Chapter 3: ShardsSuperman landed at the nuclear facility. It was quiet and he suddenly knew this was a set up. There was no actual breach.
"I found your message. I know you’re here," Superman ventured.
"And I know you can’t see me," a voice answered.
Superman tried to look through the walls, but there was too much lead shielding.
"Lead encasements. You can’t see through lead. One of your few weaknesses," the man added helpfully.
"That’s why you’re choosing nuclear facilities. You can watch me without me knowing," Superman said, wanting to keep the man talking.
"And see how good you really are, Kal-El."
"How do you know my name?" Superman asked, still walking and doing his best to peer through the walls and locate the man.
"I know everything there is to know about the Last Son of Krypton. Where I come from, let’s just say the two of us have history."
"And where is that, exactly?" Superman asked, wondering if this man was being honest or if he was nuts. Granted, he could be both.
"Nowhere now. My world was destroyed. But somehow, I managed to survive. I eventually arrived here, where I learned you were here too."
A metallic form came into focus through the wall and Superman was happy for the gap of lead. Deciding to take this opportunity, he rushed through the walls separating them.
Only to come to a sudden stop as the man caught him and hoisted him up by the neck.
"Not as fast as I thought," the man calmly said, actually sounding disappointed.
He then tossed him away like he was nothing.
He landed hard against the concrete far beyond the building, rolling a few times before he stopped and looked up as the armored man shot into the sky.
Superman immediately pursued, chasing him part way around the world until they were weaving around skyscrapers. They scuffled briefly in the air and Superman crashed into a shop before leaping back into the air.
This guy was not only strong, he was fast.
Superman paused in orbit, trying to triangulate where the man now was as he extended his hearing. He heard him from behind and turned just as the suited man crashed into him. They tumbled through space, curving around the earth.
"Aren’t you curious how I know so much about you, Kal-El?" he asked as they struggled, flipping head over heels, weightless.
Superman tried to blast him off with pulses of heat vision and ice breath but failed. The man returned his efforts with a headbutt and several powerful punches.
"Like me, your home was destroyed." He grabbed Superman’s throat. "You were sent here as an infant, to a world where you’d spend your whole life trying to prove your worth, convince yourself you were one of them, but you’re not! You’re still that scared, lost child, desperate for the love of people who will never accept you!"
The man’s gloved hand pulled back, brandishing a green spike.
"And the only remnants of your real home – Kryptonite – make you sick."
The shard easily pierced into him, searing pain tearing through him worse than a hundred lightning strikes.
“Dust to dust, Superman,” the man stated, his voice devoid of all emotion save hate. And then he let go.
And Superman fell.
O o O
Isamu Sato wasn’t sure what he was seeing at first, but the moment he realized the growing red speck was actually rippling red fabric, he knew.
Superman.
But something was clearly wrong.
He was falling.
Falling straight down.
Isamu shouted and pointed up, attracting the attention of others on the street who quickly shared their own alarm and dismay. Bikes and vehicles screeched to a halt as more people took notice, screaming and pointing. Their shouts must have reached Superman because his rapid descent seemed to slow as his body rotated in the air, but it wasn't enough.
Superman struck the road arm and shoulder first, then head and the rest of him. Debris blasted up and the sound was horrendous as the concrete was instantly pulverized, creating a ten meter wide crater with Superman’s form at the center.
People in the area straight beneath his falling form had already run clear, which was beyond fortunate.
Isamu was one of the first to shake himself from his shock and run forward, dashing across the street and scrambling down the shallow crater. He stopped within arm's reach of Superman, who was laying limply on his side with his back facing him.
Was he alive?
Tentatively, Isamu went closer as a few others joined him in the hole and a crowd began to form around the rim. He touched Superman's shoulder. Superman stirred and Isamu knelt closer, at a loss but compelled to help as he gently turned him onto his back.
His eyes were immediately drawn to the left area of the famous ‘S’ emblem. There was a green glowing circle approximately where he knew a human heart would be. Superman had been stabbed by something.
Was this kryptonite?
"Superman?" he asked, looking at his face.
Superman's breathing was raspy and pain was etched across his features.
"T-the shard," Superman grit out in flawless Japanese as their eyes met and Isamu was struck by the emotion within. Superman placed his hand near the green object barely protruding from his chest. "It's shattered inside me."
O o O
Nurses and doctors swarmed around him as soon as he was removed from the ambulance, and he bit back a cry when he was jostled by the stretcher going over a bump.
The top half of his uniform had already been removed, which had thankfully been
easier than he knew the paramedics had feared. If only the shard could be as easy.
It was still in his chest, the paramedics too nervous to remove it due to the circumstances. In this instance, he agreed that waiting for more skilled hands made sense.
Voices whirled around him. He knew he was fading in and out of consciousness.
"He said the kryptonite shard shattered inside of him!"
"Do X-rays work on him? What about MRIs? We need to see what we're dealing with!"
"I've called O.R.. Should we get him into pre-op?"
"The administrator is reaching out to the UN and US Embassy. Is that who we should call?"
Superman opened his eyes and lifted his hand, quickly getting their attention as they rolled him into a room and starting maneuvering equipment.
"The US DoD," Superman said, his breathing now quick pants as he forced himself to stay awake. "Pen?"
The closest nurse hurriedly held out her pen and clipboard for him. He jotted down the official, direct number for Sam, writing down his rank and name as well.
At the same time, someone placed an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth as a different nurse began connecting wires to the EKG stickers on his chest the paramedics had secured minutes before.
The nurse ran out with the board and contact information as soon as he began to lower the pen and looked up at her, signifying he was done.
"Superman, I'm Dr. Shibasaburō. I'm going to be your surgeon. We want to get you into surgery as soon as possible to remove these shards, but we don't know exactly where they are beyond this one," a doctor said, pointing to the still glowing piece barely protruding from his skin. "Will an x-ray work on you?" he asked as he looked at Superman’s heart rate.
"I'm denser than humans . . . so it'll need . . . to be set to . . . highest penetration or . . . you won't get an image." He closed his eyes for a few seconds and tried to catch his breath.
A moment later he felt the oxygen flow sharply increase. It helped a bit, though it was hard to tell due to the persistent razorblades of fire that flared at each breath. He was pretty sure his lung had been punctured.
"We'll get an image and then take you into the O.R., okay?" the doctor said. "Since kryptonite's radiation is toxic to you, I'd rather take out what we can than wait for extensive images."
Superman vehemently agreed as he fought back the black edging his vision. "You should know . . . I'll begin healing . . . as soon as it's out . . . I think. You won't . . . have much time . . . to get the rest."
The doctor nodded in grim understanding before a few other doctors arrived.
The following minutes passed quickly, and they successfully got a few chest x-rays after some initial difficulty. Fortunately, within that time, a direct line of communication with Superman’s medical team was established – thanks to General Lane's quick efforts.
Superman opened his eyes. Had he passed out?
"A General from the DoD wishes to speak to Superman before we begin," a close voice said.
"Very well, but we'll be starting soon."
"Superman? General Lane is asking to speak with you."
He accepted the phone, fumbling with it before someone quickly helped him.
"General," he managed through the mask and into the receiver.
"Superman, can you tell me what happened?" Sam asked, as direct as always.
"It was the same guy. . . . I caught him at . . . another Plant. He's in a metal suit. High tech. It's pretty much . . . equal to me. He's from a parallel . . . world, I think. He hates me. It's personal to him. He thinks . . . he thinks I'm going to hurt . . . this Earth. I think his Earth's me . . . an evil me . . . destroyed . . . . . . Sam . . . that's how he knows . . . so much. . . ."
"Okay. Any idea where he is now?"
"He stabbed me . . . in orbit."
"So he could be anywhere," Sam finished for him. "Alright. We're flying a team out to you on our fastest jet now. So just hold on. Our entire military is on high alert, as well as our allies'. Did he say anything else?"
"No. Sam, have you called–?"
"Not yet. I will soon. You focus on holding on. I'll take care of the rest," Sam stated.
"Thanks," he said.
"Superman, we're going to take you back now. Okay?"
"Okay," Superman said before talking back into the phone. "I'll talk to you . . . later, General."
Hopefully, he would.
Hopefully he would return home. See his boys, see Lois again.
"Superman?"
It was so hard to breathe.
"We were told you prefer not to be . . . ?"
He looked over and saw Dr. Shibasaburō with his face hidden behind a surgical mask, his eyes uncertain. Several other doctors and nurses were assembled around his bed, ready.
"No restraints. They wouldn't help anyway," Superman said, relieved the doctors at the DoD had managed to outline things. "I'll be still."
"Alright," Dr. Shibasaburō said, "We'll do this as fast as we can. Would you like a countdown?"
Superman nodded and looked away in anticipation of the coming pain.
"In three," Dr. Shibasaburō said. "Three, two, one."
Superman felt metal against his skin and refused his desire to flinch away as he felt forceps grip and fresh pain ripple across already existing agony. Still, he gasped out, wordlessly pleading for it to be fast.
One of the doctors pulled the primary shard free in one go and relief poured in for a brief second before Dr. Shibasaburō's forceps went in.
He felt inner pulling interlaced with burning pain that stole his remaining breath away. The heart monitor blared in warning and he felt heat gather around his eyes as he bit back a scream.
He wasn't sure what was happening but he clenched his jaw as he used every ounce of his will to remain still and to not release his heat vision as he felt another fragment of poison leave him. And then he felt his awareness tilt as his chest tightened as if in a vice.
Darkness hardened around his vision and panicked but muffled voices and pounding hearts echoed in his ears.
Then, there was nothing.
O o O
"Mom!" Jon shouted. "Get in here!"
"It's Dad!" Jordan cried.
Lois rushed into the room, hearing their fear, and immediately took in what was on the television as she stopped between them.
'For those of you just joining us, we recently learned that Superman fell from the sky roughly thirty minutes ago in Japan. We don't know much yet, but videos capturing the event are going viral, one of which we will play now. Please, viewer discretion be advised,' the newscaster announced.
The scene was chaotic with people screaming, pointing, and running. The person holding the cellphone capturing it all was also moving, but was moving closer instead of away as they angled the lense up into the sky, above the city street.
A red and blue form, who could only be Superman, was plummeting to Earth and appeared to be completely limp. Two seconds later, he flailed before rotating in the air, but he was too late to halt his descent.
The crash shook the ground so hard a few people fell and pavement dust rushed up as a crater instantly appeared. In the center, Superman didn’t move.
"Clark!" Lois cried as she gripped Jon and Jordan.
People went forward and the view was blocked by dozens of people for a moment until the person with the phone lifted it up above the crowd as they moved. They got there as another man turned Superman over, revealing an ominous green circle glowing within his shield.
They couldn't understand what was being said, as everything spoken was in Japanese, but the paramedics soon arrived and loaded him up into the ambulance. He had looked lethargic, but at least he wasn’t unconscious.
Suddenly, Lois' phone rang. She answered it as soon as she saw who it was.
"Dad! How is he?!" she asked, moving away from the living room but still close enough to see the television.
Jon and Jordan fretfully did their best to overhear as the news station began to replay the footage.
"He just got out of surgery. Lois, the shard he was stabbed with . . . it shattered inside him when he landed."
Lois gasped and clutched the phone even tighter. "How bad?"
"The x-rays showed six primary pieces and then a dozen or so granules."
"His heart . . . ?"
"Intact. The surgeon managed to get the largest ones nearest his heart, but his body closed the wound before the doctor could get the others."
"All the rest is still inside him?!" she cried.
Sam sighed. "Yes. They’ll have to wait until the surgical team from the DoD arrives with the special red lamps and kryptonite scalpels. I'm heading out in twenty."
"How long until the team gets there?" Lois asked.
"Late tonight."
Lois closed her eyes. "How big are the remaining shards? Is he awake?"
"Small. The size of wood pellets and smaller. And he's not awake. Not at the moment."
"What aren't you telling me?" Lois questioned, knowing when her dad was hedging.
Her dad took a long moment to answer. Finally, he did.
"His left lung was punctured and . . . he had what the doctors are sure was a heart attack on the operating table."
Lois released a shuddering breath. She was not going to lose it over the phone with her sons watching.
"His heart stabilized after they put him under sunlamps, but by then the wound had fully closed."
"What do the DoD doctors think? What are his chances?" she asked. "Be honest."
"I don't know, but they're very concerned. The fact kryptonite cauterizes, he's not bleeding internally, so that's good, especially with his lung, but obviously the kryptonite itself. . . . They have him in the sun and under the strongest sunlamps they have, but . . . his vitals are still thready."
"Could he be flown to Hawaii or something? Have the team meet him there? It would reduce the time by a few hours at least," Lois proposed,
"Transporting him is too risky. He'd be on a plane for eight or so hours. Both teams are concerned about a shard within hurting his heart or lung further. Lois . . . you need to prepare yourself. This is. . . . I'm sorry."
Lois closed her eyes and she felt Jon and Jordan come beside her anxiously.
"Call me if anything changes," she stated, lump in her throat.
"I will."
O o O
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