Supermenace Part One

The rest will be posted tomorrow barring unforeseen complications: Tuesday July 10, 2018 The day after Cassandra Clemons accept a batch of new recruits as probationary members of the Brooklyn Brigade it was decided that they should travel to Metropolis in order to check on the mental well being of Superman. It less then 150 miles from New York City to Metropolis so it was decided to drive there. Before leaving the group called Detective House to see if he had any direct way to reach Superman, of if he had any additional information on what he has been up to. He wasn’t much help but offered to come up with the name of the Metropolis equivalent of PART and let them know about the groups intended visit. The next call was to PRIMUS to see if they had any supervision of the Justice League, considering the Hall of Justice is in Washington D.C. . They eventually spoke with a Bill Wadner who was not much help but did tell the group that the JLA was a independent group of private citizens and PRIMUS had no influence or control of the group. He repeatedly told the group that the staff and the care of the building (mostly a museum) was funded by various foundations and merchandising. The call ended on less than cordial note. They then called the Hall of Justice and spent additional hours working up the bureaucracy until they spoke with Zorka Dane, the CEO of the company that takes care of the JLA assets and staff. He told them that Superman had not made contact with the JLA staff despite their repeated efforts to contact him. He did tell the group that Professor Emil Hamilton of Star Labs (Metropolis Branch) was listed as Superman’s personal physician. They call Metropolis Star Labs and (again) spend hours working their way up the bureaucratic ladder until they get to speak the Professor himself. He tells them that Superman has not been by to see him since his return to Earth and (like many people the group has already spoken with) this was unusual behavior for him. The professor gives the group a list of friends of Superman that they might wish to approach, these names include Clark Kent, Lois Lane , and other members of the Daily Planet and the television station GSB (Global System Broadcasting). Hamilton also suggests that if they want to talk to Superman another option would be use a audio signal at 1088 MHz from a tall structure, the taller the better. That should get his attention. The Brooklyn Brigade convinced him to give them a direct phone number so they could reach him much more quickly in the future. Hamilton warned that if they abused the direct line it would be terminated without warning. The group then called Lois Lane about her article but she had already gone home for the day. They leave a message for her to call them ASAP. It is 11 PM on Tuesday and the group checks into the 5 star hotel that Apex reserved for them.

Wednesday July 11, 2018 The morning edition has a story by Lois Lane about how the Eradicator is going to take care of the human race. After seeing the paper the group gets a call back from Lois Lane . She invited them to the Daily Planet so they can talk. At the meeting she goes through her conversation with Superman and outlines how similar he was to the way he was before the Exodus and how he is so completely different since his return. She states the biggest difference is his complete lack of compassion. She tells the group about how the JLA collected all the known Kryptonite on the planet and destroyed it, except for a single piece that Superman gave to Batman (who also vanished during the Exodus and has not been seen since) for safe keeping. The group asks if he said what happened after everyone vanished? They are concerned that if other Supers start reappearing that might be psychotic like Eradicator/Superman seems to be. Lois tells them he never mentioned what happened after the Exodus and suspects that he can’t or won’t tell. She thinks he might not remember. She also mentions the scars across his face especially around his eyes. The group calls Professor Hamilton to get his take on what could have hurt Superman so badly. The Professor says that his body is extremely durable so whatever happened must have been horrific. He also says that Kryptonian cells regenerate extremely quickly. He is at a loss to explain, or understand, what could have done that to him. The group asks the Professor if he can tell them about Superman’s Achilles Heels. If he needs to be stopped they need to know. Their intent is to find a way to capture him. It is during this phase of the conversation that Apex excuses himself and calls Lex Luthor. He makes an appointment to see the billionaire over lunch. Returning to the round table discussion he hears Ms. Lane say that if they could transform the yellow main sequence star of our solar system into a red star that would take his powers away. This did not seem to be a viable option. Hamilton said that there is a list of things that Superman is vulnerable too but in good conscious he was reluctant to discuss them. With some persuading he started to open up. He started talking about the various forms of Kryptonite. Green K, the most common. It robs him of his powers and is lethal over time. Red K, has random effects on him every time he is exposed to it. Blue K, an imperfect copy of Green K which effects Bizzaro Jewel K, allows Phantom Zoners to exert mental influence on the physical world. Gold K, permanently strips a kryptonian of their powers. Kryptonite X, no effect on Kryptonians but gives others Kryptonian like powers. Hamilton mentioned Jewel Kryptonite because they were talking about Phantom Zone projectors. Superman had one (a projector) but destroyed it after the Zoners used Jewel Kryptonite to take over his sleeping body. He decided that the Projector was too big a danger to have sitting around. Hamilton also said that Superman was vulnerable to magic, mental powers, and gravity weapons. Superman is from a high gravity world, hitting him with gravity lessens his advantage. The group thanked Ms. Lane and the Professor and went to Lex Corp for their meeting with Luthor. The lunch he laid out was opulent to say the least. It was pointed out that as Superman’s greatest rival his life was very likely in danger. Luthor spent some time bragging that Superman had just proven that he, Luthor, has been right all along but he did not feel he was in moral peril. Luthor said that Justice League took all the kryptonite he had stockpiled and, most likely, destroyed it. The group pressed him on what preparations he had made to protect himself against a rampaging Superman. Luthor eventually started to brag about his knowledge of the alien (Superman). Ultimately he gives the group three pieces of information. The first is that he claims to know where the planet Krypton was. It is a distance of approximately 10 million light years away. Secondly he gives them a frequency so that a Geiger counter could be set specifically to locate kryptonite. Thirdly Luthor said his scientists developed a device called a Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator, which amounts to a powerful gravity bomb. It would kill the kryptonian by putting him at the center of a temporary singularity (a black hole). Superman is vulnerable to gravity so the singularity would be effective in killing him. The downside is that his scientists believe it would also destroy everything in a 100 miles radius of its detonation. Also to power the necessary gravitational field the ZPEFM would draw energy from an alternate dimension effectively draining all the power out of a random galaxy leaving it lifeless. Lex assures the group that while there is the possibility that uncounted billions of lives might be snuffed out he is certain that none of them would be anyone the group would know. He agrees to give them the ZPEFM (Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator) under two conditions; one: They use it (i.e. kill the alien (Superman)) two: When it is used it is more that 100 miles from Metropolis. The Brooklyn Brigade decides to consider the Zero Point Energy Manipulator as a weapon of last resort. The group then leaves the offices of Lex Luthor and return to their hotel. They plan on unwinding a bit, regroup to consider everything they have learned, and then decide if they want to get involved in dealing with the Supermenace.