2013.05.27 - American rEvolution

Memorial day, it's all about honoring those who have sacrificed for us. Those who have given of their own lives to make the world a better place and who deserves the spot light in a memorial day parade more than the Man of Steel who sacrifices so much for the people of earth? The parade is long and well televised with a large police presence at least at the start of the parade.

Superman is suppose to ride to the end of the parade where he is to give a speech only he's not going to make it to the end of the parade.. Not if Grodd has anything to say about it.

The crowd cheers as the man of steel waves to them standing with other heros, fire fighters, policemen, soldiers, and ambulance drivers, surround Superman standing on a lower tier of the float showing that while he is the big guns, keeping the world safe is a team effort.

Speaking of big guns, a large figure appears on top of one of the buildings overlooking the parade rout and points a shoulder mounted rocket launcher at the float. Four rockets erupt from the massive dark form, hard to make out with the sun behind it who it is but the rockets and their rocket trails are unmistakable streaking towards the float full of icons.

Superman can easily stop them, in fact Grodd is counting on him stopping them. He is predictable in his obsessive compulsive need to throw himself into harms way. Based on Superman's previous actions Grodd predicts a 90% chance that he will destroy at least one of the rockets with his heat-vision, perhaps two of them, but the others he will heroically throw himself in front of. That is exactly what Grodd is hoping for. The warheads don't contain explosives but instead a yellow organic substance which, in theory will bond to the Kryptonian's skin and grow by feeding on the energy he uses. The more of his power he uses, the more the virus will spread and the more of his skin will turn a lovely shade of yellow that blocks him from absorbing more sunlight. The virus isn't designed to kill Superman, no, that would be too kind. It's designed to make it so he perfectly human. Weak and helpless. It will take days for the virus to cover his body and days more for him to lose all of his strength, but Grodd always plays the long game.

Superman's trunk twists at the sound of the first missile firing and it doesn't take long for him to come up with a plan for it. A massive blast of frozen air erupts from his mouth, freezing the first missile and stopping it dead in its tracks. It lands upon the ground with a hollow clang, encapsulated safely inside a block of ice.

But shortly after the first one is launched, three more also make their way to the float. As they soar through the air, Superman catches them at a point where two of them are in a clearing with no building behind them. Fiery red rays erupt from his eyes and torch the two missiles easily. The small explosions cause the crowd to shriek and panic.

The fourth one looks, for a moment, like it might actually make its mark. But just before it hits the float, Superman reaches out and snares it like a Wide Receiver from Kansas University might. Well, let's be honest, Kansas is usually pretty terrible. Nevertheless, Superman breaks off the back, rocket piece, throwing it to the ground.

He then grabs the warhead with both hands and compresses it under his mighty grip, causing an explosion. At first, no one seems to notice the yellow-ish goo coating on his hands. Everyone is captivated by the fireworks.

And so Superman doesn't have time to think to much before the goo has time to settle, a voice interrupts the announcers and the large screen display plays a recording on one of the buildings along the parade rout. "Greetings everyone. My name is General Grodd. I'm a huge fan of Superman. About five years ago one of his teams of do-gooders took the time out of their busy schedule to undo my life's work of turning everyone into Apes, ending racism and the majority of the reasons humans make war." then the image of Grodd zooms out showing him sitting at a desk like a news caster and a graphic of the world map pulls up to his side. "To celebrate his never ending, questionably Freudian need to manhandle me and men like me, I have set up an event for the world to see just how amazing the man of steel can be." The map on the display next to Grodd lights up with seven red dots and a set of coordinates flash for a split second, "In these locations, all around the world, there are bombs. Super-man has, " then he reaches down and presses a button on his desk, "Fourteen minutes to disarm or destroy them all. " the Gorilla expects Superman has already left by this time and says, "But don't worry folks. I'm sure he can do it. He is Superman after all."

The first bomb is buried deep in an underground chamber beneath a fault line. Super-man will have to dig through miles of rock to get to it. The bomb itself is fairly simple. But there are more, spread out around the world, in places which require him to use his strength as well as his speed to get too. One of them is in a ship yard full of old lead lined shipping containers. He can either smash them all individually or use his heat vision to just cut them all open at once, again using up a large portion of his energy, this is the plan.

As soon as the red dots appear on the graphic of the World Map, Superman is gone. The last vestige of his appearance at the celebration of American triumph is a mighty sonic boom that follows him as he heads towards the American West.

San Andreas Fault, California

The San Andreas fissure cuts and separates the Golden State between the luxurious of the coast and the desert terrain of the interior is a constant source of Earthquakes in the region, making it of serious concern to the Man of Steel.

He reaches it in moments, plucks the device from its moorings and launches it into space in one fell swoop after making sure the interstellar coast is clear.

Ketson Naval Base, Outside Bremerton Washington

There's a bright flash and a snap hiss as Superman's heat vision burns through the lead lined ships. He's very careful to tear off to very tops of the ships in order to avoid an accidental detonation. After the tops are liberated, Superman rips them off, using his immense strength to literally tear the tops off of old submarines and battleships that have since been put out to waste by the United States Navy.

International Waters, outside of Japanese jurisdiction

Superman dives deep down towards the bottom of the ocean in search another. At this point, Superman begins to notice, the tiniest twinge of fatigue that normally would not accompany such a feat. He considers it odd, but gives it no extra thought.

A short time later, he leaps out of the water with a large intake of breath and seems to be laboring just a bit as he disposes of yet another.

Trips to India, Iran, and Siberia are similar. Once he gets to London, however, Superman is put in a most unfortunate situation.

Lady Arsenal Football Team, Ashburton Grove, London

In a move that is too much of a coincidence not to be planned, the ladies of the Arsenal Football club are heading back in after a long practice. As they file into the locker room they begin to get cleaned up and return to their off-pitch lives.

In a moment, they're surprised by a visitor from America.

Superman is trying to divert his eyes by covering his hand over his face. "I'm so sorry. There's an explosive device underneath this locker room."

The players scream in terror. All except for a pair of defensive midfielders known for their gritty slide tackles and sly elbows. Tamara Reid looks over to Jacinda Weathers, "I think he's kind of hot."

Superman smashes his fist down into the tiled floor of the locker room and leaps downward, only to emerge with the last of the devices. He zooms through the door and takes off towards the west, heading not for Boston or Lexington or Concord. Instead, he heads directly to the Justice League Headquarters.

As the bombs are one by one disarmed the world watches from cameras mounted close to the bomb sites. Of course, not cameras in the girl's locker room. It's the greatest show on earth! The man of steel in action! From the depths of the ocean to buried deep in an ocean of sand, he is thrown against every conceivable environment in a gauntlet designed to push him to the limits of his endurance and beyond but yet the man of steel overcomes! The world cheers their hero and as the last bomb is disarmed another recording is played, "There you have it folks! Your Man of Steel, the one, the only, Superman! Once more he has foiled my evil plans! Happy Memorial day everyone! Remember, drinking and driving don't mix!" then the programming returns to it's normal scheduled events and all the world wonders and cheers at the greatness of Superman... for now...