by Starsky Hutch 76
After the trial, Lex Luthor found himself transported to Blackgate Prison. The entire story of his impersonation of Kobra was revealed. He was charged with the attempted murder of over a million citizens of Metropolis.
It took very little time for the jury to find him guilty. This was in spite of his lawyer’s attempt to find him not guilty by reason of insanity because of the grief caused him by the destruction of his adopted world of Lexor. Somehow, in spite of everything, he still had enough pull to get his remaining henchman, Louto Malono, placed in the same cell as he was.
Lex Luthor’s armor was never recovered. It was surmised by investigators that Luthor must have teleported it to keep it from falling into the hands of authorities as well as to make his claims of kidnapping more believable.
One night, a prison guard was making his rounds when he passed by Luthor and Louto’s cell. He noticed they were still up playing chess. At first, he simply laughed at the sight of someone like Luthor being forced to play chess with someone as dense as Louto. If there were any justice in the world, that was it. Then it dawned on him that it was after curfew. “Lights out, Luthor,” the guard said.
The two continued playing as if he had said nothing. “I said lights out, Luthor!” the guard repeated. They continued to play.
“All right, that’s it!” the guard growled. He pulled out his baton and reached for the keys to the cell. He unlocked the door to the cell and stepped inside.
Suddenly, Louto and Luthor disappeared. “What the hell?!” the guard exclaimed. He turned and saw a small holographic projector mounted on the roof of the cell just in front of the doorway. “Luthor’s escaped!” he shouted.
***
A plain-clothed Kobra looked out from his hotel room window at the bustling streets of Calcutta in India. He held a folded copy of the American newspaper, the Daily Planet, in his hand.
He would be staying here for a while, he realized. He looked down at the newspaper again and let out an exasperated growl as he hit the folded-up newspaper against the windowsill to smash a fly.
Things had happened during his imprisonment in the L-Zone — very bad things. Only one man was fit to be the Naja-Naja, but an infiltrator had tried to replace him and brought about disaster. Thanks to that fool Luthor and his pathetic attempt at impersonation, much of his forces lay in ruin, and many of his followers had been imprisoned. Though most were loyal to the point they were willing to lay down their lives for him, some were likely to crack and compromise even more of the Cobra Cult’s power. He would be forced to lay low for a while and regather his strength.
But Luthor’s actions would not come without a price. He looked back at the comatose woman resting on the bed in the guest room. Once Luthor escaped, and he knew no cell could hold Lex Luthor for long, she would be the means by which he paid for his many sins against the Cobra Cult.
The End