AndyC

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

--AND WHO, DISGUISED AS MILD-MANNERED REPORTER CLARK KENT, FIGHTS A NEVER-ENDING--

"--ill has been unclear about whether he will resume the role, or if rumors of the studio recasting and replacing him are--"

"--right and there is wrong in the universe, and the distinction between the two is not hard to--"

"--show will be concluding after its tenth season, citing low ratings for the network to finally--"

"--little guy needs a name. How about Jonath--"

"--suffered a massive spinal injury, leaving the actor paralyzed from the neck d--"

"--could have changed the world. Now look at us. I'm a political liability. And you....you're a--"

"--restarting their line of comic books from the ground up, streamlining the company's infamously complicated--"

--CAME TO EARTH WITH POWERS AND ABILITIES FAR BEYOND THOSE OF MORTAL--

"--hope this experience hasn't put you off flying. Statistically speaking, it's still--"

"--upstart company, with their own hip and off-beat brand of amazing and uncanny superheroes, has replaced the stodgy old super-friends of yesterday from--"

"--a girl, flying, dressed in a super-costume! It must be--"

"--actor's death has been deemed a suicide, though many still suspect foul--"

--THAN A SPEEDING BULLET, MORE POWERFUL THAN--

"--blames the violent content of 'super-hero' adventure comic books for delinquent beha--"

"--see how I destroy the mighty Man of Steel! No one can stand in Luthor's--"

"--went from a simple children's comic strip character to a genuine cultural--"

LOOK! UP IN THE SKY!

IT'S A BIRD!

IT'S A PLANE!

IT'S--

*BBBRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGG--

The first great test of self-control every morning, being able to tap the alarm clock next to my bed without smashing it to pieces. I sit up and yawn, eyes bleary, my back and neck stiff, then climb out of bed and stretch out the dozen little aches and pains up and down my body.

I rub the sleep out of my eyes and look out the window, the sky still a deep black, only tinged at the horizon line with a barely perceptible glow of red. Dawn is still an hour away, but the first rays of sunlight have begun their work of brightening the day ahead. I should start doing the same.

Walk over to the bathroom and do my business. A mouthful of minty foam and sharp-tasting tonic as I brush my teeth and gargle some mouthwash. A whiff of burnt hair as reflected lasers clear my neck and chin of stubble. I pause for a moment at the upper lip, pondering the possibility of letting it grow out, then decide against it-- somehow I don't think me with a moustache would quite work. A cold splash of water from the sink across my face. I throw on a T-shirt, button up a worn red flannel over that, followed by some overalls, work boots, and finally, my glasses.

They say it's important to establish a morning routine. It builds discipline, and gives you a measure of control.

And control is something you haven't had in quite some time, ain't that right?

I ignore that remark.

Down to the kitchen for breakfast. Flour, baking powder, salt and sugar, milk, butter, eggs. Mix it all together, pour the batter onto the skillet. Allow to heat for two minutes, until it becomes golden brown on one side.

That gives me time to check on a few things. Leaving the batter to warm up, I unlock the back door to the farmhouse and step outside. Krypto stirs, but quickly goes back to sleep once he sees it's just me, and I head out into the pre-dawn sky, reaching high orbit in a few fractions of a second.

"Let's see....." I say to myself as I look and listen to the swirling blue planet below. "I think we'll start by heading east today...."

A highway overpass in South Carolina is dangerously neglected, ready to collapse and endanger hundreds of lives. This early hour, wthout a driver in sight, gives me ample time to work. Crushing concrete into dust, melting down steel supports and rebar, reforging the metal and mixing the concrete all over again, rebuilding the bridge from the ground up, all of that isn't the hard part. The hard part is painting and weathering it so it doesn't look like it was suddenly and suspiciously rebuilt from the ground up. Some men in their old age take up building complex and realistic train sets or model airplanes. I guess this could be seen as the same, only the models I build are to replace crumbling infrastructure.

Next is a quick trip across the Atlantic to the island of La Palma, off the coast of Morocco. The Cumbre Vieja volcano has been building pressure, threatening an eruption that could cause a massive landslide into the ocean. The resulting wave will cause an enormous wall of water to travel across the Atlantic, a mega-tsunami that will devastate the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Or at least, it would. I've been drilling channels through the volcano, pressure release tunnels that will keep the worst-case scenario from happening. Many scientists have already discredited the mega-tsunami theory as completely farfetched, not realizing how accurate their first predictions may have been.

It's best to take care of things like this while they're still little problems, before they get the chance to become big ones. An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure, they say. On top of that, it's the best way for me to save lives and do some good while keeping a low profile.

I make a few more quick stops-- filling potentially lethal pot-holes in roads, triggering small landslides and avalanches while no one's around to be endangered by them, and using wide but low-intensity blasts of Heat Vision to equalize air pressure in a storm system to prevent a tornado from forming-- before heading back to the farmhouse to flip my pancakes.

As I approach, I hear Krypto barking. He's normally not up and about for another two or three hours, let alone making a racket. Slowing down to a manageable speed, I swoop down to the old oak tree about fifty paces from the front of the house, where my dog is growling at a shape on the ground.

"What's the matter, boy?" I say, scratching him behind the ears to calm him down. He looks up at me and whimpers, confused. "It's okay, buddy, I'm here. Now what's--"

That's when I see what Krypto was barking at. A form left in the dirt, a thin coat of dust dulling the colors of a bright red cape and blue suit.

"Great Scott...."

This isn't any sort of coincidence. This is deliberate. A message. Maybe a warning, maybe a threat. But a message nonetheless.

Someone knows.

But how? This isn't my world. Kara switched places with Kal-El in this world, arriving on Earth first. There's no recorded precedent of interaction with parallel universes, alternate timelines, or any other form of other-Earths in this reality.....myself excluded. I've made absolutely certain that none of my actions have shown up on satellite photos, and that any written accounts have either been discredited or purged from the internet. As far as this world is concerned, there is no Superman, and there never was. Nobody could possibly know who or what I am, let alone that I'm here.

And yet, someone knows.

Lying in the dirt in front of me is a pile of bones, dressed in an unmistakable uniform.

Someone has sent me a dead man.....

Worse than that, actually......

......a dead Superman.

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

<Snipped quote by AndyC>
Something tells me that your Superman is going to have a hard time trusting my Wonder Woman.

@Star Lord

Clark's gonna have a pretty hard time getting along with just about everybody.

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

Sample post has been added to the Superman CS.

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

I have a feeling that I'm not ever going to really get away from this sort of game, and that I'll be playing characters like this from now...

...til Kingdom Come

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T P R O P O S A L

S U P E R M A N

---

^{_{Kal-L / Clark Joseph Kent ♦ Farmer; Formerly the World's Greatest Hero ♦ Smallville, Kansas, United States (Earth Prime) ♦ Former Founder of the Justice Society of America and Justice League (Earth 2)}}

C H A R A C T E R C O N C E P T:

---

^{"I used to be a lot of things. These days, I'm just a farmer."}

1913: A mysterious rocket-ship crashes in a field on the outskirts of Smallville, Kansas. Much to the surprise of the kindly Jonathan and Martha Kent, inside this mystery ship is a newborn baby boy. Believing the child to be a miracle, the Kents adopt him, naming him Clark.

1930: Clark begins to exhibit extraordinary powers, able to lift his father's tractor over his head with one hand and leap over a quarter of a mile. Those around him begin to treat him with suspicion, even fear, and for their protection and his own, Clark leaves Smallville.

1931-1937: Clark travels the country, searching for a place to fit in while the United States suffers through the Great Depression. Seeing the widespread suffering, misery, and injustice that affect so many, he determines to use his powers to help the helpless. Returning home to Smallville, he unearths his buried rocket-ship and learns of his true origins: he was born Kal-L, the last survivor of the doomed planet Krypton, a utopian world that destroyed itself through generations of decadence and moral decay. Seeing the suffering around him and fearful Earth might meet the same fate as Krypton, Clark fashions a costume styled after his lost home world and determines to fight evil wherever it may come.

1938: Clark, now in full costume, rescues the fearless reporter Lois Lane from the clutches of the gangster Bruno Mannheim. Seeing his incredible powers and garish 'S' symbol on his chest, Lois gives him the moniker 'Superman.' Clark takes up residence in the bustling city of Metropolis, and becomes a colleague and rival reporter to Lois. Superman becomes a regular fixture in the city, ransacking the criminal underworld, punching out wife-beaters, exposing and apprehending corrupt politicians, and inspiring the people of Metropolis to do great things.

1940: Superman is joined by other cape-clad mystery men: the Bat-Man of Gotham City, Wonder Woman of Paradise Island, the super-sonic Flash, the magic ring-wielding Green Lantern, the winged Hawk-Man and Hawk-Girl, Star Man, the Atom Smasher, Hour-Man, Doctor Mid-Nite, the Sandman, and the Black Canary. At first working only in loose confederation, these heroes agree that by working together, they can affect great change on a global scale and fight back against the rising power of the Axis. Naming themselves the Justice Society of America, Superman and his compatriots set out to cure the ills affecting their country, and prevent the outbreak of war.

The same year, Superman first encounters Lex Luthor, the mad scientist who would in time become his lifelong arch-nemesis. Luthor terrorizes Metropolis with death rays, earthquake machines, armies of mechanical monsters and more, only to be thwarted by Superman every time. Meanwhile, Clark begins to struggle with his affection for Lois Lane, who sees the mild-mannered Clark Kent as a coward and a milquetoast, but pines for the rugged and daring Superman.

1941-1945: The Justice Society is brought into the Second World War when Hitler and Hirohito add Lex Luthor and the immortal Vandal Savage to their unholy alliance. Superman himself is nearly killed when Luthor unveils the discovery of Kryptonite, a radioactive meteor fragment from Superman's homeworld that can poison the Man of Tomorrow. As Clark recuperates, Green Lantern assumes leadership of the Justice Society, storming Hitler's bunker and bringing the evil dictator in to be tried by the United Nations. Luthor, however, escapes to his hidden lair on the dark side of the moon.

1950: Clark's complicated romance with Lois Lane grows more complex when his old flame Lana Lang returns into his life. In addition, his role as Metropolis's protector grows more and more difficult as other super-powered threats menace the City of Tomorrow. In short order, Superman tangles with the radioactive Atomic Skull, the power-stealing Parasite, and the colossal ape Titano-- all of which are creations of Lex Luthor.

1951: The Justice Society disbands after being brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Superman, still wishing to repair relations between the government and his fellow vigilante crime-fighters, begins working extensively with the Army and the Office of Strategic Services, while the rest of the former Society either retire or go rogue. This culminates in a dramatic battle with Bat-Man, where the Gotham vigilante poisons Superman again with Kryptonite, causing the Man of Steel to refrain from entering Gotham City ever again (unbeknownst to the government, however, this 'fight' is a ruse, as Superman and Bat-Man continue to work together in secret).

1957: Superman is tormented by the reality-warping imp Mr. Mxyzptlk, who introduces the Man of Steel to the concepts of higher and lower dimensions, alternate realities, multiverses, metafiction, and hypertime. This mind-bending odyssey ends with Superman sending Mxyzptlk back to his home dimension, but he is left with a monstrous duplicate as a 'memento' from his nigh-omnipotent tormentor. This monster, known simply as Bizarro, becomes one of Superman's most unpredictable and dangerous enemies.

1958: A flying saucer shrinks the entire city of Metropolis, prompting Superman to chase the alien spaceship halfway across the galaxy to rescue the city. Inside he encounters the hyper-intelligent alien robot Brainiac, who also keeps as its prized possession the lost Kryptonian city of Kandor. While Superman is able to rescue Metropolis and return it to its normal size, he cannot do the same for Kandor, a failure which continues to haunt him, even as Brainiac attempts to destroy Superman and the Earth time and time again.

1959: A second Kryptonian rocket, lured by beacons from within the Bottle City of Kandor, lands on Earth and is intercepted by Superman. Inside is a young woman who identifies herself as Kal-L's long lost cousin, Kara Zor-L, who had been stranded in space and stuck in suspended animation following Krypton's destruction. Kara becomes Kal's protégée, debuting to the world as Supergirl within months of her arrival.

1960: A new generation of heroes bands together to fight a massive entity known as "The Center," an ancient being from primordial times intent on wiping out all life on Earth. This new team, calling themselves the Justice League after the old JSA, inducts Superman as a founding member, but because he cannot focus his time towards the team, he declines the offer of leadership and instead defers to the new Flash.

1964: Earth is invaded by the Crime Syndicate, an evil counterpart to the Justice League from a universe where moral alignments are reversed. Led by the villainous Ultraman, the Crime Syndicate overwhelms and undermines the Justice League at every turn. Superman, joining forces with Bizarro and Captain Marvel (whom he suspects to be a Superman from a smaller universe absorbed by their own), lures the Syndicate out into bleed-space between universes, capturing them in a negative-dimensional tesseract prison. Before being pulled into the tesseract, Ultraman warns Superman and his compatriots of a coming doom far worse than anything they had faced before, that this universe would destroy itself in a final crisis.

1968: After years of flirtatious games and unrequited romance, Clark Kent marries Lois Lane. Soon after, they have a son, whom they name Jonathan Kent.

1970: Superman encounters Darkseid, the despotic ruler of Apokolips and self-proclaimed God of All Evil. Believing this to be the reality-threatening crisis Ultraman had warned him about, Clark puts more and more of his efforts towards fighting Darkseid and his demonic forces, leaving much of the everyday heroics to Supergirl.

1973: Lex Luthor joins forces with over a dozen other supervillains to form the Legion of Doom, with the express intent of destroying the Justice League. Their battles tip the balance of global power far beyond any acceptable limit, and President Nixon cracks down on superhuman activity. Unlike the Justice Society, the League refuses to disband, and are designated a rogue power by the US government. Organizations like Cadmus emerge, with the intent of creating methods to control or destroy superhumans should they become a threat to mankind.

1978: Jonathan Kent's powers begin to manifest. He soon debuts to the world as Superboy, tagging along with Superman and Supergirl in training missions, or alongside the Teen Titans.

1980: Earth is invaded by a faction of rogue Kryptonian criminals, led by the fascistic General Zod. Zod and his minions attempt to transform Earth into a New Krypton, which would destroy all native life in the process. After a costly battle, Superman and Supergirl subdue Zod, sending him into the void of the Phantom Zone. However, the fear of unchecked Kryptonian power starts to erode people's trust in Superman, and an arms race begins to recover Zod's weapons and technology.

1985: The multiverse is threatened not by Darkseid, but by the nihilistic Anti-Monitor. The resulting crisis claims many of Superman's closest friends and allies, including Supergirl, who dies in his arms after battling the Anti-Monitor in single combat. Eventually the combined forces of the multiverse's heroes and villains are able to subdue the Anti-Monitor and save reality, but the world is fundamentally changed nonetheless.

1986: Lex Luthor merges with Brainiac, manipulating several of Superman's enemies in an attempt to engineer a final confrontation with the Man of Steel. Bizarro goes on a rampage in Metropolis, killing thousands before committing suicide with blue Kryptonite. The Daily Planet is gassed by the Joker, killing many of Clark's personal friends. A final battle between the Justice League and the Legion of Doom rages at the gates of Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Luthor and Brainiac, as well as several lesser villains and heroes, are killed in the fray. Ultimately, Superman learns that his two greatest enemies had themselves been manipulated by Mr. Mxyzptlk, who had changed by the Crisis from mischievous to fully malevolent. Superman traps Mxyzptlk in a portal to the Phantom Zone, and the imp attempts to escape to the Fifth Dimension, splitting his essence between realities and destroying him utterly. It is the first time Superman deliberately ends an enemy's life, and the act sends shockwaves through the heroic community.

This only raises tensions between the Justice League and the global Super-Powers, culminating in a second confrontation with Batman. Unlike their battle thirty years previous, this is no friendly ruse, and after Batman leaves Superman near-dead from Kryptonite poisoning, the two remain bitter enemies. Weakened and disillusioned, Superman withdraws from public life and retires to the Kent Farm in Smallville.

1988: Superboy, now fully of age, takes up his father's mantle and becomes the new Superman. Jonathan Kent battles a new generation of threats, such as Livewire, Conduit, Bloodsport, the Eradicator, and the intergalactic bounty hunter Lobo.

1993: Lois Lane, age 80, dies peacefully in her sleep. A month later, Jonathan Kent is killed while saving the world from the monster Doomsday, Lex Luthor's final creation and attempt at revenge from beyond the grave.

1996: Smallville, as well as the rest of Kansas, is destroyed when Captain Atom is split open during a battle with the Parasite. The resulting explosion kills over one million people, and shocks the world into action. The Justice League, now led by Wonder Woman, begins rounding up villains and anti-heroes in order to re-educate them. Batman leads a team of freedom-fighting Outsiders to oppose this new draconian stance. And the reconstituted Legion of Doom seeks to bring it all down. Meanwhile, the US government and Cadmus, working with the remains of Brainiac, develops the ultimate weapon to undo the damage done by the superhumans: a tachyon warhead, a literal Time-Bomb that can erase those hit by it from the timeline completely.

Superman finally comes out of retirement just as this battle reaches its climax, flying the Time Bomb out beyond the Source Wall as it detonates. Cause and effect unravel. Time and space and the fundamental forces lose all meaning. Reality implodes upon itself. In the last nano-instant, the final Planck-length of existence, Superman speaks the name of every god backwards, and existence freezes and shrinks down to the point where it can be captured and kept in a bottle.

.

.

.

.

.

2019: Clark Kent wakes up in a field on the outskirts of Smallville, Kansas. He lives in a tumble-down farmhouse that most people assume was abandoned decades ago. He owns a white dog named Krypto, and most of his neighbors don't pay him any mind. The world is populated with heroes he doesn't recognize, or versions of his old friends and enemies that, while familiar, aren't the same. No one has ever heard the name 'Superman' before.

C H A R A C T E R M O T I V A T I O N S & G O A L S:

---

I've played Superman a ton of times, and while it would be really easy to revisit my origin-story ideas and pick up concepts from UOU I didn't get to use, I wanted to instead take the opposite approach, a Superman whose glory days are long gone instead of just beginning. Making him Kal-L rather than the prime universe Superman should allow me to play with a seasoned and saddened Clark without stepping on Gowi's concept of making Kara the 'original' S-wearer in this continuity. More to the point, I want to play with the really crazy aspects of Superman's franchise, rather than just beat up Metallo and have a "we're on the same side, but I've got my eye on you" encounter with Batman for the billionth time. The stories I want to tell are going to be along the lines of Superman Beyond by way of Old Man Logan.

C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:

---

Kal-L knows that this isn't his world, and that acting out in the open could have dire effects on this timeline. As a result, he's going to try and keep a low profile, going after threats that are out of the current heroes' league until they're ready to face them on their own. Also, while his old world may no longer exist, he'll be frequented by 'ghosts' of his past. Whether these ghosts are all in his head, or if there's something literal behind them, is something that remains to be seen.

S A M P L E P O S T:

---

The Kent Farm
Smallville, Kansas

"Is it just me," I say, squinting and shielding my eyes a bit with my right hand, "or does the sun not shine as brightly as it used to?"

Krypto leans his head to one side, as if contemplating the question, then brushes against my leg and nudges my hand to get me to start scratching behind his ears. Of course, any 'contemplating' on his behalf is purely in my imagination-- he's just a dog, and I never did learn how to communicate with animals. That's something Diana could do. Sometimes. Depending on the iteration.

A warm, dry wind sends ripples across the acres of wheat sprawling out in front of the old farm house, the stalks and seeds reflecting the sunlight in a golden shimmer. I can't help but think, however, that shimmer doesn't quite have the same luster, the same shine. Everything about this world is just a bit....dimmer.

I run my hand across the railing of my front porch, feeling the wood splinter as I put just a bit too much pressure on it. Everything here is so much more fragile. I have trouble even lifting the old tractor over my head-- not because I lack the strength to move it, but because it buckles under its own weight. And it's not just objects that break more easily, but people, too. Every day, I see people ground down by anxiety or depression, their sense of self eroded by an onslaught of frightening news, pretentious but ultimately empty post-modern junk philosophy, cheap and insipid entertainment, quick hits of dopamine from getting that 'like' on their social media platform of choice. They're angry, afraid, and alone, easy to manipulate, easy to break completely.

The more time I spend in this world, the more I think about how wrong everything is. Muted colors, faded beliefs, everything and everyone reduced to oversimplified pseudo-concepts that can be dismissed the instant they become inconvenient, offensive, or boring. The sun doesn't shine as brightly as it used to.

I've often considered putting on the suit again, giving this world and these people something to believe in, something true. Every time I go into the cellar, though, every time I open that dusty old chest and pull out my red cape and boots, I hesitate.

This isn't my world.

This isn't my fight.

But it can be, y'know.

And that isn't my voice.

Krypto lets out a whine and licks at my fingers. Finally obliging, I scratch behind his ears, and he wags his tail in enjoyment. I shake my head, pulling myself out of my reverie.

Somewhere in this world, Kara is saving lives and fighting the good fight, just like I used to. Bruce, Diana, and the rest of my friends-- or at least, other versions of them-- are taking up their own battles against the darkness, as well as dozens of other heroes completely new to me. Jimmy Olsen is snapping photographs, and Perry White is bellowing over the din of the Planet newsroom.

Lois is getting into who knows what kind of trouble.

"C'mon, boy," I say, patting his head as I step off the porch and onto the worn dirt trail headed towards the barn. "The back forty aren't going to till themselves."

I look back up to the sky, and I feel myself smile just a bit. The sun doesn't shine as brightly as it used to.

But that doesn't mean the sun isn't shining at all.

P O S T C A T L O G:

---

(Coming Soon, assuming I get approved)

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

EDIT: Wrong thread

Absolute Comics - Season Two: The Monster Within

<Snipped quote by HenryJonesJr>

@Inkarnate

.....*sigh*.......(starts working on a Superman CS to set things straight)

Ultimate One Universe: Season Two

All right, well, it only took entirely too damn long, but Superman's finally back in action.

Ultimate One Universe: Season Two

SICKNESS

CHAPTER ONE

"AAAT-CHOOOOO!"

"Bless you."

"Eeugh, thanks," mutters Jimmy as he grabs a spare napkin from the Chinese takeout on his desk to wipe his nose. "Sinuses have been killing me all day. Anyway, Perry's got me covering the dockside strike with Ron after getting that cease-and-desist from the FAA about my camera drone-- which is BS, by the way; I mean, you're seriously going to get hung up over 'airspace violations' in Metropolis?-- but anyway, we're there covering the story, and getting all these great sound bytes about labor and unfair wages and corrupt management and all that, and then BOOM! A freighter coming out of the harbor gets a hole blown in its side like it was hit by a torpedo!"

"Is that what that was? I thought I'd heard something about an explosion this morning," I say with concern.

I was helping Lombard with stats for this year's national high school varsity wrestling tournament when I heard it. In a city as busy as Metropolis, it's easy for noise to all sort of blend together. Voices, car engines, radio chatter, it all becomes a dizzying haze of sensory input that can get overwhelming if you don't focus. But the sound of explosives, the sudden punch of changing air pressure, the smell of smoke and chemicals in the air, that's unmistakable. After blaming too much coffee for a sudden bathroom break, I excused myself from the sportswriter's company, and was out over the bay seconds later, to find a large container ship had been bombed and was quickly taking on water.

"Crazy, right?" Jimmy continues. "Anyway, I'm arguing with Ron because I want to get my drone out to take some pictures of the ship and Ron's all 'no, you can't do that, the FAA will be mad,' and I'm all 'but I can't get a good picture from here, the ship's too far out,' and he's all 'meh, a real photographer shouldn't have to rely on toys to do his work for him,' like he has any idea how hard it is to fly one of those things into dangerous airspace and get an angle for a great shot. And we go back and forth like that for a bit, and then, hey, the problem solves itself!"

"A sinking ship solved itself?"

"Well, I mean, technically Superman solved it," he corrects himself. "But I get my regular camera out, and when the Big Guy gets close enough, I'm able to shut Mr. A-Real-Photographer-Doesn't-Need-A-Drone up with a real winner."

Grabbing his camera from the desk, he scrolls through his saved photos until he finds the one he's looking for, and shows it to me.

"Boooom, baybay."

"Oh, wow," I say with widened eyes. "That's....pretty nuts."

"I know, right?!"

That ship had to been carrying somewhere in the ballpark of a 150,000, maybe 200,000 tons of cargo. That's around the same weight as the Willis Tower in Chicago, and I really felt it trying to get that thing out of the water. The real killer is that since there was no ground underneath me to push off of, I had to rely purely on my tactile kinesis rather than my muscles with the lifting. Frankly, my lower back is killing me.

But seeing it from the perspective of someone on the ground, well....I hate to come off as arrogant, but I make it look easy. If people picture me in action doing things like that, then it's no wonder I can walk around with nothing covering my face but a pair of glasses-- no one's going to suspect some guy from the office of being able to hoist a skyscraper overhead.

"Anyway, I'm betting this pic gets me back in Perry's good graces, then it's drone o'clock all day every day," Jimmy says, leaning back in his chair with as much swagger as he can muster, before he catches sight of the new intern and leaps up like an excited puppy. "Hey Linda! I got an awesome picture of Superman this morning, saving that cargo ship? Wanna see it?"

"Hm? Oh! That's, erm, that's really cool," Linda says, a sheepish smile on her face as Jimmy scrolls through his photos.

Linda Lee Danvers started working at the Planet about a month ago, taking Jimmy's old spot as the newsroom's general purpose gofer. She's not very talkative, a little nervous at all times, but she seems nice enough. Jimmy took an instant liking to her, mostly because she's the only person at the office roughly his age, and has started going out of his way to impress her at every opportunity. Reminds me a bit of how I used to act around--

There's a tap on my left shoulder, and I glance over to see nobody as Lois sneaks up on my right side. I go along with it and act surprised when I turn and see her, and we share a playful grin.

"Afternoon, Smallville," she says as she gestures over to Jimmy and the intern, "Is Don Juan Olsen showing off his latest magnum opus that's sure to get him out of the doghouse with Perry this time?"

"It's a pretty good one," I admit, "from the cargo ship this morning. Still don't know why someone would try to blow up a--"

"I'm working on that," she says. "I was just on the phone with the harbormaster, and he says the ship in question, the LCS Milton, was supposed to disembark the day before. The Milton's captain says they were late due to the strike, that he had to get a replacement crew. This morning, a whole crew of scabs show up, ready to march past the picket lines and get that ship on the water. Nobody's saying where this crew came from, though."

"So, maybe this replacement crew had something to do with the bomb?" I ask.

"Don't know yet," she answers, "But something's definitely-- AT-CHOOO!"

"Bless you."

"Thanks," Lois says, pulling a tissue from her purse. "Some kind of crud must be going around. Perry could barely get through tearing me a new one over the serial-head-explosion story without hacking up a lung."

Lois has been following a string of fairly gruesome unsolved murders over the past month-- each one, the victim is seemingly killed through some unseen explosion from within, leaving no traces of the cause, but a very grisly crime scene in the aftermath. Thus far all of the victims have been somehow connected to what's left of the city's criminal underworld, but the pieces haven't quite fit together get.

"Speaking of that case, what's--"

"Hang on, babe, I'm getting a notification," she cuts me off, pulling out her phone and pulling up her newsfeed. "Nationalist rebels in Sokovia have taken hostages in a school in the capital city. Hmmm, I think international news sounds like it's something more your speed, doesn't it?"

Lois's thinly-veiled hint is about as close as she can get to saying "this sounds like a job for Superman" in public without giving it away.

"I'll look into it," I nod, before heading towards the elevators. "In the meantime, you take it easy. We're not gonna get anything done if everyone at the Planet gets sick."

---

"Yes, I'm aware the crew was a day late. There are some rather unfortunate realities of my trade in the current climate that make operations more difficult than they used to be. My apologies."

"Oh yes, everyone's sorry about something, everyone's got their reasons for falling short of expectations. Everyone's a day late and a dollar short, but they've got a story that makes it all okay."

"You still got the attention you wanted, didn't you? That was the whole point of this, right?"

"Oh, I got what I wanted. And fortunately, thanks to my successes, by this time next week, no one's going to catch onto your little blunder because they'll all be too busy chokin-- ohhh, but I shouldn't give away spoilers."

"Excuse me?"

"You're excused. Anyway, I didn't call to express my displeasure-- I called to see how you're enjoying the new toys I gave you."

"They work like a dream. All I have to do is think about the person I want to remove, and your gizmos do the rest. It's beautiful."

"And yet, you haven't made a real bid to reclaim control of Metropolis. Even with the power to destroy anyone you can think of?"

"Well.....almost anyone. They don't work on....him."

"On it, not him. They don't work on it."

"Fine, fine. It was one of the first things I did, trying to use them to get rid of....it. I don't think it even noticed. I could wipe out everyone else in this whole damn city if I wanted, but it wouldn't mean a thing if I don't have a way to deal with it first."

"Oh, but you do have a way to deal with it. You just have to think outside the box. That's what I want from you, my friend: some real, genuine, honest-to-goodness creativity. That's the only way you're going to come out of this on top."

"Well, if you've got any bright ideas--"

"I've got nothing but bright ideas; I want to see some from you. Do something other than turn snitches and rivals into chunky salsa. Give me a reason to keep investing in you."

"....right. I'll let you know what I come up with."

"Looking forward to it, Bruno."

Ultimate One Universe: Season Two

Trying to get my creative juices going again, I went and did a thing on the Create-A-Post thread over on the Hype. Gonna actually put in some work on Supes while I'm all geared up, if y'all will still have me.

Ultimate One Universe: Season Two

Sorry, y'all. I still have a bunch of ideas for Supes, but every time I'd sit down to post, I'd draw a blank. Honestly, getting through season 1 was nothing to sneeze at, since usually we have folks drop almost immediately.