Caterpillar

The Preserver

"Hey! Monkey want a nanna?" a very tall and buff grey-skinned humanoid creature said mockingly while imitating a monkey. It was Lobo, one of the most infamous bounty hunters in the Galaxy.

"When I get out, I'm shoving that arrogant smirk right down your throat!" a human man said angrily from behind a glass wall. He was imprisoned in a room with glass for walls. It was none other than Superman. However, unlike his name suggested, currently, he was severely weakened due to the radiation of an artificial red sun shining in his cell.

"Ohh yeaaah! You know, I believe that Lois gal might be getting a tad lonely now that you're doing time in a cosmic petting zoo. Maybe I'll go back and cheer her up." Lobo said and rubbed his chin while laughing. "But of course, I do have to collect the bounty on this geek first," he said as he pointed at the rat-like creature he had on a leash. "Emperor Spooj got a bad temper on him."

Then, turning towards the levitating yellow creature behind him, he made a salute with his hand at his forehead and said:

"Adios, wrinkles. You want any more dorks snagged, you got my number."

The one in question, the Preserver, replied:

"Actually, there is one other being I need for my collection. The last Czarnian."

Lobo laughed out loud.

"Haha. That's rich! I'm the last Czarnian!" Then, as if it was a big secret, he told Superman: "I fragged the rest of the planet for my high school science project. I gave myself an A."

The Preserver said no more. With a wave of his hand, a glass cage fell from the ceiling on top of Lobo. Before he had the time to react, extremely potent sleeping gas poured from the floor. Lobo tried to resist and punched the glass walls but it was futile. He fell unconscious in a matter of seconds.

⁂

"Thanks for returning my uniform. Now how about my ship?" Superman said after he finished changing from Kryptonians' traditional attire into his Superman costume.

"Impossible." the Preserver said. "For ages, I've preserved many rare creatures, even some from your adopted planet, Earth."

"I'm not an animal to keep me stuck in a cage!" Superman said revolted.

"Normally, I don't take sentient beings. But you and Lobo are all that survived from your respective homeworlds. Same for this nine-tailed fox over here, named Kyuubi." the Preserver said and pointed towards the glass cage next to that of Superman.

In it, a small crimson-red fox cub was chewing on a chunk of meat several times larger than it while its 9 fluffy tails wagged lazily at its back.

"These two have adjusted well to their new surroundings. I suggest you do the same."

After the Preserver floated away, Superman furrowed his brows as he witnessed Lobo getting gassed by the two robot girls attending to his needs when he tried to escape.

A chuckle came from the cage where the small fox cub was imprisoned.

"First time getting locked up?"

Unexpectedly, it was the very deep voice of a male. Even more unexpected it was that it was speaking in English.

Superman looked at the talking fox dumbly, surprised not only at it speaking in English but also marvelling at how the huge chunk of raw meat was disappearing at a mind-boggling speed into the tiny being's jaws.

After he was done eating, Kyuubi arched its back and stretched its small limbs. A cute yip escaped from his mouth as he yawned. Then, he jumped on the comfortable-looking circular bed and started to push against the mattress with his tiny paws not unlike a cat before he finally found the perfect place. After eating a chunk of meat 10 times larger than his entire body weight, nothing was better than a sweet afternoon nap.