Chapter 76: The Robot Factory
"Kara!?"
Clark's face showed his surprise.
"You're Kara, right? Or are you..."
"I am, but how do you know me?" This development was just as unexpected for Kara. "I mean, I am Kara Zor-El, your older cousin... but you were only this big back then!"
She gestured with her hands.
"I held you back then, you even peed on me! How could you possibly remember me?"
Clark blushed, looking a little embarrassed. "Uh... I really don't remember anything about the people or events from back then. But there was footage of you in the ship I came to Earth in. The... uh... the AI with the backup of my father's consciousness in the spaceship told me you were my cousin and that we would probably meet on Earth..."
"That's great!"
Kara excitedly stepped forward and gave her younger cousin a warm hug.
"I was worried you wouldn't believe me."
Clark was a bit flustered, his suspended arm hovering awkwardly, as if he were debating whether to put it back in its cast.
"I'm really happy to see you too, Kara. You look... you haven't aged a day compared to the footage."
"And you look so much older!" Kara said, then immediately realized how that sounded. "Oh, I don't mean... What I mean is, you look so much more grown up..."
"Kent!"
A thunderous roar echoed from outside the office.
"Kent, where did you go!?"
Kara jumped at the shout, covering her ears. "Are they shouting for you?"
Clark looked a bit awkward. "Uh, yes, that's my editor-in-chief... my boss. If I don't want to get fired, I'd better get over there.
"Still, it's great to see you, Kara. How about we get together later and have a good chat about our experiences coming to Earth? Dinner, maybe?"
"Sounds great, sounds great!"
Kara was delighted, but just as she agreed, she remembered something and cautiously turned to Orin Vale with a pleading expression.
As if asking with her eyes, "Is that okay?"
"Of course, we'll be there on time." Orin Vale patted her shoulder and then looked at Clark. "I have some things I'd like to talk to you about as well."
Clark found it a bit strange, but he understood that this was a friend his cousin trusted deeply. So, he didn't ask any more questions for the time being, just nodded and said, "Alright. I'll pick the place for tonight, and we can talk more then. But I really have to go now, or my editor-in-chief will kill me... See you."
With that, he hurriedly left.
"Reporters sure are busy," Orin Vale sighed. "Has to work overtime even with his arm like that?"
Hopefully, Superman would remember to put his arm back in the cast before seeing his editor.
As night fell, before dinner, Orin Vale had other plans.
This trip to see Superman was just one item on their to-do list for their visit to Metropolis. The other thing Orin Vale needed to confirm personally was the coordinate for a suspected Brainiac signal frequency, which had been discovered by a recently completed radar scan.
The matter he planned to bring up with Superman during dinner was also about Old Bu. To quote the original work, Superman is "the most powerful creature on Earth." Old Bu is his arch-nemesis, and with the connection through Kara, he would be a crucial ally in the battle against Brainiac.
And now, having changed into his armor, Orin Vale followed the coordinates marked by the radar and flew to a deserted industrial zone.
The factory was dark and abandoned. In the shadows, its structures looked dilapidated and forlorn. The outer walls were covered in weeds and vines, and the rusty iron gate creaked with every gust of wind.
The hands of the Ultraman armor gripped the cold iron door, and with a low groan, the gate was slowly forced open. Dust particles danced gently in the blue light radiating from the armor's chest, and glass fragments crunched under the heavy metal boots.
"Pal, are you sure the source is here?" Orin Vale asked as he looked around.
"Yes, sir. But the radar itself is in its testing phase, so the possibility of a false positive cannot be ruled out," Pal said.
"Hmm... alright. So it's very likely we just made a trip for nothing."
He activated the scanner, walking further inside as he looked around. Suddenly, a hostile attack alarm popped up on the armor's display.
A pair of eerie green lights lit up in the darkness behind him.
Orin Vale's reaction was incredibly fast. He activated his super speed without a second thought, swaying to the side. An eerie green laser beam grazed past his armor, carving a clear gash into the ground.
"Seems we've received a warm welcome."
"It would appear so, sir."
The attacker's appearance was clearly visible on the display. It was some kind of bizarre robot—cold metal covered in dark armor. Its head was a metallic skull, its eyes flickering with an eerie green light, like a demon's eyes, looking utterly terrifying in the darkness.
The attack itself could only mean one thing.
He had found the right place.
Orin Vale dodged the cannon fire, closing the distance in a blur of afterimages. A knee strike shattered the robot's chest armor, and he thrust his left hand out in a chop. His steel arm pierced straight through the robot's body via the hole he had just created, a chillingly clean penetration.
He exerted force with both palms in opposite directions, activating the armored gauntlet's thrusters. Empowered by the added thrust, he ripped backward, tearing the robot's body in two at the waist.
"Pal, activate the deep scan. Someone is hiding something. We've definitely found the right place," Orin Vale said.
The scanner activated, and an invisible scanning beam slowly swept across the entire building in the view of his internal display.
"Scanning building structure. Analyzing..." Pal's voice paused for a few seconds before resuming. "Results indicate a high probability of a hidden level in the underground space. A movable section has been discovered in the floor."
An area was highlighted in his vision. Orin Vale walked over and plunged all ten fingers directly into the floor.
"Let's see what we've won."
He heaved, using sheer arm strength to forcibly rip open an entire section of the floor. The hidden mechanical structure let out a low groan under the super strength, revealing an entrance leading downward with a loud rumble.
Orin Vale leaped down, landing on the ground with a clang after falling for about ten meters.
In that same second, pair after pair of eerie green eyes lit up in the darkness.
Dark armor, metal bodies, and metallic skeleton heads shimmering with an eerie green glow. They looked as if they were all cast from the same mold, surrounding Orin Vale in layer upon layer within the darkness, forming an iron-tight encirclement.
A huge number of robots, looking like they'd been copy-pasted.
"Numerous robotic enemies detected. No life signs," Pal reported. "The scanner has found a technological reaction consistent with Brainiac's technology as described in the Krypton database.
"It appears this is a hidden assembly factory, sir."
"I can see that."
A faint glow was already beginning to emanate from the palms of Orin Vale's hands.
"Looks like we hit the jackpot."
(end of chapter)