Aww Staw Supah Fwuff
A story in seven parts
By Oculus
Adapted from “All-Star Superman” by Grant Morrison, and based off “Supe’ Fwuff" by KMEB
Cover art by WetFluff aka KilledbyCreatures
~
Part 6: Stellar Binder
Within a high security facility surrounded by the endless torrents and tranquillity of the Pacific ocean, a room is being prepared. This room is significantly larger than any others, and was previously a prisoner’s mess hall that had to be repurposed for this one event. In the months prior, all the tables and chairs were removed from this room except for a few, which had been arranged for the remote few officials who were going to attend this particular event. Complex machinery had been devised to perform a lethal injection procedure on a large creature, along with a humungous gurney, designed to withstand the strength of an elephant. For the creature that was being wheeled into this room was like none that had been undergone this method of execution before.
Senator Aurelius Sandworm’s gargantuan body was placed on this gurney that was being wheeled into the execution hall, and with it, will be hooked up to the execution device designed for this one purpose. His massive corpulent body, the result of a bizarre hyper-evolution, was clad in an orange shirt – while he lacked any visible private parts, the worm creature had developed a taste for fashion, even if it was just simple clothes. As required of prison protocol, the hairs on his head were shaved, much to his chagrin, and he was permitted one last luxury before his execution. His mouth still reeked of a roast pig which he ate whole with one bite – he personally requested for a roast fluffy as his last meal, but fluffy meat had officially been considered illegal five years prior.
With the gurney hooked up to the machine, and special syringes piercing through his thick worm hide, a pastor comes before Senator Sandworm.
“Do you wish to make peace with the Lord?” the pastor patiently offers.
Aurelius looks into the eyes of a pastor. Even though the occupants of the room were all wearing a specialized helmet designed to block Aurelius’s psychic abilities, the sandworm could sense the fear in the pastor’s eyes.
“I was told I was going to Hell, so perhaps there is no need for a final blessing.”
Gritting his teeth, the prison employee assigned to be one of the executioners for the event slams his palm on the button, which first administers a barbiturate, designed to render the large target unconscious.
Aurelius, sensing that the procession begins, closes his eyes. Half a minute passes. Nothing seems to happen. The executioner proceeds to press the other two buttons, one designed to inject a chemical that would slow the heart rate of this massive creature, and a third, the concoction that will put him into a deep sleep, allowing the aforementioned chemical to do its slow but lethal work.
Near to the executioner, a heart rate monitor reflects the slow electrocardiograms created by the five aortic arches that serve as the hearts of this bizarre and massive creature. Their rate of beating is slowing down, but not stopping.
“That’s weird.”
“We figured this was going to happen. Double the dosage.”
Nodding his head, one of the prison staff fetches a large vial of the chemical designed to do its deadly work. After slowly inserting the vial into the machine, the button is pressed again.
A minute passes, and the monitor still gives off electrocardiogram readings. An uneasy silence is observed among the select witnesses gathered for the event.
“I don’t get it. Why is it not working?!” asks a government official, one of the unlucky few chose to bear witness to this grisly event.
Suddenly, and to the horror of the witnesses, rapid electrocardiograms start appearing on the monitor, as Aurelius’s lips start to move.
“You know, during my time in captivity, I’ve been having terrible nightmares. Nightmares of a world where those pathetic fluffies are smart enough to run their own society. A disgusting idea, if you may believe it. But worst of all, they keep hugging me. They keep hugging me, and telling me that love is the answer, and the way of the world is love.
And yet, in my dreams, I felt those voices spoke of a different time. Spoke of technology that I didn’t understand, until now."
The witnesses all start to stand and panic, as they all approach the executioner at the machine. One of them demands, “Why is he still talking?!!”
Aurelius continues, “I think back to the flash that created my nemesis, and I wonder if the intelligence I gained from the beam was actually meant for him. After all, and despite my strength, I was never as strong as him. I sought out the serum for the Gifted Project, which was supposed to replicate his power, but it only seemed to work on a few humans. And, every time I tried to consume it, it didn’t seem to work on me.
At least, until now.”
And in one quick motion, Senator Sandworm lifts his arm, and breaks the specialized restraints that had kept him down.
“Good lord, he broke through!”
“Stop him!!”
Immediately, a guard fires a metallic clamp from a specialized gun. Powered by magnetism, the clamp nails Aurelius’s arm to the wall.
“I see now. A 20 tonne clamp, designed for my specific strength.”
With little effort, Aurelius lifts clamp, and throws it towards the guard. The force of the impact smashes into the guard’s skull, killing him almost instantaneously. The Pastor, who had been in the room the entire time, cowers in horror, as he sees the mighty Aurelius hunch above him and the other witnesses.
“I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance, and you will know my name is the Lord."
A red aperture of light erupts from the eyes of Aurelius Sandworm, and reduces the surrounding chairs, tables, equipment and occupants to mere cinders.
~
Supah Fwuff is in the halls of “Da Pawace of Bigges’ Thinkies.” Mistah Adams had been observing his vitals for the past many forevers, but it seemed almost certain that he was going to die within the next new forevers. He felt very tempted to smash every piece of machinery and object in this place, so that no evil force could misuse it. And yet, as he looks upon the beauty of the architecture within it, and also considers the difficulty in opening the door, Clark felt it was better to just empty the cavern as much as possible, until nothing was left. In the past month, he had given away most of his toys to children of both human and fluffykind, and all the objects from his gallery had been given to the Band, which was placed in their own unique museum. His toy room laid bare, only one thing remained, that being a chest, with his scrapbook in it. Supah Fwuff does not know if or when he was going to die, but, if he was going to die, he’d want to be with Mark Connors, his daddeh, as well as with his scrapbook.
Taking the scrapbook out of the chest, Clark falls prey to the usual fluffy tendency to get distracted. And for the next hour or so, he pores through the scrapbook, enjoying the various memories he had over the many years.
~
General Johannes Doz, or “Dozer”, has been waiting for the past few hours. A three star general within the US army, publicly he is known as a hard but just man, loyal to his country and its people. However, unbeknownst to some people, he is also one of the loyal servants of Senator Aurelius Sandworm. Having been friends with Aurelius during his long tenure as a Senator, he came to see Aurelius as a living deity. Over time, he has managed to amass a private army that has pledged their allegiance to Aurelius. Ever since the premature termination of Project Gifted by Aurelius’s design, Aurelis and Doz had worked together to create a massive framework of underground bases, chiefly centred around undermining the efforts of Supah Fwuff and the Band of Heroes. Aurelius’s capture seemed like a setback, but was actually planned from the start, based on a calculation that the Sandworm had made over a year ago. There were other contingencies that were created but, so far, the plan had gone almost perfectly.
After all, Doz’s deity had returned to him.
“My Lord, it is good to see you once more.”
The General prostrates before Aurelius Sandworm, a grotesque and bloated body hovering above the ground by some unseen means. He had departed from his captivity alone, but managed to move at a speed unmatched by most, save for three individuals on the planet. Aurelius didn’t have time to waste getting additional help from the prison, as by now news of his escape would have reached the Band and other military forces.
Recovering from his genuflection, General Doz looks to his master and says, “Risking you to a public execution was unnecessary, my lord.”
“Perhaps,” bemuses Aurelius, as he continues, “but the public love spectacle. I know you had my last meal laced with the serum but, even if it didn’t work, I know you had men on the inside to help break me free and revive me if the gamble didn’t work.”
“Indeed. And since your plan worked, my men are now free to liberate the other captives imprisoned by the Band.”
“Indeed, General.
Now on to other plans. How fares my mortal enemy?”
“Supah Fwuff is on his last legs, as you had predicted. The fluffy DNA augmentation project has improved, and we managed to insert the unique fluffy genes into newer test subjects with less adverse effects. However, we still have a contingent of the earlier defective fluffy-human hybrids who are loyal to our cause.”
Grinning with his sharp teeth, Aurelius rubs his worm hands in glee as he says, “Good, those could come in handy. Where is Supah Fwuff?”
“According to estimates, he was last seen somewhere in Antarctica. He should pose little threat to your new form.”
“I disagree, Doz. As much as I have Supah Fwuff’s powers for the next 24 hours, and my nemesis has been considerably weakened, the Band of Heroes is still at full capacity. Our forces will not be enough.
No, we need a distraction.”
~
Robot-Man is currently at his factory, overseeing the miniature Dyson sphere surrounding his pet black hole. While his eye is trained on the black hole, a window pops up within his neural interface, as the face of his AI messenger alerts him.
“Sir. A speeding object is heading for our vicinity.”
A little annoyed, Robot-Man inquires, “Why is Clark coming here now?”
“Sir, its not Clark. Its Aurelius Sandworm.”
The messenger brings up a video feed, showing the figure of Aurelius sandworm, moving at a speed unmatched by any creature.
“How is he doing this?”
“Judging from his DNA makeup, he had ingested the serum acquired from Supah Fwuff’s DNA, which had been previously manufactured by Samuel Adams for Project gifted.”
“I’m aware, and Aurelius had attempted to consume it before but it didn’t work on him. How come its working on him now?!”
“Sir, I think the more pressing issue is that Aurelius is going to breach our defences within the next five minutes.”
“Well scramble the drones then!”
As Aurelius cruises high above the fields located near Robert’s underground factory, waves upon waves of Robot-man’s drones, matching his armour in look and design, assemble and charge after the speeding worm creature. Each of them fires a volley of ever weapon imaginable, as lasers, missiles and gunfire light up the afternoon sky. Each bullet and missile keeps bouncing off the now invulnerable hide of the Wurm, and the lasers leave a wisp of smoke, but no burn marks. As Sandworm kept charging straight for the base, Robot-Man starts to get desperate.
“Activate the orbital cannon!”
“Sir, he’s directly above Rexcorp. “
“Oh god n-“
And with a thunderous Crash, Aurelius bursts out of the ceiling of the floor Robot-man is on. A protective sphere shields the miniature Dyson Sphere and Black hole, but great damage has already been done to the majority of Robot-Man’s private facility. Taking mere minutes to uncover from the rubble, Robot-man stands up, and finds himself face-to-face with a now greatly empowered Aurelius.
“Hello, Robot-Man. Surprised to see me like this?”
Unfazed, Robot-man replies, “I’m more surprised that the serum worked on you. Seems to be you found a workaround.”
“No, I just got lucky,” says Aurelius with a cocky smirk.
The cold unblinking eyes of his armour facing the sandworm, Robot-man realizes he has to rely on a last ditch effort to face this unimaginable foe as he bluntly states, “Never thought I’d have to do this.”
Activated by a signal triggered from his neural interface, one of Robot-man’s drones springs up from the floor, and fires a waft of powder in Aurelius’s face. The sandworm recoils, and starts coughing heavily, feeling a burning sensation throughout his body.
”What is this?!”
“Krypton diflouride. Supah Fwuff currently has an immunity to it, but it is clear that you don’t.”
And for a brief moment, it did work on Aurelius Sandworm. But the hate and determination driven within him propels him forward. Robot-Man recoils, as a resilient Sandworm overcomes the powder, and delivers a blunt line.
“Perhaps you should have prepared more, Robert,” quips Aurelius, as he mashes his hand through Robot-Man’s armour, only to find that it was empty.
“Another drone,” snorts Aurelius.
But Aurelius had a good reason to come here. In a call back to his original form, Aurelius dives down, and tunnels through the machinery of the floor below, until he find a vat, with a living creature inside it. A frail human hooked up to a complex and unique life support system attempts to navigate away to safety, but it is too late.
Grabbing the vat like as though it were a ball of paper, Aurelius throws it up the tunnel he created. The impact shatters the glass of the vat, causing the liquid within to pour out, followed by its human occupant. Robert Rex, owner of Rexcorp, and the real identity of Robot-Man is now naked and defenceless on the floor, divorced from all his armour.
“Ah yes, Robot-Man. Or should I say, Robert Rex in the flesh.”
The man known throughout the world as Robot-Man gasps the naked and toxic air, as he rasps, “If you’re going to kill me now, you might as well do it, Aurelius.”
“Kill you? Heavens no, Robert. There’s something you have that’s far more important to me than your pathetic robotics and factory. And I can sense that you have covered it with special tachyon particles, but I knows its here.”
As Aurelius says this, his X-ray vision sees a glint of something deep below the factory. Proceeding to tunnel again, he dives all the way down, until he reaches the very depths of the underground factory.
Soon enough, Aurelius finds that, within a large storage area, a giant metallic sphere was being held by Robot-Man.
“As I expected.
I’m impressed, Robert. If the Band, or even the public knew you were holding on to this, you’d be tried as a potential war criminal.”
The sphere had been previously manned by the Smarty leader of Herd from Another World. Senator Sandworm notices the cockpit with a chair that could be customized according to the different sizes of the potential pilot of this odd device. But there was something else that Sandworm is looking for. Though almost spherical, save for a cockpit’s entrance at the top, Senator Sandworm searches for an orb, a small sphere that is nonetheless attached to the greater whole of the massive device. Upon seeing the Orb, Sandworm hovers near it. An energy emanates from him, as its rays reach the Orb, causing it to come to life. The orb opens up like an eyelid, revealing a cybernetic eye. Like a beholder creature from D&D, the metallic eye hovers around the sphere, as its gaze looks towards Senator Sandworm.
A voice booms with a deep and electronic timbre.
“Half a solar cycle has passed since my last activation. Who disturbs me from my slumber?”
“I am Emperor Aurelius Sandworm, of Earth,” the sandworm boasts as he hails the mechanical eye. “I understand that I have the pleasure of meeting a Stellar Binder Mark IV, with terraforming and solarforming capabilities.”
“You bear the energies of the Hopeworld, but are of an alien species.”
“Yes, I am not of the Hopeworld. But surely you remember this.”
As Aurelius says this, he projects a mental image of Supah Fwuff onto the thought matrices of this living Dyson Sphere.
“MURDERER! Quark of Tha, the traitor who killed my masters and put me in this dreaded slumber! A curse upon him and this wretched world of yours!”
“Indeed. But we share a common enemy. I propose an alliance.”
~
Clad in blue denim and wearing a matching bowler hat, the Asteroid Cowboy is aboard The Needlefish III, the third spacecraft that he had acquired in his long service of patrolling the Solar System and the adjacent Alpha Centauri system. Although he makes regular visits to his homeworld of Earth, he spends most of his time patrolling the circumstellar discs of the Asteroid Belt and the Kuiper Belt, hence his superhero moniker. As one of the few Band members familiar with interstellar threats and entities, he has routinely observed the occasional visitors that have come to fledgeling system of Sol 1, like the space dragon which attacked Cleveland, Ohio six months earlier, or the Herd from Another World. This week, however, nothing seemed to be incoming to the Solar System and thus, it seemed like another routine job, patrolling through the various rocks of the inner Asteroid Belt.
However, things started to stop being routine as he noticed one asteroid leave the Belt, hurtling towards the direction of the Sun. As he had done so many times before, he fires a phaser from his ship, and destroys the asteroid. A job done.
Then another asteroid leaves. Fire a laser, and another job is done.
And then five asteroids move. Followed by ten. And then twenty. As the Cowboy keeps blasting away at the asteroids, in the distance, he sees that the normal yellow glow of the Sun has turned into a cool, but worrying blue.
Back on Earth, what was initially a slow day at Mission Control in Houston was now breaking out into full panic mode.
“Alert! Alert! Potential Asteroid Storm heading for Earth!!!”
“Houston! Come in Houston!! There’s too many of them!!!”
“We read you Cowboy! Neptunian and Emerald are on their way! But something is happening to the Sun!!!”
“I know, Houston! It’s a Stellar Binder! I’ve only seen one of these before!”
As he says this, the metallic sphere that Aurelius Sandworm had uncovered deep under Robot-Man’s factory had dissipated its machinery in various points around the Sun and the Asteroid Belt. It had managed to attract the various asteroids to the Sun, and was now utilizing the asteroids to create a makeshift Dyson Sphere. However, the purpose of this sphere was not to tap the immense energy potential of our young Star.
“QUARK OF ‘THA! SHOW YOURSELF!!”
~
The alarms within his Pawace of Biggest Thinkies go wild. Within moments, all the monitors installed in every corner of Supah Fwuff’s cavern come alive and showcase various problems occurring throughout the world. He could see Asteroid Cowboy, The Neptunian and Emerald working together to avert the asteroid storm. He could see Gargoyle, Brunhilde, Porter and Spiritsmith facing off with various soldiers who had suddenly gone rogue.
But, in one of the cameras, he sees his friendly rival, Robot-Man, on the floor, with all his armours damaged.
~
Robert Rex is writhing. Naked, and removed from his life support, the man who had spent his entire life and childhood inheritance making himself to be more than his disabilities is now gasping, as the untreated air around him is too toxic. He crawls in vain toward the life support that he had been divorced from as, with no access to his neural interface, he cannot summon his drones. Feeling a weakness he had long forgotten, he can only flail his arms towards the direction of the vat. As the natural air continues to enter his nose, he feels that the slow death Aurelius had left him for was truly inevitable.
However, and perhaps by Providence, a strength seems to be lifting him, and carrying him towards the life supports. For a moment, Robert Rex wondered if it is one of the members of the Band. But to his surprise, it was Clark.
“Cl-cl-clark…”
“Hab guud sweepies, mistah wobot. Fwen am aww huwties”
“Cl-clark…. Sandworm… he’s a monster….”
“Fwuffy knu.”
“That’s not it. He…. He took the big machine. He’s going to poison the sun.”
A look of fear comes over Supah Fwuff’s face.
“P-poishun? Gib da Sun biggest huwties?”
“Yes…. He’s going to do it to weaken you… Make the Sun Blue…”
Clark’s face turns sombre. It is not a look of anger, but it is one of determination.
“Fwuffy wiww do what fwuffy can.”
“No-no, Clark!” gasps Robert, as he lays his weakened hand on Supah Fwuff, pleading, “If you go, you’ll die! You cannot go back to the Sun!”
A look of determined tranquillity is on Clark’s face, as he looks at Robert. He had never hugged Robot-Man before. He had shook his hand with hoof, and appeared in photographs but now, in the most difficult of times, Supah Fwuff hugs the one rival of his who, while a little silly, was still one of his greatest allies.
“Hab guud sweepies, Mistah Wobot. Fwuffy wiww do am bestest.”
And without a second to waste, Supah Fwuff flies straight into the air. With the lingering warmth of Supah Fwuff’s hug from a minute ago, a weakened Robert breathes into the mask of his life support system. A tear falls to his eye, as he whispers,“Thank you, Clark.”
~
Looking to the sky, Supah Fwuff sees that the Sun is growing dim. The giant machine that Aurelius had unearthed was now using the asteroids to envelope the sun, creating a gigantic Dyson Sphere, much like the one Robot-Man was using to manage the miniature Black Hole. Because the sphere was relying on material from the inner Asteroid belt of the Solar System, a storm of space rocks was heading from all directions, with many heading towards the Surface of the inner planets of Venus, Mars, Mercury, and of course, Earth.
The trio of the Neptunian, Emerald and Asteroid Cowboy have been busy blasting away at the asteroids. However, there are too many asteroids, and one unerring asteroid comes in the way of Emerald, who is not able to dodge it in time.
“Look out!!”
The Neptunian steps in front of the asteroid, and with his might trident, cleaves the asteroid into two. However, a fragment of the broken asteroid hits him, rendering him dazed.
“Neptunian!” cries out Emerald, as she moves by the side of her temporarily unconscious partner. As she does so, she fails to notice the incoming asteroid that will collide into both of them.
A pink streak charges straight through that asteroid, then destroys another five, and another ten. Emerald, who had closed her eyes and rendered herself and Neptunian intangible, intended to phase through the Asteroid, are surprised to sense the presence of a hero that they all thought was on his last legs. As the streak did its job, the Needlefish slows down, as Asteroid Cowboy hails the unexpected but welcome presence.
“Clark! Thank God you’re here!”
“Hewwo Cowboi. Fwuffy see big metaw munstah covew da Sun.”
The Asteroid Cowboy nods through the cockpit as he confirms,“You’re right, Supah Fwuff. It’s a Stellar Binder. But I never thought I see a Stellar Binder again in my life – only a few space empires fielded machines like them. And I never realized that the Herd of Another’s World terraforming machine was actually a Stellar Binder!”
As the cowboy explains the situation, Clark looks towards the direction of the Sun. Under normal circumstances, Supah Fwuff’s power comes from the light of young stars, and thus sunlight from dying stars, such as blue or white dwarfs, would weaken his powers. However, his exposure to the Sun all those months ago had supercharged him, such that the weakness no longer applied. However, his cells were not coping with the excess radiation and he knows that, if he goes back to the Sun in this dying form, he would risk certain death.
“Fwuffy wiww kiww big metaw munstah.”
“Clark, no!” yells out the Emerald in concern. In agreement with her, the Cowboy notes, “Clark, if you get too close the sun, you’ll absorb more solar radiation. You’ll die!!!”
Supah Fwuff looks towards the Sun. For the past few weeks, he had anticipated death within his little place in Antarctica. Or by his daddeh’s side. But now, with the world at risk from a dying sun, Clark knew there was only hero who had the power to stop the metal monster that Aurelius had unleashed.
“Cwark nu cawe if Cwark die. Cwark onwy cawe if aww fwens am awive.”
~
The Orb of the Stellar Binder is orbit around the Sun, as it goes about its work, constructing a Dyson sphere out of the Asteroid Belt of this primitive star system. It had performed this duty many times in many solar cycles, but it had always pledged loyalty to his herd. However, and now alone, there was only one motive on its mind.
“MURDERER!!”
As the Stellar Binder yells this, he activates the defence systems within his matrix. Utilizing the asteroids as his weapons, he gravitates the solar-empowered asteroids in the direction of Clark. With each asteroid hitting him, Clark feels even more of the lethal energy surging within him, making feel even more tired. But he charges forward.
“YOU KILLED MY MASTERS! YOU WILL PAY WITH YOUR DEATH!!”
Sensing that the “heart” of the Stellar Binder was now spread throughout the asteroids covering the sun, Supah Fwuff starts to speed up, as he circumnavigates around the star like an electron orbiting an atom. Which each rapid orbit, he smashes through each asteroid, damaging the thought matrix and computing systems of the Stellar Binder.
“RAAAGGGGHHHHHJH!!! IT IS TOO LATE! YOUR PATHETIC WORLD WILL DIE!!!”
And with that, the Stellar Binder is deactivated, its central processing unit reduced to smithereens.
Asteroid Cowboy sees that the hail of asteroids coming to Earth from the Asteroid Belt had been stopped. However, he also sees that Clark was too supercharged by continuous exposure to the solar energy was now moving at a speed he cannot control, his body hurtling towards Earth. With his “space lasso”, Asteroid Cowboy closes in on Supah Fwuff and ropes him in. Departing from his cockpit, the cowboy races towards the cargo bay, where Clark is held, and notices that Supah Fwuff is not breathing.
~
“He’s been like this for the past two hours.”
Three of the members of the Band have been assembled, that being Gargoyle, Asteroid Cowboy and Brunhilde. In the heavens above, the Neptunian and Emerald are still patrolling the outer rim of Earth’s orbit for stray asteroids, aided by The Needlefish III on automatic pilot. Most of the other Band members have been detached throughout the North American continent, due to reports of attacks on various military and government installations.
“There’s been no word from Robot-Man ever since the attack on Rexcorp,” narrates Gargoyle, “and Aurelius’s goons having been launching surprise attacks.”
“And that’s not counting the fact that the Sun has gone pale and will lose its gravity.”
“Lose gravity?!”
“Whatever the Stellar Binder did, it weakened our sun. I can’t stay here for too long, Neptunian and Emerald need my help.”
“Everything needs help!” says Gargoyle in frustration, with his hand on Clark, trying desperately to feel for a pulse. “Clark needs help!!”
A tremendous force bursts through the walls of the headquarters of the Band of Heroes, destroying the state of its insignia. Gargoyle, Brunhilde and the Cowboy look on in horror, as they see the hovering figure of Aurelius Sandworm, now reunited with his senatorial attire, and blessed with even more tremendous power.
“Clark is the least of your worries.”
~
TO BE CONCLUDED