Chronicles of the Spider

World's Finest

15 Years Ago

Earth Prime

Clark groaned. He pushed upwards carefully, doing his best not to apply too much pressure on the building above him. It had been a hard day. He had just been going about his business at the Daily Planet, arguing with Lois as per usual, when a freak beam of energy shredded a nearby building. He quickly put on his suit, becoming the Man of Steel, and went out to confront the threat.

It was one of his recurring foes. Winslow Schott, or the 'Toyman', as he called himself, was a misunderstood genius toy designer who wanted revenge against everyone who'd mocked him in his earlier life. He'd sworn to avenge his wife by killing the man who ordered her death, something Superman stopped. 

Since then, he'd made it his personal mission to bother Clark with any petty scheme he could come up with.

Clark had attacked the massive octopus like toy immediately after seeing it, not wanting to allow Winslow any more time to plan. That had turned out to be a mistake, because a field of energy formed a barrier around the machine, probably because Winslow himself was inside.

The rebound had pushed him away, giving enough time for the psychopathic Toyman to attack the Daily Planet building. He'd crushed some of the foundational pillars, bringing the building crumbling down. Clark had dived right in, stabilising the falling building to buy time for the occupants to get out. 

The weight wasn't the problem. The problem was controlling his strength enough to not crush the walls with his bare hands. That would just cause more structural damage, and hurt more people.

As he held on, a giant spherical object, painted as an octopus, with eight metallic tentacles coming off the sides, grasped onto the building, suspended itself on the outer walls, and lowered itself to face the Last Son of Krypton. A projector switched on to show the wimpy face of the man who'd done this atrocity.

He was a short and stout man, with unremarkable brown hair in a combover and a watery brown eyes behind a pair of thick lenses. He was wearing a suit in an awful lime green colour, but his face glowed with triumph.

"Well, well," he crowed. "The famed Man of Steel, struggling. Who would have thought!"

"I'm gonna come for you, Schott," Clark announced through gritted teeth. "And it won't be pretty."

"Oh, of course, of course," he agreed mockingly. "But not before they die," here, he gestured at the Daily Planet staff, who were staring out the window at the confrontation.

"In fact," the villain continued. "Why don't we expedite their journey, huh?"

With that, he moved upwards. He flicked a tentacle through the window, grasping onto the first person he could find. Clark's heart skipped a beat. It was Lois! His not-so-secret crush, and someone he'd sworn would never get hurt. Of course, that promise was especially hard to keep when she kept getting herself into all sorts of troubles with her nosy personality.

"Hello, Ms Lane," Winslow cooed, staring down at her from his oversized display.

"Schott," she snarled, rapidly trying to calm herself down. It didn't work too well, because Clark could hear her rapid heartbeats. "When'd you get out of prison?"

"I don't believe that's your biggest concern right now, my lady," he declared, his eyes glittering with dark amusement. "You were trying to go downstairs, weren't you? Then why don't I help you?" With that, he dropped her from the fiftieth floor.

Clark roared in impotent anger. He could see her flailing limbs and her panicked expression, but he knew there was no way he could save her, not without sacrificing everybody else. It was a tough decision, but he knew what he had to do. It looked like Lois knew too, because she simply closed her eyes.