^^ True Lobo (new 52) ^^

— Erin —

I looked down blearily at the blood on my shirt, running out of my ears and broken nose, and groaned. "Fuck... the one place I didn't armor up... stupid vanity... gonna get me killed..."

I realized I couldn't actually hear myself speak, because my eardrums were destroyed, and stumbled out of the truck, towards the source of the explosion.

Superboy flew towards me, backwards, and I cocked my head, attempting to catch him to my chest like a sack of rice. Instead, his momentum slammed both of us backwards into the truck, which miraculously held up to the blow.

That confused me more than the rest, until I realized this was his personal truck, and it was reinforced to deal with bullshit like this specifically.

I set him down, and shook his shoulder when he started speaking, as I couldn't hear him. I pointed at my ears, then my nose. "Set that for me?" I asked, not wanting it to heal crooked.

He nodded and set it on the first try, (impressive, though painful,) and then rushed back towards the crater.

I drew my new pistol, and hummed to myself. 'Let's see what you can do...' Superboy skidded back away from the crater again, and the smoke cloud cleared enough to let me see the perpetrator.

Lobo, the Czarisian(or is it Czarnian?) bounty hunter from a world with a red sun. Only two left of his kind, him and his lover, Princess Sheba; unless this is a timeline in which she is dead and he's the last there is. Either way, he's Hyper-Intelligent, and just as strong as Superman, but thankfully not as fast. I considered my options, and then shrugged, shooting him in the forehead.

The bullet penetrated, to my surprise, but got lodged in his skin as he reared back, roaring in rage and pain, which I still couldn't hear.

I shot again, aiming for softer tissue than his skull this time, and he turned his wrathful gaze towards me, the wound in his stomach and skull healing while I watched. "Ffffuck that's equally cool and scary." I groaned, and emptied the clip into him as he leapt towards me.

I dodged his landing, sprinting away at full speed to get some distance to think.

A little sound filtered filtered in, as my ears healed finally, confirming for me that I possessed super-healing. "-Yes!!! The Main Man's Bounties should always Run! Makes the Game more Fun!!!"

I leapt to the side as he landed again where I'd been standing, and I noticed his weapon, the hook on metal cord he could fire like a weaponized grappling hook, was extended. I flipped backwards, just as it slammed the ground where I'd been standing, then drew my knife swiftly, slashing the cable so he couldn't retract it.

He growled, tossing the useless weapon aside. "The Bounty should stay still! It will hurt less that way."

"Nah, I'm good. I like the challenge, and you're the biggest man I've seen in my time here... you don't suppose if I defeat the person who hired you, you'll stop hunting me, and then we could have a little tryst? Or do you have a hunting fetish?" I smirked, and readied the knife again.

He grinned. "HA!!! The weak female's offer is amusing, but Lobo is not available, nor would he mate with Bounties, even were he!!!"

I frowned at being called weak, and slammed my fist squarely into his sternum, forcing him back a few steps. While he was stumbling backwards, I swept low behind him with my dagger, slashing his Achilles' tendons, and then dodged back before he could react, as he fell on his ass.

"Who's weak now, big boy?" I smirked, standing over him, then sprinting away, away from the house and out of the woods.

I knew he'd regenerate quickly, so I focused on how I could contain him, without killing him. A thought formed, concerning my ability to open shadow portals, and Diana's arm freezing nearly solid when she'd reached in for just a second.

I grinned and waited, -knowing he'd be returning any second,- and busied myself with opening as many portals as I could around myself, though I didn't have much to go on with only the tall grass and wild corn. 'The forest would've been better, for this. I'll remember that, next time... though no one would expect a shadow attack in an open field.'

Lobo arrived on the edge of the clearing, and gazed around, clearly searching for traps, so I decided to put him at ease. "The forest is favorable terrain for you. I can't keep an eye on you, there, and my eyesight is unable to track your movements in the dark. Also, I have more room to move, here, giving me the double advantage."

He hummed. "And also Lobo's advantage; nothing for small female to hide behind."

"Oh I don't hide, big boy. I face my problems head on, unless that's not the intelligent course of action. I'm not stupid, I'm just impatient and belligerent." I grinned.

He chuckled, and drew his grappling hook, which he'd apparently repaired already, then swung it in a massive arch, flattening all the grass in an attempt to set off any traps I'd set. (Unbeknownst to him, of course, that actually helped me, giving me more shadows to work with.)

"You done pussyfooting around, big boy? All that big talk about me being a 'weak Female' has gotten me in the mood to rip your fucking tongue out!!!" I growled at him, to galvanize his movement, then grinned. "And hey, maybe the clone that grows from it will be less of an ass!!!"

He laughed, this time, and sprinted forward. He was surprisingly swift, despite his file saying he wasn't super-fast, but I supposed that running 50 miles per hour isn't super-fast, in the superhero books.

When he got close, I opened all the shadows at once, and dropped us both into the Fold.

Immediately, he closed his mouth and glared at me thunderously, before looking around curiously.

"Welcome to the Fold. There's no way out, that I know of, except me opening a portal, so I'll make you a deal. You tell me who hired you, I'll release you. Simple. Clean. Done and done. What do you say?" I asked, crossing my legs and staring at him calmly.

He thought for a moment, and then crossed his arms stubbornly. I noticed he wasn't freezing, leading me to remember that Kryptonians could survive in space, holding their breaths for months at a time, if necessary, and Czarnians were much the same.

"Alright, I'll sweeten the deal. You bring me, alive and conscious, to your client, and then collect your money, then I beat them half to death, and you go on your way. Sound good?" I chuckled.

He smirked. "The Main Man does not Negotiate with Bounties." He let his oxygen go, but didn't seem worried about it.

"Damn, that's a bummer... alright, fine. I'll just leave you here... all alone... with just the sound of your own heartbeat to keep you company. I'll check on you in a few weeks." I smirked and rose out of the portal, closing it just before he could reach it, letting a piece of his hand through, cutting it off to test whether or not my portals could cut his skin.

I stared at the top of his finger on the ground, and shivered. "Gross... but perhaps fortuitous for me." I pocketed it, and headed back towards the house.

The front of the house was scraped up, (but not damaged too badly, thankfully,) beyond a few cracked windows. I opened the door, and walked into the kitchen, sitting on a stool slowly. "Welp, he's dealt with, for now. Is everyone alright?" I asked, looking at Terran and Megann.

"Conner is out looking for you, so I suppose he'll be back now that he can hear you in the house. How'd you beat him?" Megann asked curiously.

"I stuck him in his own shadow for a time-out. Anyway, I'll go get the groceries from the truck." I glanced at Terran to see if they were doing alright, and caught their eyes, checking me for wounds, before they ducked back down to hide. "I'm alright, but I appreciate your concern." I chuckled, and headed out to retrieve the truck and Superboy.

He landed with a thud next to me, as I reached the truck, and leaned against the truck, cracking his neck. "You Alright? Where's Lobo?"

"I'm good, He's taking a Timeout in the Shadow Realm, and Megann is waiting to give you first aid. Oh, and Take the groceries in with you, will you? Thanks, bud." I loaded his arms full of the contents of the back seat, and then hoisted the box of bras, (still thankfully sealed,) into my arms.

He sighed and nodded, walking the groceries inside, while I dragged his truck into an empty space in the garage. It would need a new windshield and other such aesthetic repairs, though it seemed otherwise unharmed. I pulled the cash out of the glove-box, and placed a few of the bills in the box with the collar and tooth, along with a note.

'The cash was Slade's. Maybe track it? I dunno. Do some detective shit to it.'

The rest I placed inside Conner's toolbox, as I trudged up to my little attic room, and collapsed into my bed. I could've gone to my new apartment, but I knew this wasn't over. I wasn't stupid enough to think it was done with just capturing Lobo, the Main Man. As such, going back to my secret base was the worst thing I could do.

After a moment, I sat up, and placed Lobo's finger into the synthesizer. "Analyze that."

"Scanning... Scanning... Scanning... scan complete. Object: Metacarpal; Species: Czarnian Clone; Common Name: Lobo Clone; DNA Match: Lobo, Gen3. 99.99998% accuracy Replication Projected Possible."

I blinked slowly. "Wait... Gen3? He's the clone of a clone?"

"Correct. Czarnian's reproduce Asexually, upon being wounded. Each cell in a Czarnian's body is equivalent to a Stem/Brain Cell, as it holds both the long-term memories of the original Host and the ability to grow and spawn other Clones."

"Alright... tell me everything we know about Lobo and the Czarnian's?"

"Only two Known Czarnian's Exist in the galaxy; one male, -Lobo/Main Man/Clown Face; Status: Active;- and one female, -Princess Sheba; Status: Currently Unknown; Last Sighting: Earth,- however, Lobo spends his time as a bounty hunter, and hunting and killing all of his clones, proclaiming them 'thieves' or 'pretenders'. His physical abilities are 10x his first-gen clones, and about 50x the second. However, that is as weak as they get. He, Gen1 Lobo, is almost an equal to Superman, in all but speed, in which he is famously inferior, and intelligence, in which he is indisputably superior. His clones are only approximately half as intelligent as he, though still more intelligent than any human, comparatively. They take about two months to grow from a single cell to an infant, and one more month to grow to a full adult."

"Any known way to halt the cells from reproducing?" I asked.

"Affirmative. Nuclear Immolation, or a near-Nuclear level of Red Sun Radiation. The first Lobo displays the ability to destroy them with a blast of radiation from a weapon, measured as several thousand GigaKelvins of Heat in the form of plasma... and also his weapons, which use a stable, weaponized form of that Plasma in their bladed edges, not unlike your universe's Lightsabers. They are capable of cutting through his skin, as well as Superman's, and nearly every known substance in the universe."

I hummed slowly. "And his clones don't have that?"

"Affirmative. It is currently unknown as to where Lobo received or how he developed these weapons, but his clones have never had access to them, in this universe."

"Do we have access to that tech?"

"No."

"Well... damn. Okay. Seal that finger in a jar of honey, then pitch it into the sun, I guess, but keep the map of his DNA. It might be useful." I hummed, and laid back down.

The little jar of honey was loaded into a small rocket, and I chuckled. "Locate the closest shadow to the sun, and I'll send the little rocket through that way. It'll save a lot of time and trouble."

The calculations were made quickly, and I sent it off, the Dark-Matter being relatively perfect fuel for it, as it needed no oxygen to react, and in fact it didn't need to react with anything. It seemed to hold an even amount of energy within itself, depleting one cubic centimeter of fuel for every light-year of travel.

I'd have liked to make that discovery on my own, but it was in the League Database as a type of fuel used by some alien ships for FTL travel.

My eyes snapped open, and I groaned. "If they have Dark Matter, they can get into the Dark Dimension... which means he can get out."

I sprinted back to where I'd left him, and growled when I saw that the shadows were being held open by a series of small machines, pulsing with red light. "Great. The Pretender is loose... but he left the tech... Hmm..." I walked to the forest, about thirty feet away, and dropped into a shadow, peering at the spot I'd held him.

As my eyes adjusted, I nearly puked, violently, at the sight of what was left of him, shredded and fried into little pieces of charcoal and bone. "Yep, Alright, So is this Gen 1 Lobo's work, you think?"

"The tech matches known records, but anything is possible. Not enough data."

I nodded and grabbed the ring of red that was holding open the portal, pulling it until it collapsed, turning into a metal disc about a eight inches across. "Huh... cool. Begin analyzing this as best you can? I know you're working on a wireless connection here, but start now." I stuck the disc in my jacket, and then gathered all the pieces of Lobo, (holding back my gorge,) and pushed them deeper into the Fold, giving them enough momentum to sink, hopefully forever.

Then I exited the shadows, and sniffed. "Plasma... Alright, so he was here... lucky for me that the original Lobo came after his clone before he got out and came after me. Maybe I'll send the guy some chocolates and a card." I chuckled.

"The small female's thanks are unnecessary, and unwelcome. Lobo did no favors for her, and still wishes her head." A smaller, thinner version of Lobo stepped into view, a glowing sword in his left hand, and a pistol in his right.

'Ooooh... New 52 Lobo, very nice...' "Wait, So, both of you took the contract?" I clarified, confused.

"Correct. Or rather, I did, and the clones did as well. Only one was on your planet, other than me; I was already hunting him, and you immobilized him for me. The small female has my thanks for that. But that tactic won't work on me, especially now that I've seen it in action." He nodded, and readied the sword.

I laughed softly. "Won't work to imprison you, sure... but I can run away just fine, can't I? Here's the deal: you take me to your client, alive and conscious, fulfill your bounty, get paid, and go on your way, and I don't plaster the galaxy with Bounties looking for your head."

He scoffed. "Bounties on the Main Man? Please, Woman."

"Oh sure, they can't kill you... but they'll wound or kill the weaker versions of you, the Pretenders, and will they know how to dispose of a Czarnian properly? Or will that just spawn dozens and hundreds more Pretenders for you to hunt down?" I smirked.

He paused, and hummed. "True... that would be annoying, and the bounty is for Dead or Alive, so come willingly, and I will deliver you, alive and conscious, to my client."

"Swear on Princess Sheba's Life." I raised eyebrow.

He narrowed his eyes. "You know more than a normal Earthling should..."

"That's cause I'm not an earthling, not from this planet, anyway. I'm from another dimension." I shrugged. "Now swear on your princess's life, or no deal, and I run, and you have to hunt me down the old-fashioned way, which will get real annoying, real quick." I crossed my arms, staring him down.

He spat into the grass, grumbling. "Fine, I Swear. Come then, and meet your enemies." He started walking away, and I followed.

"So, what's the deal with your plasma weapons? Why do only you have them?" I asked, as we walked.

He grumbled. "I prefer my captives silent."

"Oh just answer the question, you grouch!" I frowned at him.

"Fine! I didn't make them, nor do I know how! I received them as a reward for a contract, from a race of energy beings that is now extinct." He growled, and moved aside some branches, revealing two different space-ships.

"Ooh, shiny!" I grinned, and slapped aside the little bomb he tossed at the other one, sending it off into the forest, where it disintegrated a good acre of forest in an instant. "Ooh...Kay!!! Don't break that, I wanna study it!"

He raised an eyebrow at me slowly. "And I would allow you to do that... why?"

"It's not yours so don't touch it, how about that?!?" I set my fists on my hips, glaring down at him slightly, as he was a few inches shorter than my 6'6"(+boots).

He narrowed his eyes slowly, the glowing portions of his skin pulsing quickly in what was likely his rising heartbeat, and then he grumbled something in a different language, climbing up into the other ship. "Fine! Not like you'll be alive to stop me from destroying it later tonight!"

I smirked and climbed up behind him, fitting myself snugly against his back. "Destroying what, tonight?" I asked, grinning at his uncomfortable shiver, before he started the engine, and we whipped into the sky, instantly accelerating to jet-speeds, headed south along the coast.