretch towards other people.

One woman screamed as she was covered by the fleshy stuff, trying to peel away but finding herself trapped. With a growing sense of horror she realized that the flesh had bound to hers, the back of her leg contiguous with the flesh of the thing, a horrifying flesh katamari.

She felt a burning sensation, the prolonged contiguous blast of something hot and scorching, but then she was freed as she was pulled away by a man in gray armor with the LexCorp symbol on the chest, the laser rifle having done its job. Overhead hovering, the remnants of the armored LexCorp security detail fired lasers into the mass. "Security Team 6 is on site, containment protocols initiated."

One was smashed down, screaming he felt himself being drowned into the fleshy mass. He fired down into the flesh, but armor started to pop off, fall out as he felt himself changing. The empty armor of David Segal fell to the ground as his face started to disappear into the mass, changing shape. His teeth moved to the exterior of the skin, hair clumps twisted and fell to the ground, along with the remnants of his left hand. The hand continued to melt into a flat round lump of flesh solid scar tissue, dry and still, a pulsing living sphere, the size of a baseball. . . for now. It began to twitch, shake, and then grow outwards, a small pseudopod extending, then forming into a hinged finger. From the edge of the finger, more fingers began to grow, smaller, almost fetal in size.. 

"Security team 6, Segal's down, withdrawing to safer perimeter." The people in the jetpacks flew upwards. A drone flew overhead dropping several packages on the thing, a hardening foam starting to expand, only to be burst by the glowing fleshy mass.

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Across town, Clark Kent was dutifully typing away on his computer at his desk. He was doing a piece in a serial column focusing on the homeless in Metropolis. It was his own pendulum, showing those who have been pulled out of poverty (most, stunningly, by Lex Luthor's hand) and those who were still living on the streets. It was really amazing, last quarter, the homeless shelters were actually showing numbers of an incredible decrease in homeless turned away. The shelters weren't expanding, people were helping more. Still, Clark wanted to bring attention to the fact the job wasn't finished.

"Hey Smallville, how many p's are there in appears?" Lois asked from across his desk. Just then, Clark heard an explosion with his super hearing. It sounded like it came from the industrial district.

Clark looked up at Lois and grabbed his stomach. "Pee? You're a mind reader Lois." He said, clumsily standing, doing the pee pee dance as he moved in the direction of the men's room. "Two p's in appears, Lane." When Clark turned the corner, he was gone.

Moving swiftly up the stairs, all the way to the Planet's rooftop. In a red and blue blur he changed clothes into his super suit. He took off in the direction of the explosion, adjusting is hearing to see if he could pick up on a police scanner. Lexcorp's name was spoken, though it wasn't on a police scanner. Rather, Luthor's own security team. Well, today did seem a little too boring, didn't it?

The ripple of wind across his body announced his appearance to the security team. "Well, we certainly aren't in Kansas anymore, are we?" He said looking at that... thing. It was grotesque in every meaning of the word. Not even in Clark's worst nightmares could he imagine a creature such as that being made. Appearances aren't everything, but this did look unethical.

Clark dropped down near the creature, keeping a good ten feet of distance from it. He took a deep breath and blew to try and freeze the creature. That should hold, right?

"Does someone want to tell me what exactly happened here?" Clark asked, turning his back from the creature.

[Deleted]

A person in the crowd shouted out "Look! Up in the sky." The people were watching with awe. The monstrous thing was continuing to grow outwards and smash into buildings and of course people were evacuating, but this was nothing new for Metropolis, Horrific yes, but still they had their protector. "It's just a bird!" "Maybe one of those planes?"

One of the security people firing on the creature turns his head and sees Superman floating among them "Hey! It's Superman." He didn't sound entirely unpleased to see the man. 

The strike team leader was noticeable due to the stripes on his arm, painted onto the armor. The Sergeant spoke out and said "Team 6, continue containtment pattern alpha. Team 5, start clearing out civilians"  He looked at Superman saying "I don't know, Superman. We got called in when the alarm tripped at one of the Metro Genetics facility. I'm not cleared to know all the details about what that is, but from the sounds of it, we still don't know exactly what's going on. It's a biolab, I know that. Other than that, and the fact it seems to have devoured one of my men, and the fact that it continues to grow. I don't know what to tell you" One of the other men screams as he feels his foot grabbed by a giant growing hand. 

The small bits of flesh falling from the thing seem to be growing newer and nastier things, bits of dropped flesh growing into strange shapes, one is spreading over the ground, it merges again with the larger biomass. 

The LexCorp Security people continue to try to blast it back, it seems to be responding to pain, electric shocks, laser blasts. More drones flying overhead to drop more chemicals, hardening foams. . . but it doesn't appear to be containing the creature. 

"All I know is this, it looks bad. We're coordinating with SCU units inbound, but we think we can get the civilians out. But we've already lost one guy. . . " A shout and a scream "Two guys. DAMNIT SIEGEL, KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR 360 AND KEEP YOUR DISTANCE!" 

The woman rescued below seems to be terrified at her new life without legs, they were cauterized cleanly off, though, and nothing seems to be growing. One of the security people seems to have gotten her to a safe distance in the perimeter, distracting the thing to allow civilians to get to safety. So far, it seems to be doing okay. No civilians dead yet, thank God. . . the thing is responding and focusing mostly on the security crew. 

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"Alright, I can take it from here, focus your efforts on the civilian evacuation. You guys are doing great work." Superman smiled, giving the sergeant a friendly smile. He tried to make it seem like this wasn't as terrifying as it really was. To the average person, that creature would be something of absolute horror. But to Superman? It was Tuesday.

So, the containment didn't seem to work. The creature was responding well to the efforts of the security team. So.. heat vision? Superman wasn't sure if hitting it hard would have much effect. It might try to absorb him as it did the others and that... could be disastrous. Heat vision it is.

Superman fired on the blob creature with his heat vision, to observe how it would react.

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It reacted with pain, withdrawing from the heat vision. However there were some unfortunate side effects as pieces of the cauterized flesh fell away, hitting the ground and continuing to grow. Several of the LexCorp security team hit the ground and continued to blast back with flamethrowers and objects that looked like fire extinguishers, or just plain bullets, although they dropped the bullets quickly. Mostly they were giving time for the civilians backed away. One man with the jetpack shot out a small grapple, to a building flying backwards quickly. The rocketpacks weren't exactly that, but a combination of maglev gyroscope, electromagnetic stabilizer and jet pack that worked to balance off the installations in the nearby buildings, serving to temporarily seem to counteract gravity, however they could be difficult to control. Often they'd fling themselves with a combination of compressed rocket fuel and grappling hooks. It provided mobility through the city, between the buildings, and with training one could even fly with great efficiency and speed, although it was equally likely to fling yourself into the side of a building. Still, it was an important step towards the development of personal flight that LexCorp supposedly was working on in conjunction with Kord Industries. 

The monster dropped pieces of its body, those pieces continued to grow. The intense cauterizing heat didn't seem to do the trick. Perhaps something else might. More people screamed, so far there didn't seem to be as many casualties, the security teams were doing their jobs, although it appeared another one had gotten hit by a falling piece of flesh debris, which was quickly devouring his body. 

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Well, that was an attempt at least. Maybe something a little more direct would work. Clark took to the air to get some distance from the creature, then used his X-ray vision to scan the ground, looking for an electric line. A thicker line should do it.

Clark dropped towards the ground and slammed his fist down, the ground quaked around his impact. He pushed downwards, reaching for the powerline. Once he grabbed it, he began tossing rocks at the creature to get it's attention. If it approaches, he'll use the power line to electrocute it.

[Deleted]

The creature moved closer to Superman, inching closer and then taking a swipe at the Man of Steel. As the Last Son of Krypton ripped the power line from underground, the creature continued to grow. The electrocution started to cause it to shiver shake and scorch. Lights began to go out as the Man of Steel continued to scorch the thing through electrolysis causing paradoxical spasms as it fell over on the remnants of the growing flesh objects.

It was shivering, dying. . . it wouldn't be able to break out of the hold or the ice flow now. Drones continued to drop the quarantine foam on the creature, hardening like concrete, it appeared to actually be somewhat containing the thing. But for how long? Would this just incapacitate it? Or would it destroy it? It looked like it was beginning to twitch again, perhaps the intense blast of the power line would only be a temporary fix?

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As Superman saw the creature twitch, he felt a pang of guilt. It was living, after all, but it was killing people. Still, the best thing for it might be containment. Superman took a deep breath and sent out a stream of arctic breath to freeze the abomination.

This had Luthor written all over it. Why would he make something like this? Of all the good the man was capable of, why did Luthor insist on playing god?

[Deleted]

Prolonged freezing breath, containing the thing, the ice began to form on its outer surface as it curled inwards into a ball. The freezing slowed down the cellular growth it appeared. With his intense microscopic vision, The Man of Steel could SEE the cells as they grew, mutated, and then slowed down. It resembled cancer more than anything, malignant, uncontrolled. The freeze breath seemed to have slowed and contained it for now. . . slowly. The ice formed around it created a protective sheath that kept it locked away. . . still stunned it couldn't break free. . . 

But even so, cracks were visible around the edges, covered as quickly as they appeared with Superman's freeze breath! Would this thing hold? How could it? It grew uncontrollably. It WAS life, but it was also something much much more deadly. Life that would spread without control. 

Someone from the crowd shouted out "WAY TO GO SUPERMAN!" There was cheering from the distance. The people were safe, but not for long. More cracks were appearing at the edge of the freeze breath. It was slow, but the thing was still growing somewhat. The freezing was only slowing it down. 

"Good job, Superman. We'll keep the civilians away. Do you think that thing will hold?" The LexCorps Security man asked him, worried, watching. A helicopter floated overhead nearby. An audible voice. 

"No, I don't know what happened. I can just imagine one of those fools at Metro Genetics didn't maintain appropriate containment procedures with the sample. I'd fire them, but I think it might be moot. I'm going personally to see the damage. I'm nearly there. Just see what you can find out." Lex Luthor had come to reap what he had sewn. 

[Deleted]

Clark examined the temporary bond he'd created. This.. certainly was an issue. The thing was growing no matter what it touched. The only clearly effective method was heat. And then an idea struck Clark.

He gave a friendly smile to the Security man, "It'll hold as long as I need it to." He spoke with confidence. It was vital that no one be scared. The world needed to know it's problems could be solved with a little elbow grease.

He stepped forward and picked up the creature, crouching and getting a better hold on the frozen and foamed statue, before taking off. His superhearing heard Lex's voice in the helicopter before he even passed it. At least something was going to be easy today. Clark was afraid he'd have to fly off to Egypt just to track down Lex for a talk.

He whooshed past the Lexcorp chopper an a blur of red and blue, pushing the limits and freeing himself of the atmosphere of Earth, the temperature dropping as he rose, the air thinning. Finally, all the noise and hustle and bustle of the Earth seemed to stop in one clear moment. It was beautiful, the void, the Earth. Space. And once he left the ozone layer, he could feel the yellow sun's rays saturating his cells. It always made him feel stronger than normal. Beyond even his known capablities. Clark never dared getting closer to the sun, still... sometimes it was alluring.

He patted the creature as it was curled up into a ball. Superman's mind flashed back to playing catch on the farm with his dad. His father said "Go ahead, Clark, give it all you've got." It was the last time Clark ever saw that baseball.

Superman wound back, then threw the frozen mass at the sun. If his calculations were correct, the mass should reach the sun shortly.

He stood sentinel, watching to ensure the mass reached Great Sol. "Thank you." Clark mouthed, then, shot back into the atmosphere, heading for Lex.

[Deleted]

Lex Luthor's helicopter was landing as Superman returned down. The Man of Tomorrow, stepping out of the helicopter just as the Man of Steel landed with a solid thunk into the pavement. Lex Luthor stared at the Alien for a moment. There was a catch in the back of his throat. He hated the alien, for all it stood for, for all it represented. The ease with which it moved, to destroy, to reshape, to bend the wills of those around it. . . the size of it, the physique of it, the beauty of its features like the lightbringer come to mislead. 

Of course this was all IT'S fault. . . these lines of research wouldn't even be necessary if the alien hadn't come, if it hadn't towered so tall above humanity, untouchable, judging, shaping the world with its mere presence, it's very existence redefining human history, with the species now FIRMLY in the inferior place. Without the alien. . . there'd be no need for the rush, for the desperate search, for these horrible incidents. 

He opened his mouth, and then someone in the crowd screamed "SUPERMAN SAVED US!" A cheer rose up from the crowd. "YEAH, SUPERMAN!" "THANK YOU SUPERMAN!" Lex Luthor let his face grow passive, then pleasant. 

"Indeed, thank you, Superman." He exhaled once and extended a hand saying "I can't imagine how many lives you've saved today. I only regret . . . the cost of this horrible incident in human life. Over five of the bravest people I've ever known, died trying to protect those around them." He shakes his head and genuinely looks hurt about the whole thing. He looks over at the woman missing her legs, she's unconscious now, he makes a strange face and then points to one of the Security people "You, get her to one of our medical facilities, begin the process for prosthetic attachment." He looks at her as he says "I won't rest until we regrow your legs. I don't know what you do for a living, but as of now your job is recovery. Your family, your life. I pay the expenses. Without question." He nods to her as she looks confused, Lex Luthor turns to look at the Sergeant . . . "Widow's pension, full benefits. . . everyone gets an additional 100,000$ hazard pay for the survivors today." 

He then turns to face Superman again. "And you. . . " that word lingered in his mouth, a catch perhaps, momentary, but then passed and magnanimous "our hero. I know you don't like thanks or publicity, but I wish you'd let me do something. A gala to celebrate all that you do for our city. Or something." 

[Deleted]

Clark had to hand it to Lex, whatever the man's feelings for the Man of Steel were, he hid it well in the public face. Perhaps that's what made the man such a good businessman. Maybe not. Still, Clark wasn't buying it. He knew Lex well enough that he wasn't being subtle about his anger at the entire situation. It almost made it worth it. Almost.

He wanted to ask Lex the names of each person who died, but he didn't want to ruin the man's face at that time. It was possible Lex actually knew the five, which would be astounding. But if there was anything Clark knew from the years of engaging Luthor, it was the man's ability to surprise Superman.

Clark shook his head, "I'd rather you put that money to good use. Better safety mechanisms. Perhaps an offshore lab that doesn't threaten the lives of Metropolis' citizens the next time a highly adaptive abomination gets lose. Lex, what where you working on here, exactly? That was a living thing that just attacked, a living, non natural creature. Do you have any concept of ethics?"

[Deleted]

He remembered the names of the men perfectly, their details, their faces. Lex Luthor might not have mourned their deaths significantly, they were wasted but well sacrificed lives in the altar of progress, and they died heroes, saving the lives of others. . . but Lex Luthor did have a perfect memory. It's how he was able to do the work he did. Genius combined with perfect recall, he could close his eyes and remember hiring two of them, he could remember the dossiers of all five men lost. . . the names of their wives and children. They wouldn't haunt him, but they would never leave him either. They'd exist in his mind, along with everyone else he'd ever met, every text he ever read. . . every fact he ever saw.

He sighed and looked at the Man of Steel, standing upright as he straightened his tie and said "This . . . was a senseless and unforseen accident. I wish I knew the details of what occurred, but I can honestly say. . . this was no weapons facility. . . nor was it a LexCorp facility, although I admit we have acquired it and done contract work with them. Metro Genetics, one of our newest, and frankly . . . mixed acquisitions. I'm not at liberty to share all of the details of what they were working on, but it was medical. Peaceful, meant to extend life, not end it." 

He stares over the rubble for a moment, walking away from the Man of Steel, his hands behind his back, staring straight at the rubble. "Organ regrowth" he muttered quietly. Too low for the crowds to hear, but easy for the Man of Steel. "At least 6 scientists, and twenty eight assistants, office managers and interns. . . died working on experimental organ regrowth. . . we weren't even at human testing. Someone did something . . . very foolish, and I don't know what."

[Deleted]

Organ regrowth? This was clearly something out of nightmares. It seemed odd that a creature made with the idea of replacing a human organ would've been so resistant to gunfire and other methods of containment.

"I can promise you, I'm looking into what happened." Clark said, finding the words easily. Morbid curiosity was a superhero's bread and butter. "would you prefer if we spoke somewhere, private, Lex?" He would give the man that option, out of respect. the Man of Steel always felt people tried to their best, and someone with as much potential as Luthor, Clark wanted to guide the man aware from his more unethical lifestyle.

[Deleted]

He spoke louder to the crowd saying "One of the drawbacks of our model, is that we often rely on contracts and external labs and businesses. I'm a wealthy man, but I don't want to stifle creativity or self growth. I support private enterprise through contracts, Metro Genetics has made amazing progress in the fields of medicine, disease treatment beyond the antibiotic window . . . they save lives. . . I don't know what happened here today. I don't even know what they were working on outside of LexCorp projects. . . maybe this. I thought we'd cleared them, reviewed proper procedures and quarantine, experiments were all submitted to the proper ethics boards. At least ours were. I don't know if we missed something, but I won't stop until I find out. And I invite independent government review of our procedures and laboratories to make certain that all safety protocols are being employed to the best of scientific foresight. . . I for one welcome appropriate authorities confirming and reconfirming our dedication to safety and proper protocols." This much was honest. 

He looked at the Man of Steel for a moment and said "I suppose we should have a closer look at the destruction." He felt the ignorant judgment of the alien, and it seethed over him. What right did IT have to judge HIM? He who dared to reach for the sky. He started to walk towards the rubble. 

One of the security guards shouted out "Mr. Luthor, are you sure it's safe?"

Luthor smiled faintly and said "I'm with Superman. . . what possible harm could come to me?" He nodded to the man of steel as they started to walk together into the remnants of the lab. It was a concrete and steel edifice at one point, the quarantines in it would have been intense to see, the underground components were significant at one point, but remained only a hole in the ground. Lex Luthor looked down into it and sighed as he stared down. 

"I don't know much about the experiment that they were performing. There's so many of them, I often don't read all the details of our subsidiaries and contractors. But what I know for certain is that they were working on creating cloned organs that could be universally accepted, no matter who the recipient was. We'd approved animal testing months ago, and were going through the process of getting approval for our first human tests. . . obviously, something happened."

He was speaking, perhaps to himself, perhaps to the alien. It was hard to tell. Perhaps it was a confession, perhaps it was him thinking aloud. "We'll probably need to get down into the quarantine area." He leaned over and picked up Segal's helmet, the facemask filter was still working, he looked at the inside then pulled a flashlight out from his pocket. It glowed a strange purple light and then Lex put the helmet down. He took off his jacket, and loosened his tie, then began to repeat the actions with Segal's chestplate armor, then the arm braces, attaching the arm braces to his arms. He slipped off his shoes and then started to repeat it with the boots.  He slipped the eyepiece from his pocket and over his ear, activating the LexMonocle. Secured in place, he put the facemask on, hit the side and let the air filter work. He grabbed the Laser rifle, checked the foam attachment, then the light, and the taser, then slung it over his shoulder.

"Well then, I'm going down to look at the damage." He shot the grappling hook into the side of the wall, then pulled back to make sure it was secure, before jumping down into the hole, rappelling off the side.