In Metropolis, Superman had just finished stopping a bank robbery. As usual, he left the criminals tied up for the police while officers secured the area and checked on the bank employees.
One of the officers walked over. "As always, thank you, Superman."
He gave a familiar smile. "Just doing my job."
The police began taking the criminals into custody while Superman looked around to make sure everyone was safe. Satisfied, he prepared to leave.
Then something caught his attention — a loud impact from above.
BOOM!
Something fell out of the sky and slammed into the street a short distance away. Superman turned toward the impact site as officers drew their weapons and dust spread across the road.
"What the hell was that?" one shouted.
Superman moved closer, eyes narrowing. A figure lay in the middle of the crater, dressed entirely in black, face covered by a dark mask. They pushed themselves up, seemingly unharmed by the fall.
Superman floated a few feet above the ground. "Are you hurt?"
The masked figure raised their head toward him. Something about this person felt wrong.
Then the figure lunged. Before Superman could react, a fist drove straight into his face.
BOOM!
He was launched backward like a missile, crashing through the side of a nearby building, concrete and glass exploding across the street.
The officers froze. "Superman!"
The masked man didn't hesitate. He leapt after him.
Superman burst out through the other side of the building and caught himself in midair, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. "Okay. So we're doing this."
The figure charged again. Superman met him head-on. Their fists collided, producing a shockwave that rattled windows through the surrounding blocks. He grabbed the man's arm to throw him down, but the stranger twisted free and struck him across the chest, sending him flying backward.
Superman changed direction, deliberately gaining altitude — if they kept fighting at street level, civilians would get caught in the middle. "Let's take this somewhere nobody gets hurt!"
He shot higher into the sky. The masked man followed without hesitation.
They traded blows high above Metropolis, moving fast enough to become little more than flashes against the clouds. Superman blocked a punch, countered, and sent the stranger tumbling backward.
The stranger stopped himself in midair.
He can fly too?
Before Superman could process it, the man's eyes began glowing, and two bright beams erupted from them, striking him square in the chest. He was blasted backward through the air, smoke trailing from his suit.
He stabilized and stared at the figure, whose eyes were still glowing. "Flight, super strength, and heat vision?" He clenched his fists. "What the hell are you?"
The man said nothing. He flew at Superman again.
Superman raised his fists for another exchange — but as the figure closed in, his body suddenly began to swell. Arms and legs expanded, torso ballooning outward until he looked almost like a giant black balloon.
"Uh... what?"
A second later the body ruptured.
BOOM!
The explosion caught Superman point-blank, throwing him backward through the air, his suit torn in several places, face covered in blood. He spun several times before stopping himself, wiped the blood away, and stared at the empty crater where the man had been.
"What the hell is going on?" He looked around, smoke drifting. "Why did that guy just inflate like a balloon and explode?"
His expression hardened. "Okay. That's definitely not normal."
***
Superman returned to the Fortress of Solitude still covered in blood. The computer detected the damage to his suit and activated a medical scan.
"Run an analysis on the blood," he ordered. "The blood that got on me during the fight."
The system processed the sample. A few seconds later, results appeared across the crystalline display.
KRYPTONIAN DNA DETECTED.
Superman stared. "Wait... he's Kryptonian?" He stepped closer. "Run a complete genetic comparison."
The system compared the sample against known Kryptonian markers. A warning appeared:
GENETIC MATCH: KRYPTONIAN
COMPATIBILITY: INCOMPLETE
DNA STRUCTURE: ARTIFICIAL / MODIFIED
His expression tightened. "Artificial?"
The analysis continued. The DNA held recognizable Kryptonian structures, but several sequences were abnormal — artificially assembled, with sections of human genetic material woven into the Kryptonian genome.
"He's not fully Kryptonian," Superman said.
Another result appeared:
ORIGIN: UNKNOWN
GENETIC INSTABILITY: HIGH
CELLULAR STRUCTURE: MODIFIED
He stared at the readout. "This looks like someone created him." He thought back to the fight — the strength, the flight, the heat vision, then the bizarre way the man's body had inflated before exploding. "Someone was trying to create a Kryptonian."
The computer added one more line:
WARNING: GENETIC INSTABILITY MAY CAUSE CELLULAR COLLAPSE UNDER EXTREME STRESS.
Superman frowned. "So that's why he exploded." He looked up at the crystal display. "But if his DNA is unstable, how the hell was he strong enough to fight me?"
*****
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