Unlimited Legends #11 (The Legion of Super-Heroes)

[Dark Knight of Steel]

Unlimited Legends #11
Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes!
Chapter 3:
Superboy

Featuring... The Legion of Super-Heroes

Writer: Scott D.L. Kruger
Editor: Daniel Dyer

Saturn Girl landed next to Sutter’s lake to find unconscious Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad floating face down in the lake.

“GARTH!!!” She shouted as she plunged into the lake, She rolled him onto his back & pulled him from the lake. Once she had him on the ground she began performing CPR. “Dammit! Don’t you die on me Garth Ranzz!”

The sound of a sonic boom startled her as she realized Clark was most likely gone. The sound also jolted Cosmic Boy out of his unconscious stupor. “Imra!” Rokk stammered, “Where’s Kal-El?”

“I think he followed them.” She responded as she began mouth-to-mouth on Garth.

“What do you mean, you think?”

{"SHUT THE SPROCK UP ROKK! DO YOU WANT GARTH TO DIE HERE???"}

The force of her telepathic shout knocked Rokk back down on his butt. She counted to 4 again and put her mouth to Garth’s, blowing air into his lungs. He began to cough, spitting out water.

“Garth, thank the Gods!” she shouted as she took him into her arms.

“Hey… *cough*… babe… if you wanted a kiss, all you …*cough* … all you had to do was ask.”

---

[Dark Knight of Steel]

Clark stopped dead in his tracks when he entered Smallville town limits. The villains were faster than he had anticipated, and it did not help that he was still weak from the Kryptonite exposure. Town hall had been leveled and the Talon was on fire. The water tower had burst, spilling its contents in the street. The people of the town were running in all direction trying to get away from the sudden madness. Driver-less cars chased after them. Clark saw Pete, Chloe & Lana running in the street towards him, a large tractor barreling down on them. He rushed forward and punched the tractor sending it flying into a set of trucks that were chasing down his high school principal.

His friends stared at him in shock. “Clark!” Chloe shouted, reaching for her camera, “How’d you do that?”

“I don’t have time… the people that are causing this, where are they?” Clark asked.

“They burst into the Talon and this guy… he had electricity…” Pete started.

“Clark, they’ve got your parents!” Lana interjected, and Clark took off at a super speed sprint into the Talon.

---

[Dark Knight of Steel]

Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad & Saturn Girl rushed towards the town as fast as their flight rings could take them. They had definitely seen better days. Garth had difficulty breathing and Cos had to fight to stay conscious. Imra was the only one fit to fight. And Clark needed all the help he could get if the LSV had Kryptonite.

Her mind on Clark and Garth, Imra did not sense their attacker until it was too late. Garth was thrown to the ground below as Rokk was hit by a telekinetic blast.

{"HELLO IMRA!"} Saturn Queens voice filled Imra’s mind before she could throw a telepathic barrier up. Imra grabbed her head as she was bombarded with images and sounds of chaos. Saturn Queens psychic attack tapped into the consciousness of Smallville’s people, flooding Imra’s mind with all of their panic & fear. Being the stronger of the two telepaths, Imra could have easily beaten Saturn Queen, but without the chance to prepare for the assault, she didn’t stand a chance.

Saturn Queen cackled with glee as she intensified the assault and Imra dropped like a stone to the ground below.

---

[Dark Knight of Steel]

Clark stood in the entrance of the Talon, the flames that surrounded him burned his shirt, but left his skin untouched. He did not choke as he breathed the smoke filled air. Atop the bar stood Lightning Lord with his parents bound & gagged at his feet, the flames dangerously close.

“Let them go!” Clark demanded.

“Uh… no.” Mekt replied with a smile as he unleashed a barrage of lightning at Clark. Clark leaned into it as his body just seemed to absorb it. Clarks parents looked on, horrified, as they struggled to free themselves from their bonds.

“You’ll have to do better than that.” Clark shouted.

“Very well…” Mekt hit Clark with the same voltage that he hit him with earlier in the night.

“AAARRRGGGHHH!!!” Clark screamed as it hit him. But he dug his heels into the ground and started advancing on Mekt.

“NOW!” Mekt shouted and stopped his lightning assault.

Clark stumbled forward landing on his stomach as the Cosmic King struck. He stabbed Clark in the back with the sharpened rock of Kryptonite. Clark was instantaneously weakened below that of a normal human being. Being near Kryptonite would render him weak… to have it touch his skin would be fatal, to have it imbedded in his skin would kill him within minutes. Clark writhed on the ground but could not find the strength to pull it from his back. His parents just watched helplessly, tears streaming from his mothers eyes.

---

[Dark Knight of Steel]

Saturn Queen stood over the fallen body of Saturn Girl. Imra, had stopped screaming after a minute or so, the pain was so intense she just lay, eyes open, tears streaming. Saturn Queen knelt down beside Imra’s head and brushed a stray hair off of her face.

“Don’t cry Saturn Girl…” she taunted, “as soon as Kal El is dead, you will cease to exist. All your pain will disappear…”

“Hey!” Garth shouted. Saturn Queen looked up as he shocked her with an intense lightning bolt. “Get your hands off my girl, skank!”

Saturn Queen flew over 20 yards away and hit the ground unconscious. Garth rushed to Imra’s side, as she opened her eyes.

“Hey babe, you OK?” he asked as he held her head up and wiped the tears from her cheek.

“Not really,” she replied, “and I’m not your girl.”

“Maybe not... yet…” he said.

“Enough chatter people, we need to get to Clark.” Rokk barked as he stumbled towards them.

---

[Dark Knight of Steel]

Clarks skin had turned a sickly pale gray. The flames that weren’t touching him before were now searing his skin. The acrid stench of burnt flesh filled the air. Cosmic King strode over to Clark & kicked him in the head.

“Not so tough now, are you? Cosmic King taunted the defenseless Clark. “Kal El… the mighty Superman… the last Kryptonian.”

“Stop!” shouted Mekt. “Let the Kryptonite run its course… I want to see him die slowly.”

Clarks eyes burned from the smoke. His mighty hands had begun to shrivel and the Legion flight ring fell from his finger.

Mekt walked over to Clark’s parents and turned both of their heads towards their dying son. Electricity crackled from his fingers singeing their skin, “You can’t miss this either… the death of the greatest hero the world would have…. NNNYYYAAARRRGGHHH!!!” Mekt screamed and grabbed his head.

“How about a taste of your own sick medicine, Mekt?” Shouted Saturn Girl as she flew through the Talon’s entrance, her mind siphoning all the thoughts & fears of Smallville’s residents into his mind. A similar attack to the one Saturn Queen had used on Imra, but far more intense.

Before he could react, Cosmic King was struck upside the head by a manhole cover, magnetically flung by Cosmic Boy. Lightning Lad leapt onto Clark, wrenched the Kryptonite shard from his bare back and flew out of the Talon at best possible speed. Clark immediately felt his strength return. The wounds he had sustained already began to heal as he charged with all of his fury focused on the Lightning Lord. Clark’s eyes burned as he bore a hole through Mekt’s shoulder. He launched himself into the air, grabbed Mekt and forced him through the wall. Up into the air Clark climbed holding Mekt by the throat until he hovered above the burning Talon.

Below the people of Smallville stared up at Clark as he held his captive by the throat. Pete, Lana & Chloe stood side by side by side mouth agape. Chloe’s camera flashed continuously.

---

[Dark Knight of Steel]

“YOU MONSTER!!!” Clark screamed at Mekt who just hung there cowering before the burning red eyes of the boy that would be Superman. Fury engulfed the boy of steel as he tightened his grip on Mekt’s throat. Mekt gasped for air and a single tear rolled down his cheek.

“No, p…please…” Mekt begged.

“Clark…” Imra’s voice came up from below, “let him go… your parents are safe.”

“HE almost killed them!” Clark raged.

“You’re right, big guy,” Garth said, “he almost killed them.”

“Superman doesn’t kill…” Rokk urged as he flew upward towards Clark, “you would become the same kind of monster that Mekt is and you’re better than that.”

Clark looked into Mekt’s eyes, then down at his wounded shoulder. Did he do that? He looked at his right hand… the flight ring was gone. He was flying on his own. It was true, all of it. He loosened his grip on Mekt’s neck and gently glided back to the ground. Mekt whimpered as he held his wounded arm. Clark’s eyes had somehow burned a hole through his shoulder.

“Clark!” His parents shouted in unison as they ran to him. Jonathan & Martha wrapped their arms around him as he began to cry. They were safe at last.

The townspeople gathered around the oddly dressed collection of teenagers. Clark’s and his parents approached the Legion and showered them with hugs and handshakes.

Imra took Clark by the hand and lead him away from his parents for a brief moment. “Clark… we have to go.”

“I understand.” Clark replied looking down at the ground. “Thank you for everything, if it hadn’t been for you and the guys, I don’t know what would have happened.”

She smiled as she put his arms around his neck. “I just wanted to say a proper goodbye…” She stood on the tips of her toes, leaned into him, and kissed him softly.

---

[Dark Knight of Steel]

The alarm clock went off waking Clark & his parents. It was time to start rebuilding after the tornado that struck the two nights ago. Luckily the Smallville Inn had been spared, or they’d be sleeping in the truck. The Talon, City Hall and their home were, luckily, all that the tornado hit, aside from minor vehicle damage. Astonishingly, no one was killed when it struck, only a few folks had suffered minor injuries. There was one curiosity… Somehow, something was so sharp that it actually pierced Clark’s skin, leaving a small scratch like scar on his back. Aside from his first sore back, he was fine.

He began to think about his first day at school two days before… before the tornado hit. The doubt, confusion & loneliness that consumed him were gone. In their place, confidence and an odd feeling that everything would be fine.

“Clark?” his mom interrupted his train of thought. “I found this on the bathroom counter, is it yours?”

She held up a small gold ring with an L* carved into its center.

“Yeah,” he said confused as he looked at it. “Someone gave it to me… but I can’t remember who.” He stared at it for a few moments then placed it in his sock drawer. He was sure it would come to him eventually.

---

[Dark Knight of Steel]

Chloe Sullivan sat in the darkroom waiting for her pictures to develop. Being a self-professed journalist, she carried her camera with her everywhere she went. Luckily she had it when the tornado struck and was sure she got a few great shots of it!

In the red-lit room she began to see the images take shape before her. Clark & Pete in the quad, Clark looking gloomy… Clark & Lana at lunch… Clark looking gloomy, again. Clark standing there as the car drove away… looking gloomy, yet again. Did the guy ever smile anymore?

She looked in to the next pan… Clark… flying? Holding someone by his throat. Clark and three kids in strange costumes, flying. Clark kissing a girl…

The memory flooded back. It was no tornado. There had been lightning, a fire, and vehicles acting on their own. A name came to her, something she had over-heard… she wasn’t sure whose name it was, but something told her it was very important

“Superman.”

The End?

[Dark Knight of Steel]

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