CAPTURED
Chapter 19
Clark approached the pilot sitting on the other side of the bar. He looked to be a Mygorgian; typically big and green skinned. Clark frowned. The Mygorgs had a bad reputation as they were known to be greedy and brutish. They indulged in trafficking slaves and all forms of illegal smuggling. The Mygorgian studied his S insignia as he approached. This alien, like most of the others, acknowledged him with a nod.
Diana realized that although Clark had said nothing much to her about his space travels during those five years, it seemed his reputation preceded him everywhere he went. He was getting the same reactions she was accustomed seeing him get on Earth. Here of all places; a back water colony full of scoundrels and law breakers. It was something she would always admire in him. The way this easy going, even tempered man could engender such respect.
He spoke to the alien and Diana waited to see what the reaction would be. The Mygorgian shook his head. Diana heart sank. She did not need to understand what the alien just said. Then her brows snapped together as the alien looked over Clark’s shoulder and point to her. Clark folded his arms on his chest. He replied in a clipped tone and the alien shrugged and pointed to a darkened doorway at the back of the room.
Clark looked at Diana over his shoulder. Diana folded her arms across her chest. “He said no, didn’t he?”
“He did. He’s owes some money to some folks on Warworld. He can’t risk taking us there.”
Her fingers clenched. “And did he ask to buy me as well?”
Clark looked at her with a grimace. “Er yeah…” His hand reached for her almost as if anticipating her going to wallop the Mygorgian.
She rolled her eyes. “Merciful Minerva, Kal…I am not going to smash his head into the counter …as much as I would like too. What did you tell him this time?” Her eyes twinkled unexpectedly. “That I was worth more than five hundred nuggets?”
“Er, something like that.”
“I suppose we must pawn the tiara now?”
“No. He said there might be others we could ask.”
“Where?” she asked, glancing around curiously.
Clark looked at the Mygorgian, who gestured for them to follow him. They walked towards the doorway at the back and saw it led down a series of spiraling steps. They entered a room, filled with figures sitting at round several tables, laying down bets and playing various games.
“A gambling den,” murmured Clark.
The buzz and noise stopped instantly as they walked in. Many of them seemed about to scramble up their credit chips or pull weapons. The Mygorgian began in a universal tongue, “They are not agents of the law. They are here to see if they can get someone to give them a ride to Warworld. They have no exchange by the way and say they will pay after.”
There were snorts and sarcastic laughter as the players turned their attention back to their games.
“No credit!!”
“Do we look like fools?”
A Gordarnian at one table smirked and said, “I’ll take you...”
Clark began gratefully, “That’s great and I swear you will get payment…”
The reptilian alien added, “…if you hand her over.”
Clark suddenly barked, “I’m not handing her over!! Get that clear! All of you!!!”
Diana was looking at the exchange with some irritation. Next time she would make sure she attached her translator before she got into a space craft. It was aggravating not knowing what was being said and Clark was looking very peeved now.
The Mygorgian told the room something and there was a loud bark of laughter coming from the back and someone said in English, “Nice try, Blue Boy. They might swallow it…but I don’t.”
Clark narrowed and out of the dimly lit area at the back he saw the red glow of a cigar and a wreath of smoke. A towering, blue skinned male with red eyes that seemed lined with a kind of heavy kohl, fang like teeth and long dark locks. He had a chain with a sort of gutting hook wrapped around one arm.
“Lobo.”
Lobo gave him a mocking look. “We need to stop meeting like this…” Lobo looked at Diana and grinned. He glanced at Clark. “She isn’t your concubine. Else I would smell your scent on her a mile off. She smells like…ugh, fruit and flowers …not of Kryptonian. Nice excuse though.”
Diana’s eyes suddenly flared and she rounded on Clark. “What? You told them I was your concubine???”
Clark winced. “It was all I could think off…They don’t respect anything or anyone’s rights around here other than if money is at stake…”
“You could have told them something else…Something less insulting to me!!!”
“Like what?”
“Like…like…I was your ally? I am a Justice Leaguer?”
“Do they look like they care about allies? They would sell their mothers for a price. My JLA membership did not stop the likes of him grabbing me and selling me off…” He pointed to Lobo.
Lobo blew some smoke out “You still sore about that? I helped you escape.”
Clark rolled his eyes. “Sure you did.”
Diana growled and looked to take off her tiara. “Well, I am no man’s property, pretense or otherwise. I will get us some money!!!”
“Diana you don’t even understand the language they are speaking or the games…” Clark began.
She pointed at Lobo. “I understand him. What about you?”
“Only if you wanna be my concubine for real. I am not called the Master Frag for nothing…if you know what I mean?” He blew the cigar smoke in her face.
She collared him. She had quite enough of being ogled and insulted. “Do you want me to rip your head from your shoulders???”
Lobo gave a mock shiver. “Oh, please do.”
She drew back a fist.
Clark had to grab her hand and spin her about from Lobo. “Diana, you really don’t want to do that.”
“Unhand me, Kal!! I am not afraid of anyone!!!”
“He’s a Czarnian. He’s has a regenerative healing factor. He’s immortal.” He looked at Lobo impatiently, even whilst holding the irate Amazon back with an extended arm. “Look we are in a jam and need to get to Warworld. Mongol has two of my Justice League allies. Our ship was hit by slavers and we got stuck here. No one is willing to give us a ride unless we got currency. You know me by now to know I am a man of my word and will pay you once we can access money.”
Lobo looked at him ironically. “Warworld? Why don’t you just fly? It’s in this galaxy.”
“Because Diana cannot fly unaided in deep space.”
“Ah pity. What is she by the way? Khund?”
Diana snapped, “She would prefer you did not speak about her as if she was not here!!! I am an Amazon!!!”
Lobo shrugged. “Amazon? Ah, ya lost me there.” He looked at Clark. “Rumor has it Mongol wants your head on a pike cause you showed him up by escaping last time he had you. You dare to go back?”
“They are my friends. So will you help us?”
“I don’t just help, Big Cheese. What’s in it for me? Money? Humph, I have offers right here and they don’t interest me. The Scourge of the Cosmos doesn’t waste his time on helping. I have a reputation to uphold.”
“Well, what do you want?”
Lobo’s eyes strayed to Diana and Clark warned, “Anything but that.”
Diana growled.
Lobo smirked and said, “Pity. I like ‘em fighting under me…Well, I don’t want any pretty, gold tiara. Offer me something that I never had or did before. That will make me the Ultimate Bastich and make all in awe of me.”
Clark looked at him confounded for a moment. What could one offer the best bounty hunter and mercenary in the galaxy? A being that had been to all corners of the universe and worked for Emperors, cut-throats and even priests. Who probably had more money than he knew what to do with? There was only one thing he knew for sure about Lobo and that was that his arrogance knew no bounds.
Diana frowned at Clark’s hesitation. “Offer him any sum he wants, Kal.”
Clark gave her a wry look. “Money is not the issue here, Diana.”
Diana said impatiently to Lobo, “I have a lasso that was crafted by the Gods. It is indestructible and acts as a conduit and is infinite in length. It burns away all deceit. Anyone tangled in its coils must speak the truth…”
Lobo gave her pitying look. “And why would I want that? My gutting hook gets me all the truth I need.”
Diana blinked. “My..my bracelets. They are forged from Zeus’ Aegis. They are indestructible and …” Her voice faltered seeing Lobo’s scathing look. “You don’t want that either?”
He pulled on his cigar. “ Nope. Come on, Saint El, is this the best you and your concubine can do?”
Diana hissed, “I am no one’s concubine!””
Clark put his hand up. “Diana, please…” He folded his arms. “Okay, I have it.”
“Lay it on me.”
“If anything happens to me, you can have my place on the Justice League.”
Diana’s eyes widened. “What???”
Even Lobo looked surprised by that. “Huh?”
“Superman, are you insane?” demanded Diana. “What would the likes of this mercenary want with the Justice League? And why would we even want him??? And nothing is going to happen to you!!!”
Clark put his hand up as if to request her silence. He then looked at Lobo. “Well? It is a matter of prestige to serve with the Justice League and you get to fight a lot of people. Collectively the League has more enemies that you would expect for good guys.”
The Czarnian tossed away his cigar and spat on his hand and offered it to Clark. “Deal!”
Diana looked at him aghast. “What? But…”
Clark gave Lobo a shrewd look. “One little thing in the agreement…YOU are not to be the one to make sure anything happens to me…”
Lobo smirked. “You got more brains than I give you credit for…”
“Oh, I know you. Wouldn’t put it pass you to deliver me to Mongol just like you did with the Preserver.”
“Ha!! Look, I learned my lesson with that Preserver and Mongol is a stinking cheat. He refused to pay me what he offered for that Vuldarian I caught for him last year. A measly five thousand nuggets when the price was triple that. I got pissed at him and gutted the Vuldarian right in front of him. You know what a waste of my time that was? And you don’t get often gladiators who can morph their bodies into weapons. Mongol was spitting venom but I told him…a deal was a deal and if I can’t have my fifteen thousand then, I’d keep my quarry. No one’s frags the Main Man. Right, so we have a deal! Let’s shake, Blue Boy!”
Clark shook his hand whilst Diana scowled in dismay and anger.
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Lobo’s spacecraft was an organic shaped ship that was parked miles off the outpost on a plateau since he knew it ran the risk of it being stripped in the hanger by thieves. He had a heavy looking flying bike that he used to get to it. Clark and Diana flew after him.
When he took off the cloaking device, Clark asked with a raised brow. “You upgraded huh?”
“Nah, I need storage space to put my bounty. Can’t have them hanging off my bike.”
They flew in via the underbelly and landed in the said storage area. Diana’s brows snapped together when she saw he had cages and there were several aliens in them.
“Kal,” she hissed. “Look.”
Clark looked at them and nodded heavily. “I know. But we can hardly release them now, can we? And we don’t know who or what they are. He’s being paid to capture them. They could be traitors, criminals...”
She looked at him dismayed. “Yes and some could be innocent. Like when he took you.”
“If this was the reverse situation…the League taking criminals back to our own jurisdiction, the last thing we would want is someone not understanding the situation and trying to release them. Unless they ask for help, Diana, there is nothing I can do. We are members of the Justice League and we have protocols to follow. If I interfere in every thing I perceive “wrong” regardless of circumstance or culture, I would be breaking our mandate. There is a reason why we do not go into one man’s country and try to oust him, even if he is a cruel dictator. The people themselves have to want it or do that. As princess of a people from a different culture, whose ways might be seen as archaic by others, you should understand this,” he replied quietly. “I’m sorry.”
Diana looked at the caged aliens with pity. Things were not always black and white it seemed. She turned to face him after a moment and asked abruptly, “ Kal, why did you make him that offer?”
“Diana, nothing is going to happen to me. That’s the only way he’ll even get to .join the Justice League.”
“It’s tempting the Fates!” she insisted. “And how can you trust him?”
“I don’t but usually when he gives his word on something he manages to keep it…weird as that seems.”
Lobo shouted at them. “Hey, I’m going to be lifting off anytime now.”
Lobo was already strapping himself in the pilot’s seat.
There were only two seats in the cockpit. Lobo glanced back at them. “There’s one place. Only one can sit down. The other will have to go it at the back. Or maybe you can take her on you lap, Blue Boy?”
Diana tightened her lips, turned and went to the back. She pulled out one of the fold-in seats and strapped herself in without a word.
Clark sighed. Well, it was better she sat away from Lobo. He took his place and they lifted off the ground.
“There was a slaver about. We will have to look out for them.”
Lobo boasted, “Slavers don’t mess with the Main Man. They see this ship and they run.”
They flew away from IB-11 and into space. Clark made sure to use the ship’s communicator to send a message to the Watchtower. Batman indicated that backup was coming.
Lobo watched him as he took off the head-set and leaned back pensively.
“How is it you haven’t hit that yet?”
Clark looked at him with a frown. “What?”
Lobo thumbed in Diana’s direction. “The Amazon.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“A simple yes or no will suffice, Blue Boy.”
“Mind your own business.”
“I take that as, yes; you want to but haven’t had the chance. I would tap it too, you know…”
Clark’s irises glowed red. Lobo put his hand up. “Fine…fine…I get you. Hands off...”
Clark said tightly, “And not another word about her. Cause I swear, deal or no deal, I will smash your head into the hull of this ship.”
Lobo laughed and slapped him on his back. “About fragging time you grow yourself a pair! We won’t talk about her. But what about that Maxima, huh? I hear you could have tapped that and you turned her down. Fragging hell, Superman, you got to be out of your Kryptonian mind!!! I’ve been thinking of going to meet her. She’s still looking for a consort, I hear, and who else but the Big Bo could rein than hot Almeraci in? You know, they call me Big Bo not cause of my ship or boots, right…?”
Clark covered his hands over his eyes. It was going to be a long ride.
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They flew into Warworld under the guise of the many spectators who would be going in to see the games. As Lobo docked in one of the hangers he looked at Superman.
“You not going to go walking around like that, are you?”
Clark looked down at his uniform. His insignia would be like a beacon. “Have you gotten any clothes we can borrow?”
“Sure. There’s some stuff I got off the latest quarry in a crate…cloaks, weapons and electronic devices…”
Clark unbuckled himself and got up. Diana looked up as he came into the room and went towards a crate. She got up. “What are you looking for?”
He knelt and rummaged. He came up with two cloaks. “Here. We can’t be seen. Especially me.”
Diana took it and pulled it on. She drew the hood up. Clark produced two blasters, two chips with credits and communicators. “These will come in handy.”
She took it with relief. The communicator had a translator.
Lobo came up behind them as they were both ready and pressed the doors on side and the ramp slid to the ground. “Well, this is it. Remember your promise to me, Blue Boy.”
Clark nodded. “Yes, I will.”
Lobo looked at Diana and winked. “If you ever want to sample some of the Big Bo…”
Diana snapped, “I do not!”
Lobo smirked at Clark. “Shame. Don’t take too long, or else someone will beat you to it.”
Clark rolled his eyes and just said, “Thanks.”
“Remember the deal, Superman.”
“I will.”
Diana stomped down the ramp. Clark followed her and the moment they put their feet upon the ground they saw a group of Warworld sentinels arrive in the hanger.
Clark shouted, “Down!!!”
Laser fire came at them. Other aliens nearby had to scamper out of the way.
Diana raised her bracelets to deflect any stray blasts and Clark blew his artic breath upon them.
Clark looked at Lobo who was still at the opening and shouted, “You tricked us!!!”
Lobo cried, “Sons of a Bastich!!! I didn’t !!! They are ruining the hull!!!” He grabbed a large laser blaster and began firing back at the group.
Clark looked at Diana. “Then who?”
His eyes darkened. Standing with the sentinels was the Mygorgian from IB-11.
Lobo saw him too and snarled, “Son of a whore!!! I’ll gut him when I get my hands on him!!”
Clark shouted, “Mongol probably knows we’re here!”
Lobo spat, “I have no time for this! You two not coming, I take it?”
Clark shook his head. “We can’t…Get out while you can!!! Diana, split up!!!”
The doors closed and Clark and Diana lifted off and flew to opposite ends of the hanger. Lobo lifted off and was gone in seconds.
Diana lifted a small craft, to the chagrin of a pilot, and flung it at the sentinels. They scattered wildly as it hit the ground. Clark used his heat vision to melt weapons and his breath to blow them over. He was about to shout to Diana for them to fly out a side exit when he saw four pods fly in. They carried nets.
Clark shouted at Diana. “They have nets!!!”
But it was too late. They had dropped it on her. He saw her fall to the ground and struggle but the nets were made in such a way the more one struggled it sent out a charge that shocked the nervous system. Diana groaned in pain.
Clark flew towards her. He anticipated the net they tried to get on him. He caught it and flung it back upon one of the pods. The machine dipped and fell heavenly to the floor. He caught one pod and flung it against another. They both went ricocheting against another craft in the vicinity and the pilots had to bail out before it hit the ground and exploded. His heat vision sliced the engines of the last one and it plummeted to the ground. The Mygorgian dashed out of the door before Clark could turn his attention to him.
Clark landed before Diana and used his bare hands to tear the net off of her. She was gasping and looked dazed. He was aiding her to her feet. “Are you alright?”
“I …yes…” she took a deep breath.
Suddenly Clark stiffened and his head snapped up. Diana could see that he was hearing and seeing something that was enough to alarm him.
“Kal, what is it?”
Clark saw the airborne chariot of Mongol and with him were more sentinels on flying bikes and pods. The Mygorgian was speaking to Mongol on a frequency he could intercept.
“He’s in the hanger with the flying female I told you about.”
“Flying female? Is she Daxamite? Almeraci?”
“I do not know, but she has strength almost equal to the Kryptonian.”
“Is she? I wonder if she is his mate? That would make matters very interesting.”
Diana’s voice sounded. “Kal.? What’s happening?”
Clark looked at Diana with grim eyes. “You need to get out of here!”
Diana looked at him perplexed. “We will both get out…”
Clark knew there was no getting out without a full scale confrontation. Mongol and his guards would be there in seconds. If Diana could evade them, they would at least have a chance. But he needed to cover her. She would never willingly leave a battle. He knew how proud she was. He had seen too many eyes looking at her with lust and the thought of yellow, alien hands on Diana was too much. Mongol would take pleasure in doing anything to Diana if he sensed that Clark felt something more than friendship for her.
He did not think he could hide his feelings, complicated as they were. Not now. Not when the consequences to Diana would be a violation of her being.
Clark pulled out his blaster and set it to stun.
He said to Diana, “I’m sorry. If there was another way I would do it.” Her eyes widened as she saw him aim at her and pull the trigger.
“NO!!!” she cried, anger and dismay in her eyes. The blast hit her and sent her flying backwards. She hit the wall with a thud and slithered unconscious to the ground. Clark flew to her and tenderly lifted her comatose body in his arms. His eyes swiftly scanned the hanger and he saw the tubes whereby garbage was flushed down into disposal bins underground.
He punched open the chute and placed her in it. His vision enabled him to see that she would travel with the metal scraps, mechanical parts and other waste from the hanger down into the container that was destined to go to a dump outside of the city center where it was to be sorted and recycled by robots. He closed the door and pulled the lever.
He then flew back to the entrance of the hanger just in time to see Mongol and dozens of guards appear before him. Clark tore the cloak off his uniform.
Mongol’s eyes glowed. “Well, well, well, so we meet again, Superman.” His eyes narrowed and scanned the vicinity. “Where is your companion?
“I have no companion,” he said icily and clenched his fists, preparing to take them and delay them finding any trace of Diana.
Mongol’s eyes narrowed. “Indeed? Hiding is she? Well, we will find her soon enough. You are very foolhardy to come back here. This time I am prepared.” He looked at his troops. “Get him!!!”
They came at Clark and he took down the first wave but it was too many of them and Mongol had brought in a mobile canon. Clark was in the middle of dragging three sentinels off their bikes when the canon fired. It took out two of Mongol’s own men but eventually hit the Kryptonian from behind. Clark gasped. It felt as if he had been hit by a freighter. He fell but managed to rise to his feet as he saw them hover over him with nets. Heat vision seared the nets.
He saw Mongol appear with an electronic shock weapon and shouted impatiently, “Enough of this! Move back!”
Clark could see the small, green cell powering the weapon. His eyes widened.
Mongol sneered, “Yes. I had to pay an exorbitant price for this piece of meteor rock…no bigger than a humanoid eyeball.”
The green blast of energy hit him and he felt a wave of weakness. He fell to the floor in pain. Mongol gestured to the guards. “Put him in shackles!”
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Diana groaned and opened her eyes. She was dazed and disorientated as she stared at her surroundings. She was lying on what appeared to be a pile of rubbish consisting of mechanical and electrical waste. She sat up and glanced up. She was in some sort of large disposal bin and it was moving.
Diana shook her head, remembering what happened. Kal had done this to her!!!
She clenched her fists in anger and fear. How could he do that to her? Where was he? Was he even alright?
She stood up shakily and floated to the top of the bin. She saw it was on a type of conveyor belt with many bins and they were moving along a dimly lit, metal tunnel. Diana looked up and she saw a grid of pipes, lines and cables. She took off towards them. They would no doubt lead to the surface.
How long had she been lying unconscious she did not know, but she needed to find out what happened to Superman. She flew towards something that looked like a hatch. Diana punched it open and she emerged in what appeared to be an alleyway. It was night time but lights from above illuminated the ground. She climbed out of it and drew her cloak over her head and stepped out into what was a main promenade with vendors and betting stalls and street entertainment. Pods flew past, as they patrolled the area. She pulled her hood lower and her head down.
There were hundreds of aliens walking around enjoying the atmosphere. Diana turned on her translator and placed the clip behind her ear. She could understand what most of them were saying for a change.
“Did you hear? There is going to be a new addition to the line-up tomorrow!!”
“Yeah!!! They say he use to fight here some years ago but managed to escape and took a few gladiators with him. Mongol was furious back then and had said if he got him back he would make sure he got his death in the arena!”
“But I hear the new fighter has a record only equally to Draaga’s!!! Everyone is wondering who Mongol will put him to fight tomorrow…”
“I think he’s going to fight Dragga himself!!!”
“You think so?”
“Draaga is the best and Mongol wants this one dead.”
“Do they have any stats on this contestant?”
Diana saw the insectoid alien gesture to a monitor. “Look over there!!! Up on the screen!!”
Diana looked up and sure enough on a large monitor were pictures and statistics of the participants in the arena the next day. She stifled her gasp as John and Shyera’s image flashed past. Then she saw the image she was waiting for.
It was Superman standing in a collar and heavy shackles on his arms and legs with his statistics scrolling up the side.
There were whistles, boos and cheers.
“He’s back!!!”
“I told you it was the Kryptonian!!!”
“This is going to be good!!! Come on, I think they might be laying down odds even now!!!”
Diana swallowed. She looked at an alien who was reading Superman’s statistics.
“Excuse me…”
“Yes?”
“How does one get to see him?”
“You buy a ticket like everyone else.”
“Oh. Where do I get that?”
The alien pointed to a several stalls. “You must be new around here…You can get tickets anywhere. You are going to back him or Draaga?”
“I …don’t know. I might wait and see what the odds are tomorrow. Thank you.”
Diana hurried away. She could see the tops of the arena from where she stood. It was under heavy guard. There was no way she was going to get close. She sighed and headed towards a stall.
“What do you want?” asked the grizzled vendor.
She produced her chip. “I want a ticket for tomorrow’s games.”
The vendor swiped her chip and gave her something like an electronic dog tag. She pocketed it and looked around, unsure where to go now. She had a whole twenty four hours before the games started. It was odd how lost she felt without him, even whilst she was very angry with what he had done.
Diana looked up at the stars. Batman said he was sending in backup. She hoped and prayed that would be soon.
