Stories Based on Song Titles #18: Kryptonite

“All right boys, on 5...4...3...2...1...Go”

Five men all dressed in black, with black masks, black gloves and black boots, break into the First National Bank with their automatic guns waving in the air.

They were known as The Five Man Gang and with the numbers one through five on their shirts they were quickly making a name for themselves in Metropolis. The leader named Number 1 was a big man. Military trained and good at his job. Even his voice was eerie and commanding. Numbers 2 through 4 were common lackeys trained to follow orders and loyal enough not to cross Number 1.

Number 5 however was a smaller guy, hired more for his brains than his brawn, but was a top notch safe cracker and younger brother to Number 1.

Already alarms were going off including the silent ones, as security guards were going for their guns. But as the plan had been rehearsed many times before, they were quickly subdued before they could do anything.

“Alright guys we are on the clock!” Number 1 bellowed with authority, “2 and 3, get the cash register, 4, the peoples wallets and jewelry, Number 5, get to work on the safe!”

Like clockwork the four men went into action, with every other person on the floor, face down and terrified, including the guards who were too scared to try anything. Number 1 made sure of that as it was his job to watch over them.

By now Number 4 was going through the hostages’ pockets, taking anything of value including watches and an old lady’s pearls, while Numbers 2 and 3 were filling their bags with every dollar from the cash registers. Meanwhile Number 5 was working his magic on the safe.

But just as he was cracking it, in a rather whiny voice he asks, “Number 1, are you sure that Superman is not going to swoop in here and get us?” he says while working fast with his tools. “Cause this is just the sort of thing that gets his attention!”

At that exact moment Number 4 chimes in, “Yeah Number 1, I mean we trust you, it’s just I don’t want to have to deal with the Man of Steel!”

Immediately Number 1 laughs out loud, almost loud enough that the people outside could hear him, “Superman is no longer an issue as long as we have these!” He then taps on the green ring around his finger, reminding them all that they too have a green ring around theirs. “It’s so simple. We all have a Kryptonite ring and we all know that Superman can’t even come near us. If he does he will immediately become weak and defenseless. It’s Kryptonite, the game changer and Superman’s one weakness.”

He then begins to spin the green ring around his finger, while boasting. “Superman can’t even touch us without being weakened. My friends, we own him!”

By now Number 5 had cracked the safe and as quickly as Numbers 2 through 4 had finished their part of the plan, they joined Number 5 in the safe to steal some real money. With Number 1 still guarding the hostages, the others followed the plan and emptied certain safety deposit boxes for maximum efficiency.

It was then the police arrived outside in numbers with their guns drawn and hiding behind their vehicles.

“Come out with your hands up!” the lead officer shouted through a megaphone, as he began to run the playbook on a hostage negotiations, “We’ve got you surrounded, there is no place to go!”

In response, Number 1 aimed his machine gun out the window and fired off a short blast of rounds, followed by the ever cocky, “That’s just a warning, pigs! You make one move and the hostages get it!”

Now on top of the world, Number 1 shouts to his crew, “Hurry up, guys! We can’t take all day!” as he walks among the hostages shouting, “and you folks better keep your heads down if you want to make it through this alive!”

But while all this was going on, Number 5 was still questioning the plan, as they were filling up the last of their duffel bags, he had to ask, “Are you sure these rings are going to stop Superman? Cause if he catches up with us he ain’t going to be happy.”

To which Number 3 replied, “Naw! I’ve seen smaller rocks than the ones we got, stop him dead in his tracks.” He then takes a moment from stuffing money into a bag to declare, “With these babies he can’t even touch us!”

Minutes later all the bags were full, some even overflowing, and every man except Number 1 grabbed three of them in both hands. Number 1 however grabbed a young blond female teller by her hair and dragged her towards the front of the bank.

With his gun firmly placed against her head he steps outside just enough to be seen. “Here is how it is going to go down, pigs!” He says hiding behind her. “All you cops are going to get back in your cars and leave or we start killing hostages!”

“Damn It!” the lead officer said as he ordered his men to fall back, then shouts through the megaphone, “Okay Okay! Just don’t shoot anyone!”

But as he tells his men to obey him and flee the scene, a younger officer had to ask him, “Sir, not to question your orders, but isn’t leaving the crime scene against regulations?”

To which the officer in charge calmly answers back, “Well, technically yes. We should never leave a robbery in progress, but this is Metropolis.” He then smiles and looks up into the sky and finishes with, “And at any moment soon, Superman will get here!”

Soon enough the last of the police drove away, only to park a few blocks away as The Five Man Gang prepared to make their escape. As planned, right across the street was their five getaway cars, unrecognizable and untraceable to the gang. One by one they exit the bank, with each man holding over two million dollars in each bag, except for Number 1 who is still holding on to his hostage.

But as there was no sign of the police anywhere, he proudly looks up into the sky to see that there is no sign of Superman, and laughs “What did I tell you, guys? The big bad Superman is too afraid to come get us!” Then with great joy he tosses his hostage to the ground and firers off another round after round into the air, just to show off his dominance.

Suddenly, as he was waving his gun in the air, the green rock around his finger begins to melt as if exposed to a massive amount of heat. At the same time the Kryptonite rings on the other four members begin to melt away.

Soon enough even the guns that they were holding begins to melt away and within seconds they were unarmed and without any Kryptonite. Then in a mighty gust of wind a red blue blur surrounds them and before they know it the hostage is safely back in the bank and every member of The Five Man Gang was now tied up and handcuffed together, with Superman standing up proudly above them.

“What the Hell?” screamed Number 1, “We had Kryptonite! You couldn’t come near us!”

To which Superman laughs back, “I didn’t need to get near you!” Now standing in his heroic pose, he goes on, “From the moment the alarm went off I was watching you from space through my telescopic vision and I noticed your rings. So all I had to do was wait for you to come outside, use my heat vision to melt your rings and weapons, then fly down with super speed to stop you!”

By now the police were pulling up again ready to arrest the gang as Superman goes on explaining their flaw. “You see just because I can not get near Kryptonite doesn’t mean I can’t see it miles away. So the next time you try to rob a bank in my city, I want you to remember that.” His voice goes up and more menacing, “I can see everything you are doing!!!”

With that said the police take away The Five Man Gang, as the hostages and remaining police officers take selfies with The Man of Steel, their faith in him and Metropolis restored. But even as Number 5 and Number 1 were taken away in the same paddy wagon, Number 5 could not stop yelling at Number 1, “Kryptonite, you said! The game changer, you said! Well, that is the last time I listen to you, brother!!!”

By mrmonster

For three years, we’ve been under siege, living day to day in a world where hordes of zombies are a near constant threat. They get even harder and harder to defend against as time goes on; the longer the outbreak lasts, the more people the zombies infect and the bigger their hordes get.

But three days ago, we found a glimpse of hope. Our scouts were combing through classified CIA files, and discovered reports of a mushroom that the Army was experimenting on shortly before the US government collapsed; a mushroom that, when grounded into dust and dispersed into the air, was harmless to humans but lethal for zombies. If the reports we found were true, it would be their kryptonite, a way to potentially turn the tide of the war.

The only problem is that, as of the last file in the report, the base had been overrun with zombies and was irreparably lost.

___________

“Honey, please, you don’t have to go.” My wife pleaded. “There are plenty of young soldiers here who can go to the base and get the mushrooms.”

“No, I can’t sit this out.” I said. I then pointed out the window at our twins, as they were playing in the camp’s playground. The twins were just two years old when the zombie apocalypse struck and we had to evacuate; they’ve never known life outside of our refugee camp deep in the woods.

“I have to make sure we get those mushrooms. Even if I die, I will die happy knowing that the twins may get a normal childhood. I want them to taste ice cream, and see zoo animals, and live to have kids of their own.”

“If they die here, in this camp, and I will never be able to forgive myself if I didn’t even try to get the weapon that might have saved them.”

“Just be careful.” She said.

_______

We left at night, hoping we’d be able to sneak into the camp unseen by the zombies. We had one advantage over the zombies; night vision goggles. We parked our truck outside of the base’s fence, about a thirty minute walk from the lab. We couldn’t drive too close, the sound of the engine would attract the zombies.

From there, it was eight of us, all wearing thick body armor and carrying assault rifles, pistols, and knives. But would it be enough?

________

The first ten minutes were all clear; no zombies in sight, just old buildings, abandoned cars, and weeds as tall as people. I was starting to think we were lucky, that maybe the zombies had left, that we’d be able to get to the lab and all get out alive without having to fire a single bullet.

That was, until our squad leader (Sergeant First Class Affleck) got ambushed from behind by a zombie. Before the Sergeant had any chance to even fire, his neck was already torn in half by the zombie’s rotten, moldy teeth.

I was closest to him; I aimed my rifle, and fired a shot right at the zombie’s forehead. The zombie died, but it was too late for the Sergeant. I turned to him and said “Sergeant do you have anything you want us to pass onto your…”

“No. ” He said. “Just go get those mushrooms. And put that away, we agreed to do this ourselves if we had to.”

He then did the honorable thing, the thing we all swore to do if we were capable; he drew his handgun, raised it to the side of his head, and pulled the trigger.

More zombies were on their way, we could hear them. We ran off, hoping we could get past them. Those plans were halted when a pack of at least twenty zombies stopped us right in our tracks.

We fired on them, but more zombies were coming from the sides. Two more of our guys were killed before we shot a big enough hole in the pack to run through.

“IN HERE!” I shouted as I found a building with an open door. We rushed in, shut it behind us, and used a piece of furniture to barricade it.

“Crap.” I said as I saw a zombie eating what appeared to be a dead possum. I was out of ammo for my rifle, so I had to shoot it with my handgun.

The good news is that we were safe, for the moment. The bad news is that we were surrounded on all sides by zombies. Zombies don’t quit, they would bang at the walls and windows for as long as it took for them to break in.

“Guys, I have an idea.” Private Sumbera said. He was also out of ammo in his rifle, but he had his handgun and his knife.

“Private, you don’t have do anything…”

He then lifted up his shirt to showcase plenty of stitches and surgical scars. “Guys, I’m already half dead. The camp doctor said I have six months before my cancer finally kills me. Please, let me go out getting you to safety. Once I distract the zombies, get out through the back door, please.”

“Private, it’s been an honor serving with you.” I said.

He burst through the front door, and began firing at the zombies. Once he was out of bullets, he tossed the gun aside and started stabbing them. Unfortunately, he couldn’t stab them fast enough to save himself and was quickly overwhelmed; fortunately, we were already out the door and on our way out of there.

________

The four of us made it to the lab. Once inside, it was better than we could have imagined. We were going to be grateful if we even found a single living sample. The lab was covered in them, every crack and crevice in the floor and the walls had a big yellow hydra mushroom growing out of it.

Of course, I put gloves on, grabbed a plastic bag from my backpack, and began collecting as many samples as I could.

Once we had bags full of mushrooms, we walked out, only to see that an entire mob of zombies had formed right outside the lab doors. We quickly slammed the door shut, but not before a zombie stuck his arm in. I used my knife to slice it off at the wrist, and shut it behind me, and locked it again.

“New plan, we have to find a back door or a side door.” I said, knowing that those may not be much better. Zombies tended to surround a building.

We found a fire escape door. One of our men, Private First Class Johnson, was the first to leave. He fired at the zombies, hoping to clear a path, before one of them (a crawling zombie missing its legs) bit him in the leg. Of course, Johnson fell, and the zombie continued tearing into his leg before Johnson stabbed it in the head. But by then, it was too late. Worse, he didn’t have his gun, so I had to step in and shoot him. As difficult as it was, we all agreed prior to the mission that we would shoot each other if we were bitten.

We continued. Thankfully, his sacrifice opened up a hole in the mob that we were able to run through. From there, all the three of us had to do was escape back to our car.

We ran until we were free from their sight; then, we stopped behind a thick patch of trees. We were thrown off in all the fighting, I had to check our map to figure out which direction to run back to get to the car.

While I lit a match (unfortunately, you can’t read with night vision goggles on) and checked the map, the other two remaining soldiers kept watch.

There were no zombies in front, behind, to the left, or to the right of us. But there was one direction we didn’t think to check.

We heard a sound from above us; we looked up to see a helicopter stuck in a tree. The sound ended up being a trio of zombies, stuck up there for who knows how long, and now falling down for the first meal they’d had in a while.

Neither of my two friends reacted in time to the falling zombies. I only survived because I quickly moved out of the way, and used the last of my bullets to shoot them.

Now, all I had was my knife. And the mushrooms in my bag, although we didn’t know if they worked or not. Just to be safe, I ground one of them up very finely and kept its dust in my pocket.

_______

I made it back to the car, only to find it surrounded by three zombies. They must have heard it coming and waited around it.

Two of them rushed me; the last had a missing leg, so naturally, was a little slow as it hopped around. I stabbed one of them, clean in the head. I pulled it out, and stabbed the other. While it killed it, my knife was stuck in its forehead, and I didn’t have any other weapons as the last of them hobbled my way.

I then took the mushroom powder out of my pocket, and threw it right at its mouth. The zombie coughed a couple times, before collapsing. I knew, right then, that our mission was a success; the hydra mushrooms worked.

_______

I got back to the car, and drove it back to our base camp. I knew I’d have to face the widows of everyone who died that day fighting for the mushrooms; but I also knew we’d tell our kids we had our weapon, the kryptonite we could use to give them the future they deserve.

The Kryptonite Corps

Superman, Supergirl, and the Justice League are just finishing a fight with The Crime Syndicate when they hear, "Heya, Supeys! Didja miss me?"

Supergirl tosses Superwoman in a JLA shuttle, squeezes her eyes shut, but doesn't turn around. "Is that...?"

"Hi, Buddy," Superman greets the Fifth Dimensinal Imp as he turns around.

Buddy raises an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry. Hi, Super-Buddy," Superman corrects himself as he tosses Power Ring in the shuttle.

Super-Buddy gasps, wide-eyed. "SUPERMAN! You've overcome your weakness to Kryptonite?!"

Superman and Supergirl exchange confused looks. "What are you talking about, Super-Buddy?" asks Supes. "Not that I know of."

"Then how do you explain this?" Super-Buddy says enthusiastically, making Green Lantern's ring teleport from his finger to Buddy's hand. Hal's uniform disappears, revealing his street clothes.

"Huh... you look older than I thought," Buddy says to Hal. "Here," he says, making Hal's domino mask reappear on his face.

Then, pointing back to the ring in his hand, he excitedly says, "These things are one hundred percent kryptonite!" Eyeing Power Ring, he says, "His, too!"

"We've worked with Green Lantern for years," says Supergirl. "His ring has never affected us."

"It hasn't?!" Buddy balks, holding the ring out in front of him at arm's length. Then he pulls it closer, and a jeweler's glass appears over his right eye. "Hm. Oh! Now I see!" Turning the ring over, and then back, he says, "Oh, that's brilliant! Look, Supey, you see that tiny amount of gold in there?"

"That would be the necessary yellow impurity that makes the ring work," says Hal.

There's a buzzer sound from nowhere, and Buddy says, "Wronnnnggg! That's a tiny bit of gold K, and all it's doing is keeping the green K radiation at bay! How cool is that?"

Superman and Supergirl look at each other perplexed, and then look to Green Lantern.

"Hey, I don't know what he's talking about," Hal says with a shrug.

Superman sighs. "Alright, Super-Buddy, what's the game this time? What do we have to get you to say to make you disappear?"

"Well, that's rude!" Buddy says with a glare. "You're not tricking me like you did before! Your word is... the same as it was last time!" He puts his thumbs to his ears, waggles his fingers, and sticks out his tongue.

"So... 'kleptozam?'" asks Supes.

"No, cousin, you told me it was 'klutztozum.'"

"'Klaptothun?'" says Superman, trying to remember.

"Oh, for pete's sake!" complains Buddy. "It's 'Kltpzyxm!' ...Wh--no! No fair! Wait!" he says as he starts to disappear.

"Bye, Super-Buddy," says Superman with a wink.

"See ya, Buddy," chimes in Supergirl, waving.

As Buddy disappears, Hal's ring floats back to his finger, and his uniform reappears. He gives the ring a queer look, then looks to Superman and Supergirl as the rest of the League boards the shuttle to transport the Crime Syndicate to the Watchtower. "Kal, I don't know what he was going on about. I... wait." Looking back to the ring, he says, "Ring, what is the makeup of the yellow impurity in a power ring?"

The ring answers, "That information is unavailable."

"What?" Green Lantern says with disbelief. Looking at Superman, he says, "Whatever the Guardians know, the ring knows. And they know how they constructed the rings."

"Green Lantern of Sector 2814!" a voice booms as a giant phantom head of one of the Guardians appears in the air. "The information you seek is forbidden!"

"Forbidden?" Hal balks.

"Why are you trying to access the makeup of the rings?" demands the Guardian.

"Because we were just told by a Fifth Dimensional Imp that your rings are made of kryptonite!" Kara challenges.

"You may understand how this concerns us," says Superman, a grim look on his face.

"You must come to Oa at once!" commands the Guardian.

Immediately, Green Lantern, Superman, and Supergirl are whisked through space, all the way to the center of the universe, until they find themselves on Oa, standing before...

"The Guardians!" declares Hal. Looking at the diminutive blue men on the elevated platform, he chides, "Lucy, you've got some 'splainin' to do!"

"You demand nothing of us, Hal Jordan! You are subordinate to us. Not the other way around." booms a Guardian.

"Well, I would like an explanation," says Superman, stepping forward, "and I don't work for you."

Standing with their hands clasped in front of them but hidden by the sleeves of their robes, the Guardians appear imperious as they look down at Hal and the Kryptonians. Even they are wary of angering Superman though. "What is to explain, Kryptonian?" asks one of them, his voice now at a normal level. "The imp was correct. Corps rings are made from Kryptonite."

"What?!" declares Kal. His shock is evident.

Kara only gasps.

The Guardian explains. "When you were still a child on Earth, we were met by the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, during an adventure that brought him into Maltus space. Intrigued by his ring, but disbelieving his claims that it was powered by magic, he willed a duplicate for each of us, and challenged us to use our scientific knowledge to figure out how they worked. We began our study in earnest, examining these pieces of what Scott called the Starheart, and its power that he called the Green Flame."

A second Guardian continues. "We examined the rings from every possible angle. There was a radiation coming off of it that we identified as being the same as a nearby planet."

"Oa," says a third. "So, we came here. Able to track the source of the radiation, we discovered that it did not originate on this planet. There was residual radiation that we were able to track back to the remains of the planet Krypton."

"Impossible!" says Superman.

"Kal," says Kara, putting a hand on his arm, "hear them out."

Kal looks at her strangely for a moment, then looks back to the Guardians.

The explanation continues from a fourth Guardian. "Krypton was one of a handful of living planets. When it died, its spirit drifted until it wound up here at the center of the universe. When we realized this, we built a containment unit for it- the Central Battery."

The fifth and final Guardian picks up from there. "Having found evidence that Kryptonians harnessed Krypton's mystical powers regularly, the mystical properties of Kryptonite became undeniable, so we expanded our knowledge into the mystical arts. During this time, we became aware of you, and saw the effects of Krytonite on your system. Having determined to harness the power of green Kryptonite for defense of the universe, and knowing that so very few surived Krypton's demise, we studied multiple samples of Kryptonite that we found in the debris field of the planet, determined to find a way to keep its radiation from affecting Kryptonians."

The second Guardian says, "Gold Kryptonite became our answer. A miniscule amount in the ring could dampen the radiation without affecting the use of its power. The only cost was that this necessary yellow impurity made the rings vulnerable to the yellow spectrum of color."

"Guardians," says Hal, "this makes no sense. Alan's ring isn't susceptible to yellow. It's vulnerable to wood."

"From what we could determine," says the fourth Guardian, "this was due to the mystical interference of Alan Scott's enemy, Wotan. However, Wotan's manipulation only applied to that one ring, and happened after Scott gave us our duplicates. Before that, his only limitation was his own will."

Superman shook his head. "This... this can't be right. Krypton was a society of science, not sorcery."

"Science arose when the strain to Krypton became evident," says the first Guardian. "At first, the science to study the environment to determine what ailed the planet. Then, determining that it was the draw on Krypton's spirit by so many that was weakening the planet, the science shifted to finding technological ways to do the things they had previously done by sorcery. This assuaged Krypton's symptons, and caused a dogmatic shift to science, which they also excelled in."

"I just don't believe it," protests Superman. "My Fortress of Solitude has records of Krypton's history, and there's no mention of this."

"Scientific records," says the third Guardian. "Often, in an attempt to prevent the mistakes of history, a society will attempt to cover up that history. Kryptonians were no different."

Superman scoffs, but before he could protest further, Kara says, "Kal, I believe them."

Kal-El looks at his cousin with confusion.

"What they're telling us matches what Shahara-Zod claimed when we first met," she tells him. "There's even a living planet in the Green Lanterns."

"That would be Mogo," Hal confirms.

The fifth Guardian says, "While she was the only member of the Celestial Council to keep her humanity, you should trust her no more than you would trust Parallax or Ophidian. She did not even tell you her true name- Sha-Zod."

Supergirl looks shocked. "Why would she do that?"

"Who could say?" answers the second Guardian. "The Celestial Council ruled by mystical powers and deception. There may have been a reason for hers, or it may have just been second nature."

Superman strokes his chin with his thumb and forefinger, looking at the ground while he considers all that he has been told.

"Guardians," says Hal, "what about the other corps that have come up? Yellow, red, orange, etcetera? Are those rings Kryptonite as well?"

"Yes," says the first Guardian.

Superman staggers back a step. "Do you know what those other powers could do to Kyrptonians?" he says with a bit of dread.

"Yes," answers the third Guardian, "but those corps were all started by members of the Celestial Council. Being Kryptonians themselves, they enabled measures similar to our yellow impurity to keep those radiations from affecting Kryptonians. Those who use them now simply don't know how to disable those measures; it has been too long, and the knowledge is lost to them."

"You are safe," offers the fourth Guardian, "and the universe is protected by great powers afforded by the demise of Krypton."

"Well, that's something at least," Superman says quietly.

"And your concerns have been addressed," the first Guardian booms. "We now return you to Earth!" he says with a wave of his hand.

Hal, Kara and Kal find themselves flung back across the far reaches of space until they are standing back exactly where they were before they left. The Justice League having long departed the scene, it is just the three of them.

"That... what are we even supposed to do with that?" asks Kal.

"Keep it to ourselves," says Hal.

Kal looks at him blankly, then looks to Kara.

"There's really no reason for us to put this information out there," she says. "It could only end up endangering what Kryptonians remain in the universe."

Hal puts a hand out in front of him, palm down. "The world needs Superman and Supergirl for as long as it can have you," he says, "I'll take this secret to my grave."

Looking a trifle uncomfortable with the importance Hal has ascribed to him, Kal places a hand on top of Hal's, and says, "Thank you, Hal. You will always be a friend to me."

"And me," says Supergirl, adding her hand to theirs.

"Watchtower to Justice League," comes Batman from a Justice League communicator. "We have an emergency. Convene here immediately."

Green Lantern sighs. "Back to it?"

"Let's go," says Supergirl.

They all leap into the air, and head for the moon.

***