Apocalypse Now

by Austin Blake II

Something has come to Earth the likes of which Buffy has never encountered before. Luckily, so has an ally to help combat this malevolent force of evil. Set after Season 7.

Apocalypse Now

A Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Superboy Crossover Story

Bow down before the one you serve

You're going to get what you deserve

NIN, "Head Like A Hole"

"I have just about had my fill of Italy."

Buffy Summers had a half-angry, half-pouting expression as she walked down the street with her best friend Willow Rosenberg, who at the moment was trying her best to enjoy her gelato without seeming like she was smiling during her friend's distressed venting, which was resulting in a conflicted look as her feelings of helplessness grew.

"Seriously," Buffy continued, "Who does that guy think he is? 'Ooh, look at me, I'm all Immortal so I get to have wild spontaneous Immortal orgies to sate my ravenous Immortal lust… did I mention I'm Immortal? 'Cause that's my name.' " She grimaced, "The vain creep actually has the nerve to throw a 'the' in the front of it. As if."

Buffy shrugged one of her six shopping bags over her shoulder, flipping her blonde locks out of the way. "Just because you live forever doesn't mean you should have a Casual Foursome Friday, right?"

"I saw six." Willow chimed in, glancing down at her frozen treat, trying to manage to eat it while carrying her own extensive purchases.

"Huh?"

"Well, there were twelve legs, so, six people," Willow explained, becoming lost in thought with the physics of it all. "Unless there was a Siamese thing going on or maybe some weird mystical being with six legs…"

"Will! Ew!" Buffy interjected. "Ick factor, much?"

"Sorry…" The redhead smiled faintly, "It sucks there was orgies. But it's not like he was going steady with you or anything…"

"Going steady?" Buffy lifted an eyebrow. "We're back in middle school suddenly?"

"You know what I mean. You weren't honey-pies or anything. It was just fun." Willow stated, nodding matter-of-factly to support her point. "Post-Sunnydale-crater fun."

"I guess." Buffy said, turning the corner to start towards their hotel. She saw that her friend Xander Harris and her sister Dawn were already out front, loading luggage into a taxi. "I just can't wait to get back to the good old U.S., where men aren't all gifts from God… they just think they are."

"American boys' pride is easier to break." Willow nodded in agreement.

"What I wouldn't give for some tall, dark, and handsome broody type right about now…" Buffy continued, loading her own taxi's trunk with brand new goodies. "Someone with a tortured past who will love a girl forever because she's the best thing that ever happened to his sociopath-but-in-a-sexy-way-self and…"

Buffy noticed that Willow was staring at her wide-eyed as if she'd sprouted a horn in the middle of her forehead. "God, must I relive my ex for the rest of my love life?"

"What's the matter, Buff?" Xander asked, smiling as he cocked a black fedora on his dark-locked head, managing not to knock off his eye patch in the process. "Did capitalism not take away the sting of irresponsible behavior?"

Buffy smiled weakly at her friend. "It helped much. I swiped my card so much I think the stripy thing melted off." She closed the trunk, opening the cab door and preparing to enter. "I just need to get in a bed, a real bed, in a real home for a bit. Have some real 'me' time."

The sky, which had been a bright blue, seemed to darken all at once. The four glanced up at it curiously.

"Maybe the sun went behind a cloud." Dawn suggested meekly.

"Big friggin' cloud." Xander remarked.

A black, swirling vortex formed at its center, and out of it spat two dark forms, like some sort of fireworks display viewed negatively. They rocketed in opposite directions, but where they landed could not be discerned, nor could any impact be heard. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the darkness vanished, leaving behind no trace of its trespass on blue sky.

Buffy sighed. "So much for that 'me' time."

Buffy sighed, laying her head back, glad she'd opted for the aisle seat on the return flight home, so she didn't have to see anything else fly out of the sky. She glanced over at Willow, who was just finishing hanging up her phone. "Good news?" She asked hopefully.

"Giles said one of… whatever those things were landed in England, the other somewhere on the West Coast." Willow replied.

"Right where we're headed. Great." Buffy sighed again, closing her eyes. She wished her former Watcher and mentor were with her, offering those calming words and fatherly advice she was used to. But Giles knew that she'd grown a lot since the old days, and most of that advice she'd memorized… even if she didn't always listen to it, it was there when it counted, and she'd always be grateful to him for the knowledge she'd been handed down by him over the years.

"There's definitely a mystical angle to this, since most efforts by the Coven and the few contacts Giles still has from the Watcher's Council to track the one in England are kind of muffled. But, oddly enough, the one that landed near home, they can track just fine." Willow's brow furrowed.

"So what's the sitch?" Buffy inquired. "Are we dealing with a new Big Bad? What is it and how do I kill it so I can go ahead and relax already?"

Willow looked to her friend. "Well, there are other Slayers active now, Buffy… you don't have to…"

"Obviously it's gonna come down to me because I am who I am and I've done what I've done." Buffy interjected. "I've come to terms with this, and I don't want a couple of newbies to the job dying before they come around to ask me for help. Let's just get this done with. What does Giles know?"

"Well, the ancient texts aren't clear…"

"Are they ever?"

"…but if the energies they've managed to detect are accurate, then… well, all signs lead to something referred to as the Lord of Apocalypse, the Bringer of Death in his dimension, his eyes being the Omega for all living things….

"…so on and so on…"

Willow furrowed her brow, fearing Buffy wasn't taking this seriously. "He has been searching on his own plane of existence for the remedy to the affliction called Life for, well, the universe. His name is Darkseid."

Buffy blinked. "The thing Luke's father fell to?"

Willow sighed exasperatedly. "No… not Dark Side. S-E-I-D, one word. But, Buffy this is serious. I mean, I know most ALL villains spout this kind of nonsense, but Giles said we should be wary, especially since not much is known about him… least of all, his weaknesses."

Buffy smiled a bit, sitting up in her chair, and adjusting her tray table. "Okay, Will. I get it. Vacation Buffy is put to bed. I'm on the clock now, I promise." She glanced across the aisle at Xander and Dawn, who were both sleeping. "Well, now that the Bad has a name, any idea who or what brought him here?"

Willow followed Buffy's gaze, knowing that she was worried for the safety of her friends and family. Buffy always looked out for everyone but herself. Willow often wondered how many times she'd have to remind Buffy that even though she was the Chosen One, The Slayer, she still didn't have to be alone in her fight.

"They're working on it."

Buffy looked back over at Willow. "Well, then… so will we, just as soon as we get home."

Willow smiled. "Wait until you see it. I've had interior decorators e-mailing me pictures of the new place. You're going to love San Diego."

As Buffy entered the new apartment, she saw that it was a gleaming spectacle of newness, from the hardwood floors to the magnificent view of the cityscape. It had been newly furnished in Willow's favorite colors and patterns, from the cream-colored rose-adorned curtains to the deep red sectional couch in the living room surrounding the LCD TV in a right angle of comfort. Xander, upon seeing this, pushed past a bit to better glance at the entertainment center.

"Is that the new slim 360?" He asked, hopping over the couch and immediately picking up one of the wireless controllers resting on the coffee table. Dawn giggled, which got Willow smiling. Buffy did the same, rolling her eyes.

"Typical man. Take him to Italy and surround him with beautiful architecture and a rich cultural history, and all he does is stay inside, order pizza, and watch pay-per-view until he can get home to get on his next-gen gaming console."

"Judge me not," Xander countered, not looking away from the screen as his game loaded, "lest ye be judged yourself, oh Shoe Queen."

"Touché." Buffy replied, placing her bags down for the time being.

Dawn was busy glancing around the place in awe. "I can't believe this place, Will," she said, "You definitely have your people's taste."

Willow had moved to pick up the house phone, when Dawn's comment made her perk her head up. "…Jewish?"

"Yeah…" Dawn said, smiling sheepishly, "…that's what I meant."

Buffy plopped on the couch next to Xander, grabbing the TV remote from the table, and switching it from the input channel to the cable, effectively ruining Xander's gaming experience.

"Hey!" Xander exclaimed, almost pouting.

Buffy gave him a look of resolve. "I want to check the news to see if anything unusual has happened since the sky blackout." She looked back at the screen. "This isn't Sunnydale, you know. Big scaly demon things will probably stand out enough to at least make the little ticker crawl at the bottom of the screen."

"Oh. Right." Xander replied, managing to keep his bottom lip from poking out as he set the controller back on the table. He blinked, and then cast an eye at Buffy. "Do you think he'll have scales?"

Buffy shrugged.

Willow had apparently already engaged in conversation while the Slayer and her friend were bantering, leaving Dawn to wander over to the window and draw the blinds as far back as they would go, taking in the full panorama. She smiled, but her good nature faltered. She thought she saw something in the distance, and narrowed her eyes to better focus.

Willow was hurriedly jotting something down on a Post-It. "Okay. Got it. Thanks Giles." She hung up the phone, quickly making her way back to the living room to where Buffy was watching a news story. "Giles got a fix on the traceable energy. It's not Darkseid, but he managed to triangulate an address for us and urged us to investigate." Willow glanced down to read. "117 Broadway Avenue."

Buffy pointed at the TV. "It's on fire…"

Willow spun to glance at the screen, only to hear the reporter's audio repeat the address across the live video feed of firefighters battling the blaze. Her eyes widened. "It's here."

"Close, too." Dawn said, prompting the three's gaze to move towards the window. They all stood, moving over to where Dawn was standing, hand raised and pointing out what she was looking at. They saw it; smoke was rising from a building only a few blocks away.

"You have got to be kidding me." Buffy sighed, shaking her head. "The Big Bad moved in next door?"

Xander glanced at Willow, placing a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "Think you can blink us there?"

Buffy intercepted the request. "Not Dawn."

Dawn whined. "But Buffy…"

Buffy's brow furrowed. "No buts. If there is a Big Bad down there, that means you don't need to be there. I don't need you getting hurt. This isn't just some fledgling vampire we're dealing with."

Dawn gave a grimace as a reluctant acceptance, moving to the couch in a huff and plopping down. Buffy looked to her Wiccan friend. "Let's go."

Willow nodded, closing her eyes and saying a few quick words in Latin. Then, as if they had been standing at the scene the whole time. Willow had managed to get them into a nearby alley, out of sight of passersby. A scream broke out, and the trio looked up to find the source. It was a little brown-haired girl, no older than eight, seemingly trapped on the fifth floor of a building engulfed in flames. Buffy immediately started in.

"Buffy, you're not fireproof!" Xander called out, although deep down it was knowingly to no avail. "Buffy!"

But the Slayer was already on the move, springing with supernatural agility and honed precision to grab onto a nearby drain pipe, pulling herself up and kicking off the wall to get high enough to grab the ledge of a windowsill for better leverage. In moments, she'd reached the third floor and found an apartment free enough of flames to allow her access. Taut muscles flexed, and Buffy shifted her lithe body into a flip upwards through the window.

Buffy moved as quickly as her Slayer powers would allow, testing the doorknob for heat. It was manageable. She flung the door open, finding the inferno waiting for her on the other side. A part of the floor above had collapsed, forming a fiery makeshift ramp to the fourth floor. She did not hesitate. Buffy moved with supernal speed, the strength of well-trained legs vaulting her into the air, so much so that only a single foothold was needed. Once her boot hit wood, she pushed hard, grabbing a fractured beam once it was within reach, and hoisting herself into the air with one arm. Her free arm planted its elbow on the floor above, and soon Buffy was standing merely one floor away from the trapped girl.

Buffy saw that there was a staircase nearby and she tried her best to stay low as she made her way up. Her lungs were putting up with the smoke far better than the average Joe, she knew, but she wasn't invincible. The smoke was thickening the farther she went, and she had to feel for the doorknob to the entrance to the fifth floor. It burned. Buffy winced, but steeled herself. She stood to the side of the door, pressed herself against the wall, then gripped the doorknob hard and pulled it in one quick, powerful motion. The door splintered from the frame, and flames poured in, finding fresh air to fuel their consuming pyre. Buffy turned her face away and barely avoided being burned, though the cheerleader in her from the old days knew her hair was going to be paying for this for days.

Having kept a mental record of where she was, Buffy glanced around and saw that the way to the apartment the little girl was in was marred with flames. She closed her eyes, trying to quickly formulate a plan of action. However, when she did, she felt a rush of air move past her. It was enough to pull her eyelids up quickly, and she surveyed a dark, shadowy form through the flames and the smoke, unable to make out any distinguishing features, except for the eyes.

They were glowing red.

As they did, scarlet beams of energy shot out from his gaze at the right side of the door where it met the wall, seemingly to sever the locks that kept intruders out. The being seized the door, though whether it did so by burying fingers or talons in the center of it, Buffy couldn't see. What she did see was that it removed the door like it was paper and cast it to the side like nothing. It moved inside with speed almost incomprehensible to the human eye, and had Buffy not been transfixed on it and seen it, it would have appeared to have just blinked out of existence. Buffy feared for the safety of the girl, and moved swiftly.

As she entered the apartment, Buffy saw the last embers of the flames that had been surrounding the girl, as if willed away by some unseen force. The being scooped up the child, and then extended a lower appendage to force the entire window frame from the wall. It crashed to the sidewalk below. It moved to exit through the resulting hole, seemingly floating in mid-air. As it began to lower, Buffy sprinted, diving through the hole as well and landing on what she thought was the thing's back and wrapping her arms around what she assumed was its neck, her grip vice-like. If the thing breathed, she'd try and stop it.

They were descending quickly. Buffy reached for the only thing she could think of; the trusty stake tucked in her belt. She pulled it free just as the thing hit the ground, slamming it into the back of the neck she had been clutching so tightly.

The wood shattered as if she'd tried to stab it against a barreling Mack truck. Buffy's eyes widened in amazement as she glanced from her hand to the thing's unharmed neck. She released the useless splinters, settling on her fist, pummeling the same spot repeatedly, as if trying to make the thing acknowledge her.

"Um… excuse me?"

The voice gave Buffy pause. She sat there on its back, fist in the air, puzzled.

"You can get off me now. You're safe."

Buffy let go, taking a few steps back to take on a better defensive stance. As she looked past the being, she saw the little girl running to her mommy on the other side of the street. She shifted her gaze to the back of the thing's head. Without the haze of smoke, it appeared human now, though at a rather imposing stature. He had to be close to six and a half feet tall, black-haired, and his athletic build was sheathed in a simple black tee shirt and blue jeans, which had been singed by his exploits.

"Who are you?" Buffy asked, at a loss for any other words.

"The name's Superboy..." The boy turned, and his handsome guise was framed by a little spit curl made of that thick black hair of his in the middle of his forehead, and was accented by eyes which were now a blue Buffy never recalled seeing eyes having before. On his chest, a large red S was emblazoned symbolically on his shirt and the smile as he laid eyes on her was full of mischievous charm.

"…but you? You can call me Conner."

"For the last time, I don't know how I got here."

Buffy had been listening to Conner tell his story repeatedly, and all while the boy compliantly sat on a chair in the middle of the living room surrounded by a mystical circle of swirling blue energy on the ground. As far as she could tell, he meant no harm. He'd even saved a little girl. But Buffy was wary, knowing that sometimes wolves liked wearing sheep's clothing,

"One minute I was fighting alongside some friends and the next I was here. I didn't recognize any buildings, so I flew around a bit trying to get my bearings. By the time I realized that, wherever I was, there seemed to be no trace of Metropolis, I saw the fire below and just reacted." Conner explained, smiling warmly at Dawn. "And that was when your sister jumped on my back."

"Wow," Dawn replied, having taken up a chair in front of him and was delighting in being the handsome boy's captive audience. "You're like, a superhero."

"You flew?" Xander asked, having taken up a spot next to Dawn, a fan-boy's grin spread wide across his face. "You actually fly?" At the boy's nod, Xander muttered to himself. "That is so cool…"

"He checks out, Buffy." Willow said, waving her hand to dismiss the spell she'd placed around him. "The circle didn't reveal any untruths. It's possible he's from the same dimension as this Darkseid character, and maybe got ripped through a hole in space-time accidentally by someone who wasn't used to handling the kinds of magics involved in a spell like that."

"But," Buffy replied, "Who would want to bring something like that into our world? It doesn't seem easily controlled. The person would have to be some kind of egotistical idiot to think a plan like that would work."

"It's happened before." Willow stated. Buffy nodded in agreement.

"So what other kinds of powers do you have?" Xander asked, chin resting on his hands during his inquiry.

Conner smiled. "Well, I don't like to brag…" He glanced up for a moment as if recalling the information. "Super-strength, super-speed, super-senses, heat vision, x-ray vision, freeze breath, invulnerability…"

"X-ray vision?" Xander asked.

"Wow," Dawn replied again, giving the boy her best flirty smile. "I bet no one ever took your lunch money."

"Hey now, your sister's not so bad." Conner stated. "A few of her punches almost hurt. You guys fight evil yourselves, I take it?"

"Well, you know, we've been known to stop the world from ending a couple of dozen times. No big deal." Xander answered, puffing his chest out. "But please, go on about the x-ray vision..."

Buffy looked over to where her sister and Xander were fawning over their newfound friend and rolled her eyes. "We have got to get him home; Darkseid, too. I don't fancy the idea of some Death Bringer being stuck on my plane of existence."

In all the questions, Conner hadn't been focusing. But now he heard something familiar. "Darkseid's here?"

"You know him?" Willow asked.

"Let's just say that the name rings a bell." Conner stood. "Buffy, you have to let me help you fight him. This is one serious hombre. I mean, it's taken the finest members of the Justice League to take him down before. You'll need a little Kryptonian firepower in your corner."

"Justice League?" Buffy perked up an eyebrow.

"Kryptonian?" Willow interjected.

"I can explain all that later." Conner said. "What's important is that we find Darkseid now and get him the hell out of your dimension before…"

"…before what?" Dawn asked.

The answer was said in a coldly solemn tone of voice Conner had not used around them until now. "…before he unmakes it."

Rupert Giles made his way through pitch black catacombs, using nothing but a torch in his left hand and a small, magically luminescent orb that floated just a few meters ahead of him. At his rear were two Watchers he'd been familiar with in the days before he'd become Buffy's Watcher. They were getting on in age, and both had a thing for the tweed suits of old, but at least they had knowledge of this place to lend a hand, and their own torches to help light the way.

The catacombs themselves were roughly carved and ancient, the air stale around them. They must have been created for those of a smaller stature, because Giles kept hitting his head on the stone above. At least four lightly bleeding marks were on his forehead, and soon a fifth greeted him. He winced, moaning a lamentation at not having more room.

The smaller of the two men behind Giles, a wiry figure with a bald head and horn-rimmed glasses that lent to his bookish demeanor, peeked from behind his taller companion and stifled a chuckle. "Watch yourself, old bean," he whispered, "This ceiling will do you in long before we find a villain if you're not careful."

Giles shot back an irritated look, shaking his head. "Just concentrate on the task at hand, Swanson. We had to shatter some powerful barriers to enter this place. There's no telling what may be lurking in the shadows."

"No need to get testy, Giles." The taller man spoke up, adjusting his own glasses. He appeared a decade younger than his comrade, although a little grey showed in his curly brown hair just at his temples to betray his age. "We both know the seriousness of the matter. There's nothing wrong with a little levity to calm the nerves."

Giles nodded. "I know, Alec. I suppose a little rock to the head can make one unsettled." He looked back ahead at the passageway. "Come, the main chamber should be up ahead."

The Watchers entered the main chamber of the catacombs, which looked more like an opening to a coliseum. It was a massive maw waiting to devour them, and the lone altar in the midst of that flat, empty space was all the more ominous. As they approached it, they saw it was a square stone platform, twelve feet long and deep, like a great stepping stone made for a god. Various runes and shapes adorned it, come carved, some written in a long since dried crimson liquid.

Standing in the center of the altar, seemingly held in stasis by a green beam of energy that seemed to stretch upwards to infinity, was a great form, at least eight feet in height. In its stillness, it looked like a statue, right down to the granite composition of its face. Dark blue and grey were its colors, and they couldn't tell where one ended and the other began. The sheer thickness of the form indicated that either it was meant to be wearing some sort of armor, or perhaps its strength was just that immense.

The thing that stood out was its eyes. Rimmed in a short of pulsing red energy that emanated as though trying on its own accord to break free and destroy anything in its path, the centers were black. Not a normal black, but an unearthly vortex that seemed to draw the very hope from their hearts and swallow it in a dark pool of nothing from which it would never escape. Gazing into those eyes alone was a harrowing experience, and only Giles had the will to break the silence with but one word.

"Darkseid."

"Well, look who it is." A voice echoed from somewhere in the surrounding darkness. "It's Ripper and the White Hats."

Giles and the others spun, trying to find the source of the voice. Giles recognized it immediately as his teenage nickname was used. "Ethan… what have you done now?"

Ethan Rayne and Giles went back; way back. When Giles was a teenager, he was heavy into the mystical side of the rebellion of youth. Ethan was a cohort, but even more dangerous in the fact that even as Giles had grown out of such a phase and moved on to a more distinguished and reputable station in life, Ethan had continued to be careless with magic, usually bending it to meet some absurd personal gain. He'd put Giles and Buffy in quite the spot of trouble on several occasions, but never anything like this. This was different. This was ambitious.

Ethan's voice carried through the dark. "Don't you see, Rupert? It's perfect. When your adversary has anything she needs to combat evil in this dimension, you're left with thinking outside the box. And the bigger, the better, I always say. And they don't get much bigger than this one right here. Cost a pretty penny too."

Giles and his companions were huddling together as Ethan talked, each looking around as they backed towards the altar, trying to get a fix on where the voice was coming from, but to no avail. Giles nodded at his cohorts, and they seemed to comprehend. As if by will, the mystical balls of light that seemed to orbit the respective individual that cast them came together, merging into a singular glowing entity.

"Not your normal price, mind you," Ethan continued. "The soul selling was a bit obvious, but the magic itself was a bit too tricky for me to handle by my lonesome. Although Darkseid's power is somewhat lessened in this realm, I thought the cost worth it since not even a Slayer could stand up to him. The resulting cataclysm from the spell's achieving fruition was that my body was lost to the alchemical shockwaves."

The voice sounded remorseful for a moment, but then became very cold and cruel sounding, almost mocking. "Luckily, I found the perfect replacement."

There was a deep rumbling, which prompted Giles and friends to turn to face the statuesque figure on the altar. Its eyes shifted to a bright green, and the head tilted ever-so-slightly to look down at the trio; and then, a malicious smile. The voice now had a source, though distorted to a low, gravelly tone.

" 'Ello, Ripper."

Giles yelled out to his companions. "RUN!"

For poor Swanson, it was too late. Red beams of life-taking energy sprang out of Darkseid/Ethan's eyes, zigzagging through the air and striking the Watcher in the chest. The smell of incinerated flesh was instantly in the air, and Swanson had a hole the size of a dinner plate where his torso used to be.

Giles and Alec both reached for the glowing orb, and no sooner than they'd touched it, a brilliant flash of light filled the chamber. When it finally subsided, the two remaining Watchers where nowhere to be found. Darkseid/Ethan smirked.

"Run while you can, Rupert. Run while you can."

Buffy and company had listened intently while Conner tried to sum up everything he could from the world he'd been torn from. He explained that on his Earth, a group of heroes, mostly super-powered, had banded together to face international, global, and sometimes even extraterrestrial threats. He went on to tell them that perhaps the greatest of them, Superman, came from the planet Krypton as an infant named Kal-El, a last resort by his parents to save their only son from a fate that would claim the entire planet. But from the ashes of this destruction, the boy grew to be a man that loved his adopted homeworld, and used the powers given to him by our solar system's yellow sun to serve and protect it.

Conner told them that in his exploits, Superman had crossed paths repeatedly with Darkseid, who's status as a god was arguable. In his experience, Darkseid was a powerful despot who reigned over the planet Apokolips, and sought to eliminate all free will and gain dominion over the universe. He was a tyrant, but also an excellent strategist and a formidable foe, and usually required the combined might of the Justice League to conquer.

Conner also went on to tell them that he himself was the result of an attempt to clone Superman by his most dangerous archenemy, Lex Luthor. Conner had escaped the facility he was created in, and since then proven himself an ally and friend, so much so that Superman accepted him into his family and gave him his own Earth and Kryptonian names: Conner Kent and Kon-El, respectively. He was affectionately given the hero name of Superboy, and ever since then the Teen of Steel had been trying to live up to his predecessor's name and ideals. Lately, however, he'd found that they were rather large boots to fill.

Seeing how open Conner was being now that he'd found kindred spirits on this Earth, Buffy shared whatever she could summarize. She told Conner that here, there were an abundance of vampires and other dangerous supernatural beings, and that once a generation one girl was marked with the abilities to stop them: the Slayer. Only when one succumbed to their notoriously short lifespan was another called into duty. This was the way things used to be, until in the apocalyptic battle that destroyed the entire town of Sunnydale, Willow had used her magic to in essence activate all the Slayers-in-waiting, which left Buffy with some much needed vacation time.

"So… you're kind of legendary?" Conner asked, smiling.

"That's our Buffster." Xander retorted. "And if you think that résumé is impressive, you should see her put away a gallon of cookie dough fudge mint chip. It's like watching a lion devour a gazelle in the wild… except, you know, with fudge."

Buffy picked up a couch pillow and smacked Xander's shoulder with it, smiling. "I just fight the good fight, is all. If it weren't for my friends, I don't know where I'd be."

Out of nowhere, a platter with at least three dozen cookies was presented in front of Conner's face. When he glanced up, he saw Dawn was the one holding it, smiling down at him through flour smudges. "Cookie?"

They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and Conner was no exception. He smiled, and took three. "Thanks."

Buffy was slack-jawed. "Dawn… you… you baked?"

Dawn was still smiling, not glancing up from Conner to answer her sister. "We have company. It seemed polite."

"Right." Buffy replied, mouth still agape. "So, you… you baked?"

Dawn looked up, still smiling, speaking quietly through clenched teeth. " Not now, Buffy…"

Willow leaned over and whispered into Buffy's ear, barely containing her schoolgirl giggles of giddiness at her observation. "Dawnie's got a crush. It's so cute!"

Conner paused a second in mid-chew, smiled a little, then swallowed. Dawn glared at Willow, shaking her head, pointing at Conner, then at her own ears. Willow furrowed her brow in confusion, mouthing the words "huh" and "what" back at Dawn, trying to decipher what hidden message she was trying to convey.

"She's trying to remind you I have super-hearing." Conner stated simply, reaching for three more cookies, as he had devoured the others already.

Dawn blushed hard, placing the platter on the table, and gave a curtsy (even though she wasn't wearing a skirt) before spinning and stomping off back towards the kitchen, muttering something about always getting embarrassed.

Buffy blinked. Willow winced, and went to stand, but Conner beat her to it, licking chocolate off his fingers. "I've got it."

As Conner moved to follow Dawn into the kitchen, Xander looked at his friends. "Did you see that? Were you watching? Like a Toll House vacuum from which no morsel can escape." Xander glanced back at Conner as he exited. "Kinda reminds me of a lion devouring a gazelle in the wild… except really, really fast."

Conner entered the kitchen, seeing Dawn on the verge of tears while scooping more dough from a large bowl and plopping it rather hard onto a cookie sheet. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "You know, it might just be because this is a different dimension, but those cookies were really good. What's your secret?"

Dawn looked up at him, smiling and stammering a little as she came down from her emotional roller coaster. "Well, I-I use a little a-almond extract. M-My mom used to do it." Her face fell a bit with the mention of her mother, and he noted it.

Conner nodded. "Must have been a popular lady. I know if I'd have grown up on your block, I'd have never left your house." He snagged a ball of dough off the sheet, popping it into his mouth. "Of course," he said through the dough, "then I'd probably be in that crater thing you guys were talking about."

Dawn smiled. "You probably could have helped out a lot with that. Probably wouldn't even be a crater."

"Oh, I don't know." Conner replied, swallowing his mouthful of cookie dough. "San Diego's not so bad. You've got that zoo, and the Chargers, and…" He paused. "…that zoo."

Dawn giggled. "I guess our worlds aren't so different."

"Only in the details." Conner said, smirking. "I'm guessing a lot of your vampires and demons don't show up in ornate, brightly colored costumes."

"Yours seems simple enough." Dawn replied, placing a hand on his chest and letting her fingertips lightly trace the curves of the red S. Pressure increased, and soon she was following the curve of his pectorals instead. She took a deep breath as she caught herself, letting her hand drop. "It works for you."

"You know, if you want," Conner said, leaning against the counter, "I could take you flying sometime. I guarantee my arms are the safest place to be."

Dawn couldn't help but beam at the prospect of soaring through the air with this exotic, god-like cutie from another dimension. It was the stuff fairy tales were made of. "Sounds lovely."

A flash of light seemed to come from the living room, and Conner spun to see what the trouble was. He moved swiftly, Dawn in his wake. As they entered the room, they could see two men that weren't there before, both dressed in tweed suits, though the younger of the two seemed a little more buttoned up. The older, Buffy and company were at the side of, and looking very worried.

"Giles!" Buffy exclaimed, surprised. "What are you doing here? What happened?"

Giles had barely had time to catch his breath, as just an instant ago, he had been faced with certain death. "Buffy, we haven't much time. He could be on his way here as we speak-…"

"Who?" Willow interrupted. "Who's coming here?"

"Ethan Rayne." Those who recognized the name in Giles' response did so with a sudden stillness, not so much in fear, but of a quiet respect for the damage the man could potentially do.

"So? What kind of heat is he packing?" Buffy asked. "Enchanted Halloween costumes? Evil candy?"

"He's in control of Darkseid's body." Giles said, the grave meaning in his eyes penetrating the glib remarks. "The consequences will be dire. He's already killed. Omnipotence can be a heady drug." It was then that Giles noticed Conner.

"Who are you?"

"Superboy."

"Of course."

The time for explanations and introductions was cut short as the deafening BOOM sound of what were seemingly several blasts all at once pierced the air. Whatever it was, it was close, and probably wasn't good.

"What was that?" Xander inquired.

"I'm not sure…" Giles responded.

Conner recognized the sound, and it showed on his face. His eyes narrowed, and his muscles tensed. "Boom tube." He looked up at the company around him and offered a quick explanation. "Interstellar transport. It's how Darkseid gets around."

"SLAYER!" A voice thundered from outside, deep and gruff. "BE A DEAR AND COME OUT AND PLAY, WOULD YOU?" The request was followed by mocking laughter and the sound of something exploding. People in the streets below started screaming hysterically.

Buffy looked at Giles with a determined expression, which Giles countered by shaking his head, sadness in his eyes. It was as if this were the day he'd feared would come throughout his entire career as Buffy's Watcher: the day she died. True, she'd already died twice. But Giles knew that, with Darkseid, there was no simple death that CPR or a resurrection spell could remedy. There awaited only oblivion.

"Buffy," Giles' voice seemed to plead with her. "You aren't ready for this."

"No choice. No time." Buffy said, looking to her friend Willow. "Will, try and see if there's a way to either pull Ethan out of that thing or to chill it out permanently. Maybe send it to some kind of ice dimension, I don't know."

Giles spoke up. "I shall be concentrating on some way to help you contend with the beast. A little power boost never hurt anyone." He looked to Alec. "Alec, can you blink back to the safehouse, gather what resources you can, and meet me back here?"

Alec nodded, and held out his hand, opening his palm upwards. A white orb appeared in mid-air, and soon a white light emitted from it and engulfed his body. In a flash, the Watcher was gone.

Willow exchanged knowing looks with Giles, then nodded at her friend's request, but she couldn't hide the concern on her face as Buffy picked out a longsword and shield from the hall closet. "Buffy, this is ten times worse than Glory…"

"We'll see." Buffy retorted, looking to Conner. "He might not know you're here, which means we have the element of surprise." Conner nodded in agreement. "All right, Superboy…" She hefted the sword to rest on her shoulder. "Time to earn that name of yours."

Outside, Darkseid/Ethan was having too much fun, if there was such a thing. He had yet to discover what else this wondrous form could do, but it seemed that the Omega Beams that so powerfully lunged from his eyes were inescapable. They would bend, turn corners, even go through other materials just to hit their target, and he was using that to his advantage to lay waste to any of the unlucky population of San Diego that managed to cross into his vision.

The power… it was unlike anything Ethan had ever imagined. It might not have been absolute power, but it was damned close, and the knowledge that anything that lived and breathed near him only did so at his whim, the awareness that the most destructive force in this universe was at his beck and call… well, it was like a fine wine being poured down his throat by nubile naked slave girls while he strangled someone with his bare hands. He was a king. He was a god. It was time Buffy and her cohorts learned what it meant to worship and obey, or be destroyed.

Darkseid/Ethan actually mustered up an audible bout of laughter from the thought. To see she look on that insufferable Slayer's face as he crushed everyone she loved and cared about for rebuking his godhood – and she would! He knew there was no conceivable way that the stubborn sow would bow, scrape, and kneel, no… not unless she was taught to. Ethan delighted at the thought of being the one to finally teach her that lesson.

"School is in session, Slayer," spoke the rumbling voice of the being Ethan possessed, "And I shall be your professor. The first lesson?" Darkseid/Ethan smirked callously. "Servitude."

"Actually, I never had the time for college."

Darkseid/Ethan turned to see the spunky blonde target of his aggression, and his smile diminished a bit at her retort. Buffy continued, "I was always too busy thwarting ill-conceived plans to bring about the apocalypse by incompetent brainless pieces of trash like you."

Darkseid/Ethan's eyes began to glow red. "Insolent little whelp! Does your emasculating prattle NEVER CEASE?"

"Only when the other guy gets in position."

Darkseid/Ethan's expression became puzzled, and the glow faded momentarily. It was just then that a black-and-blue blur moved up to him, and he was airborne by the time he realized a fist with immense strength behind it had just slammed into his jaw. He hit the street, bouncing five times before he finally skidded to a stop, at least one hundred meters from where he'd been standing, having left rather large impact craters in the asphalt from where he'd skipped. He looked up at where he'd just been looking at the Slayer, and saw only her standing there, smiling.

"What sorcery is this?" Darkseid/Ethan demanded, pounding his fist against the pavement before getting to his feet. "Nothing on Earth can stop me!" He began stomping his way back towards Buffy. "I AM THE OMEGA!"

"And now…" came a voice from behind him as powerful arms wound their way around his waist, like tightly corded steel. All at once, he was lifted into the air at an immense velocity, so fast he could see the whole city beneath him in a matter of a couple of seconds. And just as fast as he'd been taken up, he began rocketing back towards the ground. Before he knew it, Darkseid/Ethan had plummeted into the ground with mammoth force, the shockwave from the impact shattering windows on buildings in a three-block radius.

When the dust settled, Conner had zipped back to Buffy's side. "…you're a speed bump."

Buffy glanced back at him, nodding with a slight smile on her face. He had apparently impressed her with the display of his abilities. "Not bad."

"Thanks." Conner replied, offering a nod of his own as he kept his eyes on the crater he'd left in his wake.

Giles was flipping through page after page of sacred text frantically with his left hand, searching for something Buffy could use to battle the god-like adversary she now faced. He jotted down notes just as fervently with his right, looking up at Xander. "Can you see them? What's happened?"

Xander was at the window, squinting with his good eye. "A piledriver..?"

Dawn was busy helping Willow arrange a circle of stones in the center of the floor, the inside of which was being filled with various herbs and talismans. Willow sat in front of this construct cross-legged, closing her eyes and beginning a sort of chant in a language not easily comprehended by those unfamiliar with the mystic arts. She stretched out her hand over the circle, and the herbs in the center caught fire, but the shade of the flame was an unearthly violet. As Willow opened her eyes, they had become solid black from the magic she was wielding.

Dawn looked at Giles uneasily. "What's she doing?"

Giles offered only a moment's glance in her direction before continuing his work. "While I am looking for a way for Buffy to combat Darkseid, she is looking for a way to perhaps sending him back to his own dimension."

Dawn nodded. "Ah. That's good." She took a few steps back from the flame. "I should probably be quiet, then."

The fire swirled until there was a purple orb of flame in it's heart, the nucleus of which slowly expanded. Various images could be seen rapidly flowing by inside, as if spanning events across multiple fields of space and time. Willow's eyes concentrated on this, and the chanting she had been doing seemed to speed up into a scarcely heard humming. Then, suddenly, she stopped, her eyes flashing back to their normal color in an instant. They looked as if she'd seen something she wasn't prepared for.

"Oh no…" was all the redhead could mutter.

Giles closed the book, standing and moving for the window, which he promptly opened. He looked to Xander. "He has inhuman hearing, you say?" Xander nodded, which prompted Giles to yell out towards the scene. "CONNER! WE NEED Y-!"

"Yeah?" Conner replied, having moved with superhuman celerity to his name being called, and now hovered outside the window.

"Yes, well…" Giles said, a bit taken aback at the boy's speed. "We need an outlet of power to enhance Buffy's own abilities. Would you mind…?"

"Say no more, Mr. Tweed." Conner said, smirking as he lifted his hand. "Feel free to use yours truly as a conduit of awesomeness."

"Good," was the reply, and as Giles looked back to Willow and Dawn, Conner had zipped back down to Buffy's side. "Now come on, everyone! Join hands and focus. Repeat after me."

Giles began speaking, slowly enunciating so that those not familiar with the language could still follow his words, knowing it was imperative that this spell go smoothly, as Buffy's very life may hang in the balance.

On the ground once more, Conner tapped Buffy on the shoulder, pointing towards the crater. "He's getting up."

And he was. Large blue hands, rock-like in appearance, gripped the outer edge of the hole, and soon Darkseid/Ethan was dragging himself out. He had been surprised by the exhibit of strength and speed from his unknown assailant, but now unbridled anger and the sheer thirst for vengeance was all that drove him. Teeth clenched, fists balled tightly, and powerful legs soon took that dominating build into a sprint, so fast that even Conner was surprised by the velocity.

Darkseid/Ethan's eyes blazed red, intent on ending the Slayer now, once and for all. Seeing this, Conner used his own blinding speed to circle around Darkseid/Ethan, his right arm going around the possessed tyrant's throat, and his left arm hooking Darkseid/Ethan's own and wrenching it behind his back.

"Buffy! Look out!" Conner yelled, using his strength to jerk Darkseid/Ethan's head back, just as Omega Beams pulsed from Darkseid/Ethan's glowing red ocular cavities. The beams seemed to zigzag back into their proper position, as if Conner hadn't interfered at all.

Buffy started off on a run away from the beams, having seen what they could do. But it seemed that no matter how she moved, dodged, or twisted, the beams just kept coming.

Conner, seeing this as he struggled with Darkseid/Ethan, narrowed his eyes in determination. He leapt into the air, pulling the struggling maniacal form in his arms along with him, and moving as fast as he could in Buffy's direction. Time seemed to slow around the teen as he moved, watching the beams get closer and closer to his companion, fighting to get in front of them.

He succeeded, throwing the squirming form in his grasp between them and Buffy. The beams struck Darkseid/Ethan, and hard. In mere fractions of a second, Conner moved with alacrity not known to men in this realm, grabbing Buffy and pulling her out of the way of Darkseid/Ethan's careening body.

Conner landed at a safe distance, near where they had been before, just as Darkseid/Ethan's body slammed into a nearby building. He set Buffy down, slowly letting her get on her own feet. "Are you all right?"

Buffy nodded, looking as if she was trying to catch her breath. "You were so fast…" She looked up at him. "I've never felt anything like that." Buffy cast a glance at the debris that had been left behind in Darkseid/Ethan's collision course with San Diego's landscape.

"I'm not used to being the damsel in distress." Buffy said quietly, looking up at Conner. As she did, her eyes unknowingly shifted into a bright purple color, pulsing with newfound power.

Conner smiled, looking down at her chest, which seemed to have an ornate S shield like his hovering over it in the same rhythmic energy. He put a hand to her cheek, and felt how solid her flesh had begun to feel under the pressure. "Looks like you're back in the game, girlie."

Darkseid/Ethan crawled from the wreckage, struggling to get to his feet. As he did, his head lifted, and those green eyes, throbbing with mystical energy, looked dead at Buffy, seemingly ignoring Conner. "YOU!" The voice came in a thunderous outrage, and Darkseid/Ethan charged like a stampeding rhino towards his adversary, raising a fist to crush the Slayer in one blow.

Instinctively, Conner stepped in front of Buffy before either she or her assailant could react, taking the full force of the blow, a sickening thud heard as the massive fist collided with his jaw. Conner sailed through the air from the force, landing a block away on the back of his neck. The asphalt cracked under the impact, and it was enough to prevent the boy from skipping. His body collapsed, limp.

Darkseid/Ethan growled. "Found yourself a dark knight, have you? No matter." A roar escaped those commanding lungs, and he brought his hands up above his head, clasping them, meaning to bring them down on Buffy and drive her into the ground for her insolence. He swung with all of his might. There was a deafening CRACK, but his arms wouldn't move past chest level.

Buffy had caught his hands in her own, and stood her ground despite the shock of the almost overwhelming strength. The concrete of the sidewalk had given away, obliterated beneath her feet. But her legs stood firm. She raised her purple-hued gaze to meet Darkseid/Ethan's, unwavering resolution in her focused eyes. As her opponent stared down in wide-eyed disbelief, confounded at his plans going awry, Buffy broke the silence with two words that reinforced her steadfast demeanor.

"My turn."

The Slayer broke away from holding his hands, only to deliver a flurry of punches and kicks, each with all the training she was given, targeting weak points as she was taught, only each blow was fueled by Kryptonian strength, and was moving at Kryptonian speed. No quarter was given, as she knew full well what Ethan would do if she let up and gave him the opportunity.

If the being had kidneys, Buffy was intent on working them. Swift kicks to each side, followed by fleet yet rigid punches to where his sternum would be, a stomp to the inside of his left knee, and three roundhouse kicks to his jaw as his body buckled, all in seconds. A strong right backhanded fist that turned into a punch directly after it connected, which ended in a left hook slamming into that dazed face and a back flip that found both of her feet meeting with his chin with a force and velocity that sent him reeling, soaring into the air as Buffy landed on her feet.

Watching Darkseid/Ethan fly off through at least two skyscrapers before gravity took hold of him and he began his descent, Buffy looked down at her own hands, and at the mystical doppelganger of Conner's symbol floating an inch above her chest. Is this what he felt like all the time? Buffy was in awe. For him, the world must be like cardboard… she thought. She felt a pang of pity, which brought her back around to current events. Buffy looked to where Conner had landed, seeing him walking towards her. He was bleeding from the corner of his mouth, but he appeared okay as he dusted himself off. He offered her a weak smile, his teeth tinged pink from the blood.

"Did we get him?" Conner asked once he'd reached her.

"I don't know." Buffy replied, still looking him over worriedly. He seemed less spry than usual, but then, he had taken a pretty big hit. "He's your super villain. You tell me. How much damage can he take?"

"Normally?"

"Yeah."

"A lot." Conner thought for a moment. "Man, I wish Batman were here."

Buffy cocked an eyebrow. "You've got to explain that later."

"No problem." Conner replied, smiling once again, though still feebly. All at once, he seemed to fall to his knees. Buffy moved to his side to keep him from fully collapsing. They were interrupted by a roaring voice in the distance.

"THIS ISN'T OVER, SLAYER!" The decree was followed by the now-familiar BOOM of Darkseid's boom tube, signaling that the immanent threat had passed and for now, at least, Darkseid/Ethan had retreated.

Giles and the others were busy watching what they could of the carnage in the streets below, quietly praying that their spell had worked. They were interrupted by a loud rush of air and the door to the apartment swinging open. As they spun to look, there stood Buffy, the same pulsing violet in her eyes and that telltale S magically hovering over her chest like a protective rune, holding Conner in her arms. He didn't appear to be conscious,

"Wow." Xander said. "Enter Super-Buffy."

"Will," Buffy said quietly, pleading, "we have to help him."

As Buffy laid Conner down in her bed, Dawn had already gotten on her knees and slipped her hand into his. Willow glanced at Buffy. "What happened?"

"He saved me." Buffy said, not taking her eyes off Conner's body. "I don't understand it. He just… fell over."

Giles, had been looking down at the boy in thought, spoke up. "I'd have to consult some friends to be sure, but…" At his contribution to the conversation, all eyes and ears were on him. "…it could be that just being here in this dimension has weakened Conner. Ethan mentioned that Darkseid himself was not as powerful here as he was at home."

"That was Darkseid on an off day?" Buffy asked, eyebrows up.

"Yes," Giles continued, "and with someone in control of his abilities that probably doesn't know the full extent of his power. But the longer he spends in that body, the more he will learn."

Willow chimed in, concern etched into her face. "Wait… if he was weakened already, and we tapped into him to help Buffy, then…"

"We did this." Xander finished, leaning against the wall and casting his gaze downward in shame. "Man. We so suck."

Giles looked up at Willow. "Well, there's no need to fret. As soon as we can find a way to get Darkseid and Conner back to their respective points of origin in their dimension, he should be right as rain.

Willow shook her head, looking like she was on the verge of tears. "We can't…" She moved past everyone, making her way into the living room.

Buffy followed, along with the rest, save Dawn. Buffy placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, spinning her around. "What do you mean we can't, Will?"

"The point in time he comes from, Buffy…" Willow replied, "…when he said he was fighting with his friends? They were in some kind of multi-tiered battle of epic proportions." Willow nodded towards the circle on the floor. "When I was looking into the mystic fires, I saw where he was ripped from, and the order of events he was supposed to be in. There was a fight with someone like him, only darker, and they crashed into this tower, and there was this light, and…"

"Will!" Buffy interjected. "What happened?"

"He dies, Buffy." Willow said simply, sitting down on the couch. Buffy sat down as well, the reality of what Willow had just said sinking in. Willow shook her head. "We can't send him back to that, can we?"

"Of course not." Xander cut in. "He's a buddy now, right? A good guy."

"Xander," Giles responded, "there is a time and place for everything. He has his, we have ours. We cannot interrupt that. To do so could have dire consequences. It is changing the natural order of things."

"You don't know that!" Dawn exclaimed from the hallway, having slipped out of Buffy's room to hear the conversation. "Maybe he was fated to be here, to help us. You can't just let him die." Her gaze moved to her sister, sorrowful and imploring. "You can't, Buffy. Please."

Buffy looked up at Giles. "Let's just find a way to get him up and running now, and keep him that way. We'll deal with it when the time comes."

Giles looked at Buffy disapprovingly. "Buffy, if he's being weakened by our plane, then it could be that the more he uses his powers, the faster he will burn out. Fighting here alone could kill him."

Buffy stood. "Then we find a way to stop or slow it. Until its time to deal with sending him back…" Buffy glanced at Dawn, "…or not, we need to make sure he stays alive until then." She looked back at Giles, pointing to the mystical S shield of Conner's lineage that was on display over her chest. "How long does this last?"

Giles canted his head to the side. "Without knowing his physiology, there's no way to be sure."

Buffy sighed, making her way over to Dawn, holding her hand. She spoke almost matronly, her tone soft and reassuring, "We'll find a way to save him. I promise." Dawn nodded.

Conner opened his eyes slowly, as if waking from a deep slumber. It didn't take long for his eyes to focus, and when they did, he found his gaze met with Dawn's. She was sitting at his bedside, holding his hand, and a smile formed on her lips when she saw him come around.

"How do you feel?" Dawn asked, concern evident on her face.

Conner sat up, rubbing the back of his neck. "Surprisingly well. I heal fast." He glanced around the room. "What happened? Did we win?" A pause. "Did I faint or something? Tell me I didn't lose any cool points."

Dawn shook her head. "No, just a little shortsightedness on our behalf. We tapped into your strength to boost Buffy's, and I guess it took more out of you than we anticipated." She gave his hand a little extra squeeze. "The Big Bad ran when he figured Buffy and you were going to be a little bit more trouble than he'd thought."

Conner nodded, looking down at his hand in hers. "Guess we should be planning our next move then… try and stay on the offensive."

Dawn cringed a little at the thought of Conner moving back into danger so quickly, and more vulnerable than he knew. "Conner, maybe you should rest for a bit. You've been through a lot today."

Conner caught her eyes with his, sensing something was amiss. "I appreciate the concern, Dawnie. But I'm sure your sister understands that a hero's work is never done. Evil never sleeps, and if it does, it's probably gonna wake up cranky."

Dawn tried to smile, but her emotions betrayed her. "Buffy understands, and believe me, we're all grateful for your help. But…" Her voice cracked. She couldn't do this. She couldn't just pretend everything was all right. "Conner… what if you could stay here? Just… we could find a way to make it okay, and you could stay, and everything would be all right…" The rest of her words trailed off into an attempt to keep from breaking down.

"Dawn," Conner replied, "you're not making any sense. I mean, what happened was just a magical mix-up, right? I'll be fine. Me and Buffy and the rest of the gang, we'll get rid of Darkseid, save the day for your dimension, and then get me home, too."

At the mention of Conner's returning home, Dawn let out an audible sob, and tears began falling down her cheek. Conner put a hand on her shoulder. "Dawn, I've got to go home. I have friends, a family, and a girl waiting on me…."

Dawn looked up at the last thing he mentioned. "A-A girl..?"

Conner nodded. "Her name's Cassie. We call her Wonder Girl. She's kind of like Buffy; all blonde and warrior woman-like. She's pretty cool." A smile came across his face as he spoke of Cassie, and he seemed almost sorrowful, as if some part of him recognized the possibility that he might never see her again.

Dawn sniffled. "You sound like you care about her a lot."

Conner glanced up at Dawn. "We've had our ups and downs. Mostly with me being taken control of by an arch-nemesis of ours and beating the hell out of her and the rest of my friends." He seemed to cast his eyes downward, out of shame. "I've been trying to come to terms with that; being from two vastly different worlds. A part of me is from a noble, nearly-extinct lineage, and the other… a murdering, scheming psychopath." He raised his eyes back to Dawn's. "But, I figure instead of living in the shadow of my progenitors, I'd make my own mark on the world; my own destiny. I like helping people, I'm good at it, and…" He put his hand back in hers. "It's the only thing I know how to do."

Dawn whimpered a little. "But what if something happens to you? What if you can't go back?"

Conner considered the question for a moment. "Then I've got to try and be the hero so many people need me to be in what time I have, regardless of where I am when I do it. After all," he smiled, "I'm Superboy."

Buffy and company sat around the kitchen table, various texts and papers strewn about on its surface. Alec had just blinked back into the apartment with a few more tomes, setting them in front of the last empty place at the table before taking a seat and beginning to leaf through the volumes.

Giles looked up to see that both Dawn and Conner had entered, taking his glasses off and standing to greet them. "Feeling better, young man?"

Conner nodded. "One hundred percent. Like it never happened."

Conner glanced down at Buffy, who appeared to still be under the effects of their empowerment spell. Her lavender tinted eyes, which seemed to pulsate with power, caught his gaze, and she smiled at hearing the news of his good health. She stood as well.

"Good to see you're still with us." Buffy said.

"So what's the situation? What's our next move?" Conner asked, looking to the two bookish Englishmen, assuming they were more at the core of the research than the others present.

Giles turned a few pages of text, replacing his glasses to better read. "Yes, well… we've discovered a way to return Darkseid – and yourself – back to your own dimension."

Willow seemed to be unnerved by Giles' statement, glancing down and away from her book. Conner noticed this, but turned his attention back to Giles as the Watcher continued to speak.

"The issue lies in pulling Ethan from Darkseid." Giles said. "Because of the powerful magic involved in the bonding, we either need to create a separation spell that is more powerful – which is hard to ascertain, seeing as how Ethan had to sacrifice his physical body to cement the hold – or, we have to be at a close enough proximity to the physical form to compensate for the lack of power."

"Someone's going to have to get close enough to touch him, and put a series of runes on his body while we're doing the reciting of the words." Alec finished.

"Cool." Conner stated. "I'm game."

"No." Buffy cut in. "We can't ask you to do that. He's our problem."

"Yeah, and the body he's in is my problem." Conner replied, crossing his arms. "What's this about? Me going down last night? It was a fluke. I was just thrown off my game because of the mojo you guys were throwing down. I'll be fine."

Conner nodded towards the purple S of light that still remained on her chest. "Besides, it's my powers you're running on. Without me, you wouldn't be in much of a position to do anything."

Buffy furrowed her brow. "I understand you not taking this well. But ifs for your own good. We're not sure what our dimension is doing to you. We…" she faltered, "…I… don't want to get you killed."

Conner's composure softened, and he let his arms fall to his side. "I appreciate the concern, Buffy, Really, I do. But this isn't about me. There are people out there, a whole world's worth, maybe even a universe if Ethan has his way, that need our help. You don't really expect me to let you go up against those kinds of odds alone, do you?"

Buffy took a step closer to him, a slight smile forming as she did. "God, you're like a big boy scout, aren't you?"

Conner smirked. "Runs in the family."

Alec placed four runes on the table, freshly inscribed, each the size of a tarot card. The ink seemed to shimmer unnaturally, though no one seemed to be put off by it. "Here we are." Alec glanced between Buffy and Conner. "As long as you get these within an inch or so, more or less, the runes will be drawn to his mystical energies like a magnet and become affixed to his physical form. Each one should diminish his power. Once they are all in place, they should activate the portal catalyst, and we can finish the spell to return him back to his own dimension."

"Sounds good." Conner said. "But how do we get him here to use them?"

Giles indicated the tome in his hands. "He's revealed himself now. The residual magic from the ritual he used to both summon and possess Darkseid's body can now be detected. Now, a bit of scrying…" Giles stretched out his hand over a globe and closed his eyes. Green tines of energy seeped from his fingertips, thin as threads, moving in a spider web over the globe before converging together as a small glowing green dot, which was moving slowly over an ocean.

"My word." Alec said, eyes fixated on the dot. "He's coming back here."

"Well, that was easy." Conner quipped.

Giles looked at the globe in disbelief. "Why would he…?" He cast a grim look at Buffy. "Perhaps he knows something we don't."

Buffy returned the dismal look. "Maybe he's learned some new tricks."

Willow looked out of the window. "All the people… they're still sifting through the debris from the last time you guys grappled. If he comes back now, then…"

Conner stepped towards the window, gazing out at the firefighters, rescue crews, and the families simply waiting. In his injured state, he hadn't had the chance to help with the relief effort. In his own mind, he cursed himself. The real Superman wouldn't have succumbed so easily, and could have been out there, helping the helpless.

"He's not going to hurt any more innocent people." Conner stated. With that, he was gone in a flash out of the window, nothing but a gust of air and a sonic boom in his wake to hint at what he'd done.

Willow stood up, agitated. "Buffy...!"

Alec looked down at the table, eyes wide with surprise. "The runes! They're gone! But how..?"

Buffy looked out of the window, lowering her head as she realized what the boy had done. "He's gone to end it." She cast a look at Giles. "Get those spells ready, and catch up quickly, will you?

And just as suddenly, Buffy was gone, a purplish streak of light that momentarily hung in the air being the only sign that she had been there at all.

Xander looked at Giles. "I don't suppose you know anyone with an F-18 we can borrow."

Darkseid/Ethan flashed into existence on the coastline, gritting his teeth as he finally reached California. For some reason, he couldn't use his boom tubes to travel more than a few hundred miles at a time. It was almost like the ability was becoming weaker. Perhaps some time left to recharge – if these powers even did that – would do it some service. He growled at having to walk like some sort of lower being.

"When I find that Slayer, I'm going to kill h-"

Ethan was interrupted by a black and blue blur slamming into him from behind. He felt a shoulder in his back, followed by three swift punches of immense strength, which only perpetuated his velocity. He crashed through a pier before coming to rest on the ground, and hard, in a billowy crater of sand. Darkseid/Ethan stood, glowering at his would-be attacker.

There, hovering a good fifteen feet in the air with his arms crossed and a determined stare that seemed to look straight through Ethan, was the boy he'd seen Buffy with.

"Who the devil are YOU?" Darkseid/Ethan roared. "What the bloody hell is this?"

"I'm Superboy." Conner stated. "And this? This is Round Two."

Seeing the boy begin to move at super-speed, Darkseid/Ethan smirked with malicious intent. He outstretched his hand at the Kryptonian, and what appeared to be an electrical net leapt out of his grasp and wound its way around the Teen of Steel. It seemed to disappear into his flesh, though the glow of the wicked device could still be seen. Conner screamed out in agony, the device stopping him in his tracks. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain he had never known before.

Darkseid/Ethan's gait was a confident one as he moved slowly towards the struggling teen. "Another power of this form. It is called the Agony Matrix. You see, I spent some time in a pocket dimension – a few months, actually – while time passed normally here. I studied the abilities of this body, and even delved into my predecessor's mind for answers. This handy little trinket activates all pain receptors in a living being simultaneously, and inflicts the maximum amount of misery and anguish on each one." He canted his head to the side, studying the groaning boy with no small amount of glee, as was evident by the sinister smile on his face.

"You probably can't even hear me, the pain is so intense. But I wanted some part of your brain to register that all the woe you are feeling was caused by me." Darkseid/Ethan knelt next to the boy. "You know, maybe it's a part of my predecessor's consciousness pushing through, but," He placed a hand on Conner's throat, squeezing hard. "I think I hate you… Kryptonian." The last word was said with a fervent piercing disgust, and the green of Darkseid/Ethan's eyes seemed to flash their original red for a moment. His free hand was placed on Conner's chest, gripping the fabric of his shirt hard, and ripping the S off. The cloth was tossed to the side with as much regard as one would throw away trash.

"And now, boy, you die." Darkseid/Ethan spoke quietly into Conner's ear. "And you die at the hands of this world's new god."

A shadow came over the two, giving Darkseid/Ethan pause. He looked up to find the source, and found an angry Slayer hovering in mid-air with a SUV held above her head, her eyes burning intently with violet energy. Buffy spoke just loud enough to make sure Ethan could hear her.

"Let's see if God can bleed."

That said, she hurled the vehicle towards Darkseid/Ethan, harnessing the speed gifted to her to move with lightning swiftness at the ground, taking hold of Conner's shoulders and dragging him out of the way before the automobile struck. And strike it did, slamming into Darkseid/Ethan's body with fierce momentum, so much so that it exploded on impact. Buffy set Conner on his feet as Darkseid/Ethan tumbled away in a flaming heap of twisted metal. She cupped his face gently in her hands so that his eyes could meet hers.

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked, concerned.

"Never better." Conner replied wearily, looking towards the mass of fire and wrecked SUV. "Nice move."

"Thanks." Buffy retorted. "Are you going to be okay to get back on the clock?"

Buffy was answered by the revealing sound of wind as Conner moved as swiftly as his Kryptonian speed would let him towards the crash site. Darkseid/Ethan burst out of the wreck, roaring as he did, just in time to see the boy moving towards him. Fists were raised on both sides. Buffy thought she saw Conner take something from his pocket and toss it into the air just before the collision.

Contact was made, the shockwaves shattering windows on the hotels lining the coast for blocks. Buffy managed to stay on her feet, watching both Conner and Darkseid/Ethan fly in opposite directions from the strength of their respective blows. Conner hit earth, sliding through the sand, coming to rest at Buffy's feet. She helped him up, seeing blood drip from his nose. Conner, however, seemed undaunted by this, eyes still on Darkseid/Ethan as the great form managed to get to his feet once again. Conner stared, unwavering, fists clenched. Still, he smiled.

"Got you." He said simply.

On Darkseid/Ethan's face, a rune was fixed permanently to his left cheek, the imprint of a fist in it's center. The large blue-grey demigod barely seemed to notice. He was too busy seething with anger. He let out an earsplitting roar, stampeding towards the two heroes as they looked on.

Conner looked down at Buffy, his smile of confidence only growing wider. "Ready, Super Slayer?"

Buffy raised her fists and nodded, steeling herself. Darkseid/Ethan leapt into the air, Omega Beams firing from his eyes at the same time his own mighty arms rose to deliver a powerful blow to whatever remained beneath him after his devastating rays of ocular energy struck home.

Buffy and Conner moved away from each other at super-speed, the rays splitting apart in a perpendicular manner to chase after the two of them. Darkseid/Ethan's fist slammed into the ground, leaving a large crater in the sand. He growled at finding no target. Meanwhile, Buffy had taken to the air, letting out a small sound of surprise as she did. Not quite being used to her abilities, she rocketed upwards at a tremendous pace.

Conner, seeing this, shifted his own momentum to give chase, knowing full well an Omega Beam was hot on his trail. He crisscrossed his beam with Buffy's as he caught up to her, which only managed to merge them into one large beam. Conner and Buffy moved as fast as they could straight up, knowing that the beam was gaining on them. Conner looked to Buffy, yelling above the roar of their flight.

"It's not going to stop!"

Buffy looked at him, seeing the resolution in his eyes. Somehow, she knew. Probably because had she been in his shoes, she'd have done the same. He was just faster about it. So fast, she barely had time to scream her objection.

"Conner! No!"

It was no use. The Teen of Steel's mind had been made up, and as fast as he was, he was in the path of the beam before the sound left her lips. The beam struck him in his chest, and after a brief exclamation of agony, the boy fell silent, and began to plummet towards the earth.

Buffy changed direction with agility she had never before possessed, moving faster than the gravity that pulled him down. Quickly, she took Conner in her arms, slowing her descent as they neared the ground. Upon touchdown, she took a quick look around to make sure they were alone, before laying Conner down. Buffy checked his pulse; weak, but still there. The flesh of his exposed chest had been burned, but nothing near what she'd been the beams do to ordinary people. Her fingertips reached for the wound, as if wanting to somehow take away the pain, heal the damage, but her hand stopped before touching it. Her eyes followed her hand as it fell lightly on the side of his face instead. Conner had saved her… again.

"Conner," she said, pleadingly, "you have to wake up. There's a Big Bad outside with our names on it."

Conner's eyes gradually opened, and his eyes met hers. "We have got to stop meeting like this. It's going to ruin my reputation."

Buffy cracked a smile before helping him to his feet. "Oh, I don't know. Saving a girl's life multiple times earns you plenty of cool points."

Conner coughed into his fist, and red came up onto his hand. He looked over at Buffy, then to where the sound of thundering footsteps appeared to be coming from. "You're not used to being the damsel in distress."

Buffy followed his gaze to the horizon, where she could see the silhouette of the great form of their adversary becoming ever closer. "You're probably not used to being smacked around by a crazed British guy in the body of a demigod. We all have to adjust to things."

Giles and Willow sat across from each other at the kitchen table, a square made of eighteen long, slender red candles making up the centerpiece. In the center, a tablet made of the same four runes Conner had taken were slowly beginning to float and spin in mid-air above a misty glass orb the size of a softball. Alec and Xander made up the other part of the square at the table, joining hands with their companions. Eyes closed, they began to focus, repeating each mystical word that Giles and Willow spoke, adding strength to their magic.

Dawn was looking out of the window, hands cupped over her eyes so she could see better, but still she looked frustrated. She hadn't seen any sign of them except for a few faint red flashes far into the distance. She was wrought with worry. What if something happened to her sister, or to Conner? What would they do then? It wasn't like demigods just hung out on the streets of San Diego. She'd be alone and the world would be under the thumb of a man insane enough to have his own body disintegrated into components for a spell.

Those at the table spoke their words, again and again, their mantra growing louder with each repetition. And with each new verse, the tablet rose higher and higher, spinning faster and faster. Just when it seemed that they would lose control of it, the tablet vanished in a flash of green light. Giles was the first to open his eyes, and as he did, his words signaled the others to do the same.

"My word…"

The orb in the center glowed with the same emerald complexion, a swirling mist that seemingly went on to forever forming in the center of it. Dawn peeked over Willow's head to look at it.

"So that's..?" Dawn asked.

"Ethan's soul." Giles said.

"Funny," Xander retorted, "it doesn't look crazy…"

Alec reached for the orb, picking it up and placing it in a wooden box. He looked up to Giles, standing and nodding to his fellow Watcher.

"I'll see this thing encased in concrete and buried at the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean." Alec said, placing the box in his satchel.

"Yeah, that didn't work on Megatron." Xander quipped. "Why not just smash it into itty bitty pieces?"

"Because," Giles answered, standing and moving for a teapot that rested on the stove, "that would release his soul back into the ether. We don't want him coming back." He poured himself a cup, and sipped it, savoring the soothing sensation it granted. "Ever."

"That makes sense." Xander said, satisfied,

Alec formed an orb of light in his right hand. "Be sure to keep an eye out, and open the dimensional portal as soon as possible." The orb floated into the air, awaiting Alec's touch as it grew in size and intensified in brightness. Alec reached for it, leaving one last statement as he disappeared into the teleporting flash of light.

"We may have only woken a sleeping giant."

Buffy and Conner stepped forward as the figure approached, though Buffy was the first to move. Conner saw the being's eyes; solid red, the color of an inferno fueled by an inexhaustible contempt of all sentient life. The color of the true lord of the planet Apokolips. They were no longer facing a hapless sorcerer given a godlike form like a child given a handgun. They were facing Conner's universe's version of death incarnate.

This was Darkseid.

Conner moved faster than Buffy, eager to get ahead of her, but in doing so, found Darkseid's hand once more around his throat. Darkseid's free hand caught Buffy with a vicious backhand that sent her sprawling as his eyes met Conner's. Darkseid did not seem very happy to see him.

"Finally I am free, and here I stand, holding a Kryptonian's life in my hands." Darkseid said, smirking cruelly. "But not pure, are you? Still, half a dead Kryptonian is better than none."

Darkseid released him. "But you aren't worthy to die by my hand. You'd suit me better has a personal footstool." Conner fell back, coughing as Darkseid closed the gap between them. "Come," Darkseid continued, "son of Kal-El. Kneel before me."

"Sorry…" A voice came from behind him. As he turned to look, Darkseid took a dump truck to the upper part of his torso, thrown back from the impact. Buffy landed next to Conner. "…we're all out of subservient furniture here. Try Ikea."

Darkseid lifted the truck off his body, standing and holding it as he did. "I'm sure your banter is quite amusing to the other insects." He hurled the vehicle back at Buffy, who was too surprised by the speed of his recovery to dodge it. She hit the ground hard, the twisted mangled heap on top of her. "I, however," Darkseid continued, "am merely bored by it."

Darkseid stepped over to Conner, picking the boy up and launching him at the tangled mess of steel he'd just struck Buffy with. Conner's invulnerable body hit with enough velocity to roll the vehicle off Buffy just as it was buried inside of it, metal folding around it from the velocity of the collision.

"I'm not sure where I am, but I find the fact that this world's heroes are fewer and far between – and apparently, far weaker - than the Earth I am used to very… enticing." Darkseid stated, sneering with wickedness as he thought of the possibilities. "With no infernal costumed heroes, no leagues to stand in my way here, there is nothing to inspire humanity to rally against me."

Darkseid picked up Buffy's body by her legs, and all she could offer for a retort was a pained groan. "I will break their spirit, their will, and in my rule here I will make this the new Apokolips." He struck the vehicle cocooning Conner's body with Buffy, as one might strike a baseball bat against a wall. The broken mass careened into the ocean as Buffy's helpless form met it with a sickening smack, and Darkseid tossed Buffy's limp body to the side with utter disregard.

Darkseid watched the metal prison containing Conner sink into the ocean, nearly beaming with delight. "Who needs an Anti-Life Equation when you two can hand this world to me on a platter?"

As Buffy's eyes opened, all she could feel was pain. She spit up blood into the sand, and as she looked into a nearby puddle of water, she could see that the glow in her eyes was all but gone. The S shield made of energy over her chest that served as the rune of her empowerment was slowly vanishing itself. She only had a bit of her Kryptonian-siphoned powers left. Soon, she'd just be meat for the grinder.

Buffy stood. She wasn't done yet. She looked to where Darkseid was busy with his monologue, clenching her fists. With what power she had left, she had to make it count. Muscles tensed, gathering their energy. And in a split-second, she made her move, launching herself into the air.

Conner burst from the water, having freed himself from the twisted metal. He let loose a primal yell before rocketing towards Darkseid. The blue in Conner's eyes flashed red just before he let loose all the optic energy he could at the malevolent being before him in a massive, intense, blistering hot wave.

"BURN!"

Darkseid's smile vanished. He was bathed in scorching heat, so concentrated that his skin and armor began to crack and smoke, glowing white-hot. The tyrant fell to his knees, roaring with pain and anger into the blast as the sand around him melted into crude, boiling glass.

The roar that was silenced by a fist to his face, which was followed by several more at extreme speed, each one more forceful than the last. Here was a boy that fought like a man, a man that was fighting not only for his world, but for others. It was more than mere desperation. It was the very thing Darkseid sought to snuff out. It was his spirit, his will; that damned Kryptonian resolve that refused to be denied, that fought and scraped for every last inch it claimed, a tenacity to fight for everything right and good and for every being's right to exist and live their life as they see fit.

It made Darkseid sick.

But the Lord of Apokolips was too busy contending with Conner unleashing his heat vision at full power, close range, directly at the face he was pummeling with a flurry of supercharged punches, mammoth in both strength and speed. It was as if the boy was giving him all he had, and then some. Darkseid felt something light and flat hit the right side of his face, something between his cheek and the boy's fist, and then the assault stopped altogether.

Darkseid suddenly found himself embedded deep into the earth. Buffy had brought a wrecking ball from nearby construction down on his head, and didn't stop pushing just because she'd made initial impact. Some forty feet down, she had to stop. She'd burned through what power she'd had left. She glanced up from the hole to see Conner at it's edge, gazing down at her. He zipped down at super-speed, picked her up, and zipped back out again, hovering a few feet in the air.

"We have to get you home." Conner stated. "Your mojo's gone."

"But that's not Ethan." Buffy replied, speaking of her observation. "That's him. The Big Guy. You don't really expect me to let you go up against those kinds of odds alone, do you?"

Conner smiled at her sentiment. "You have to go, Buffy." He looked down at the hole, seeing the wrecking ball start to move. "You have to make sure they get that spell up and running."

Buffy was silent for a moment. Her eyes welled up with realization. "He's going to kill you."

Conner looked at her. "We can't escape our destiny."

Buffy put a hand to his cheek. "Super-hearing?"

Conner nodded, looking away. He wouldn't let her see his emotion, wouldn't let the Teen of Steel façade falter. "I'll get the rest of the runes on him. You just make sure he's far from your w-"

Conner was interrupted by the wrecking ball being flung directly at him. With as fast as it was coming, he only had time to spin and put his body in the way. It collided with him, and both he and Buffy fell to the ground. He managed to shield her body from most of the impact of the ball's weight, but hitting the ground as injured as she was knocked Buffy unconscious.

"Buffy..?" Conner looked down at his companion before looking back to see Darkseid emerging from the hole. He clenched his teeth, taking Buffy back into his arms and soaring into the air like a missile. He moved away from Darkseid, looking to head back to San Diego. He darted off, shielding Buffy's face from the wind shear against his chest.

Buffy came around a little as the breeze hit her face, her eyes fluttering open. "Conner… n-not the city… the p-people…"

"I have to get you to a safe place." Conner replied. "Willow's magic, right? She can heal you or something." Conner looked back, hearing Darkseid's booming voice even at the velocity he was moving.

"RUN, KRYPTONIAN, BUT YOU CANNOT HIDE!"

Dawn, who had been keeping a weather eye on the horizon, became very excited all at once. She flung the window open, just in time for the Teen of Steel to make a very hot entrance. He had not been much than a blur on the horizon when Dawn saw him, but the boy still was able to stop on a dime upon entering the apartment. In Conner's arms was Buffy, who by now had awakened fully. Conner put her on her feet, and when he was confident she could stand on her own, he released his hold on her.

Giles, Willow, and Xander all stood from the table as Conner entered, seeing that both he and Buffy had seen better days. The travel had torn what was left of Conner's shirt off, so the various wounds and scrapes on his torso were more than evident across that impressive frame, though his Kryptonian physiology was trying its best to heal rapidly. Giles took note that Buffy was no longer under the effects of their enhancement spell, and moved over to her to give her a once-over and make sure she wasn't seriously injured.

Conner spoke up for those less observant. "Buffy's back to normal."

Giles sighed in relief once he was satisfied that Buffy was okay, albeit battered somewhat. "And in one piece, thank God." He looked to Conner. "And Darkseid?"

Conner shook his head. "Two runes left. He went all 'space monarch' on us just before Buffy ran out of juice. I got us out of there, but we don't have a lot of time before he follows, and leaves a bunch of annihilation in his wake."

Giles nodded. Willow glanced from Conner to Buffy before speaking up. "So," the redhead asked, "what's our next move?"

Conner started for the window again. "Buffy stays here. I go back, put the last two runes on, and you guys send him back where he came from." Willow and Dawn started after him, Xander actually laying a hand on his shoulder. Conner stopped in his tracks at the contact.

"What about you?" Dawn asked.

"You can't do this alone." Willow stated.

Conner looked back at them, one by one, his eyes falling on Buffy's last. He smiled as he spoke. "You have some very good friends, Buffy. You're a very lucky woman." He glanced to Dawn. "I'm gonna do what a Superboy has to do." He placed a hand softly on the side of her face. "You're a sweet girl. If this were my world, I'd be lucky to have someone like you waiting on me at home."

Conner looked up at those around him. "But this isn't my world. Something from my world came here, and now it's threatening yours. Both of us have to go back, before anything else comes undone." He turned to go again, but Dawn's hand caught his, squeezing it as tightly as a human hand could squeeze spun steel.

"If you go, you'll die." Dawn said, a tear falling slowly down her cheek from misty eyes. "You can't. You don't have to. You could stay and… I don't know, be alive? Why is that so bad?"

Their eyes meeting, Conner understood Dawn wasn't talking about going to face Darkseid. She didn't want him to go back to his world to meet his fate, which for all intents and purposes meant an untimely end. Conner looked up at Willow.

He asked simply. "Do I save the world?"

Buffy leaned towards Willow, placing a hand on her shoulder. "He knows."

The grim realization of what Buffy meant came over the group. Giles and Xander lowered their heads in respect, silent. Willow's lips quivered with sadness as she answered.

"Yes."

A faint smile came across Conner's face, as did a faraway look. "Cool."

Dawn squeezed his hand so hard, it hurt hers, but she didn't care. "You don't have to go off and die alone."

Conner surprised her with a kiss to her forehead. "I won't be alone. I'll take a little piece of you with me. Because you – and people like you – are what I fight for." He took a step towards the window, and Dawn reluctantly released his hand. "If I stayed, if I kept away, and let my friends fight alone, knowing I could have made a difference…" He looked back at Buffy. "…what kind of Superboy would I be?"

With that, Conner was off, blurring into the distance.

Buffy let a small smile come across her lips. "You wouldn't be. You'd be a Superman."

After a moment, Xander looked around at his friends. "Are we really gonna let him do our fighting for us?"

The group answered one after the other.

"Nope." Willow stated.

"Absolutely not." Giles affirmed.

"Not a chance." Buffy concluded.

Conner made for the coastline, praying that Darkseid hadn't gone far into the city. Strangely, he saw nothing unusual below. No smoke, no fire, no screams; just life going on as usual. He focused his vision on the buildings below, and concentrated his hearing. He picked up nothing abnormal with his ears or his x-ray vision. The world beneath seemed peaceable. Conner set down on the beach, looking out at the horizon. There was nothing. It was as if Darkseid had disappeared from the face of the earth.

At least that's what he thought before a large fist was pounded into the back of his head from above. Conner was driven forward, down into the sand, face first. Darkseid chuckled wickedly. "You're so much easier than your progenitor, boy." The same large hand grabbed Conner by the back of the head, squeezed hard, lifted him, and then slammed him into the ground, pushing Conner's body deep into the imprint left in the sand by his collision.

"Weak, feeble, and always thinking of others before yourselves; this has always been the folly of your race." Darkseid mocked as he drove Conner's body down into the earth again and again, harder each time. "I had some concern, being lessened in my strength in this realm. But alas, it seems more than enough to snuff out your puny futile existence like any other roach beneath my boot heel."

Conner's hands caught earth, and strapping arms held firm, supporting the force and not letting his body move up or down. With lightning speed, he spun, arms still outstretched, catching Darkseid's face with a consequent left backhand and right hook, in succession. The Lord went reeling from the enraged might of the blows, and Conner was back on his feet, eyes narrowed and glowing red with crackling waves of heated energy.

"You're going to need a bigger boot." With that said, Conner began his onslaught, letting loose a barrage of fast and heavy blows, the speed and strength of which being all his muscles could muster. He was faster than Darkseid could react with his Omega Beams, for every time his eyes tried to focus, his head was jerked violently to the side by another colossal strike. A boot to Darkseid's chest was the only reprieve his face would get from Conner's fists, and as he stumbled back, the boy was on him again, arms swinging like freight trains.

Conner saw the rune he'd thrown up attach itself to Darkseid's chest with that solidly planted boot. He was one more away from his mission being accomplished. But then, Darkseid threw a hand up and got lucky, catching one of Conner's furiously flying fists and wrenching it back hard. At Conner's yell of pain, Darkseid delivered a thunderous elbow to the boy's sternum. His body slapped the ground rigidly, and was kept there as Darkseid placed a boot on the boy's throat, cutting off his air. Darkseid growled, but sneered at his opponent's helpless position.

"You take away all of that ridiculous outfit; the red, the blue, the cape. You take away all your so-called strength. You take away all your hope that there is anything close to an escape from a being you know in your heart to be your superior. What, my infant bug, is left of you? What is there to fight for?" Darkseid asked, shifting his weight harder on the ball of his foot. "What is it that your feeble little mind thinks you possess that I do not, you tiny insignificant speck of a life-form?"

Conner gurgled on his own blood, gasping for air, his hands around the ankle, trying to lift it off. Darkseid lifted his boot just long enough to hear the teen answer his query. "Sorry," Darkseid teased, "I didn't catch that."

Conner coughed and hacked, his eyes bloodshot from the deprivation of oxygen as he looked to at Darkseid and stated simply, "Friends."

A blast of green energy caught Darkseid roughly in the back, catching him completely unaware and sending the tyrant off his feet. Facedown in the sand, he lifted his head and glowered back to find the source of the attack. His red eyes, which delighted in watching his victims lose every shred of dignity and hope they had left, now widened at a sight that, for the first time today, gave him pause.

Each of them seemed to have an emblem, the color of which reflected in their eyes. Willow Rosenberg had her hand raised into a fist, a makeshift ring of pure green energy on that fist's ring finger, the insignia on it resembling a lantern. Emerald eyes glanced to her right, where Xander stood, who was busy standing in place, yet moving so fast in doing so he was vibrating, making the symbol of yellow energy that hovered over his chest resembling a lightning bolt barely visible. To Willow's left stood Dawn, who had a W of the same golden power rippling across her bosom. Giles stood next to her, a red X crisscrossing his torso in a pulsing red; and to Xander's right stood Buffy, her eyes once again violet with newfound power, and the familiar S shield took it's home across her chest. She balled up her fists and raised them as she looked down at Conner, smiling as she did.

"You know that Justice League you were telling us about?" Willow asked, keeping her fist trained on Darkseid.

"We decided to reach across space-time and siphon a little power from them mystically." Buffy said.

"But not just one incarnation…" Xander put in. "A fraction of power split across those from multiple universes, until we had just as much as the real deal."

"Limited time, I'm afraid." Giles interjected. "So unless you plan on defeating Darkseid by lying in the sand…"

Conner got to his feet, moving over to the newly powered group. He spat blood onto the ground, then smiled a bit, nodded at the show of solidarity. "Thank you, you didn't have to-."

"Whale!" Willow exclaimed.

Conner spun swiftly, catching the large ocean mammal, and then raising himself into the air. He glanced back at the group. "Did he just throw a whale at me?"

Darkseid let fly his Omega Beams towards Dawn, which prompted Conner to hurl the creature back into the ocean and rush back down to save her. He threw his body in front of Dawn, letting the beams strike him in the chest instead. There were burn marks on his flesh, but nothing as severe as before. Conner noted this, yelling to the others. "He's weakening!"

Xander moved in at super-speed, running circles around Darkseid until a sand cyclone had built up around the demigod. With Darkseid's vision impaired, Buffy zipped through the winds to deliver a rather harsh flying kick to the tyrant's face. The force of the blow threw Darkseid from the cyclone, but he never landed. Instead, he was suspended in mid-air by a green aura that seemed to emit from Willow's makeshift energy ring, manipulated by her will.

Dawn took the opportunity to take to the sky as well, delivering a series of unforgiving thumps of her fists and elbows to Darkseid's jaw, each stronger than the last as Dawn became more accustomed to her powers. Darkseid tired of the game, breaking free of Willow's aura and backhanding Dawn away. He landed on his feet as Dawn hit the ground, charging for the closest person to him: Giles.

Giles manipulated the density of his body in such a way that he became intangible, and Darkseid passed right through him. He was met on the other side by a swift, substantial kick by a very angry Slayer.

"You hit my sister!" Buffy yelled as she continued her barrage. Darkseid blasted her point-blank in her chest with his Omega Beams, focusing all of his anger and intent into them, sending her flying.

Darkseid shouted to the world. "Irrelevant worms! You dare defy the Lord of Apokolips! I have faced those who dared call themselves real heroes, and they have shuddered at the sight of my true might and screamed for mercy as I tore their dreams asunder and surrendered them to the oblivion of their own nightmares! You will know my name and you will call me Lord on your last breaths as I rip them from the broken, bleeding, dismembered husks of refuse you call bodies! Your corpses shall adorn my throne, your very fears will be my playthings, and the tears you shed from the horrors I bring upon you shall be the wine I drink for SHEER AMUSEMENT!"

Conner tackled Darkseid, sending the would-be oppressor to the ground. Potent fists were driven into the back of his head and neck, driving Darkseid's body into the ground. Soon, boots picked up where fists left off, and Conner stomped into Darkseid mercilessly. He backed off, flying back to where his friends were regrouping.

"Man," Conner said. "I heard stories, but no one ever told me about the all-powerful Omega 'Talk-You-To-Death' Mouth."

"He does talk a lot." Buffy replied.

The emblems on the chests of Buffy and friends soon faded. The price they paid for such power was its short sustain. They noticed this and looked to Conner. He seemed like he was losing steam. He had expended a lot of energy over the course of the day, and with all that, they wondered how much he had left in him.

"Well, at least we bought you some time." Xander said.

Conner took the last rune from his pocket, moving over to where Darkseid lay. Slowly, the dictator rose, laughing maniacally. "You cannot beat me," Darkseid said. "You are not strong enough."

"Maybe." Conner replied, moving swiftly. But he wasn't as swift as normal, and Darkseid was able to raise his hand. The neural receptor net known as the Agony Matrix wound itself around Conner, and soon infinite pain was all that the boy's brain could process, Conner dropped to the ground helplessly, writhing and screaming in miserable torment. Darkseid lifted his gaze to the others.

"Who will be next to taste the woe that results in defying me?" Darkseid asked. "Who else will continue this futile fruitless charade and assume they are worthy enough to die by my hand? None of you are heroes; you are only pretenders, foolish children who've tricked themselves into believing that they are capable of defeating a god, when in reality you lack the relevance to matter in your everyday lives." He picked up Conner by his throat. The boy didn't notice, as his body was racked with immeasurable suffering. "Who among you believes they have power over death?"

Buffy raised her hand. "I've killed a hell-god before… and died twice. I'm still here."

Darkseid quirked an eyebrow questioningly.

All at once, Conner stopped screaming, and caught Darkseid with an uppercut that forced the evildoer to release his hold as he reeled back. Darkseid stared at Conner in disbelief. The Teen of Steel just smirked.

"Your Agony Matrix isn't so much 'agony' these days as 'really itchy'."

Darkseid roared in anger, blasting Conner with his Omega Beams. Conner took them square in the chest again, but this time, he held his ground, walking into the beams, closer and closer to Darkseid. The pain was evident, and real. The damage could be seen clearly on Conner's body as he steeled himself and pushed through the destructive concussive force of the beams. Flesh burned away, nerves seared, skin blackened. Embers and ash of what used to be living parts of Conner's body floated away on the breeze like forgotten dreams. Soon, Conner was close to Darkseid.

Close enough to touch.

Conner raised his hand slowly, clenching his teeth, wincing from the pain. In his hand was the fourth and final rune. His own heat vision blasted from his eyes, directly into Darkseid's, which made the demigod finally show signs of injury with a pained yell. Conner reeled back, his blue eyes shining with the determination of his people and his predecessor.

"Get the hell off this world."

The rune was slammed over Darkseid's eyes, a bright green flash of energy signaling the completion of the catalyst. Upon seeing this, Willow and Giles immediately began reciting the spell they'd memorized earlier with Alec. After a few lines, Buffy, Dawn, and Xander joined in, increasing the magnitude of the spell's effect.

Conner fell to his knees as Darkseid stumbled blindly, cursing Conner's name and all Kryptonians for his predicament, calling them the bane of his existence, and swearing he would one day rid the universe of all traces of the damned civilization, as well as it's last living sons. His words were drowned out by a great white vortex in the sky, opening up as if to nothing, and soon Darkseid himself would be pulled into the great glowing maw. He went screaming, but his words and anger were soon lost to space-time as the rip in dimensional fabric closed and sealed itself up, leaving only a few ruffled seagulls in it's wake.

Seeing that the threat was finally over, Buffy looked to Conner with a smile, only to have it falter as her eyes fell upon the lifeless form lying face-down in the sand. She ran to his side, her friends following close behind as they too realized the gravity of the situation. Buffy knelt down, turning Conner over and checking for a pulse.

As she found one, Dawn also noticed the slow, steady cadence of his breathing. "Buffy…"

Giles saw the rhythmic rise and fall of the boy's chest. "He's still alive." He looked to Willow. "Come, let's get him home."

Willow nodded, returning her gaze to Conner and keeping it there worriedly as she summoned the blink to return them to the apartment. In a flash, all six of them were gone, a few abnormal holes serving as the only trace of them left on the beach.

Buffy sat at the kitchen table, not so much drinking a cup of coffee as staring into it. Her Slayer healing was working overtime, but at least she was alive and awake. Willow sat to her left, drinking her own coffee as she held Buffy's hand. "He'll be okay, Buffy. He just needs to rest."

"It's not that I'm worried about, Will." Buffy said, looking up at her friend. "After all he did for us, we're doing what? Sending him back to die?" Buffy cast her gaze back into her coffee. "There's got to be a better way, a different option. He doesn't deserve to-."

"Die a hero?" Willow finished, furrowing her brow. "I know it's rough, Buffy. I do. I mean, I'm the one who brought you back the second time you…" She sighed. "Its never easy for someone you care about to go, much less someone as good as Conner."

"But he's so young, you know?" Buffy replied. "I mean, you heard his story. They cloned him, grew him in a tank. He looks 17 or so, but how many years out in the world can he really have experienced? And, for God's sake, he saves lives! He saved us, Will! Don't you think that somewhere up there somebody thinks we need someone like that?"

Willow saw her friend's uneasiness with the moral dilemma she was having, and she sympathized. "I don't like the idea any better than you do. I don't presume to know what Fate has in store. But he saves their world, Buffy. And maybe he has someone like us there to bring him back."

"And if he doesn't?" Buffy asked.

"Then, yeah, he dies in the line of duty, saving billions of lives in the process." Willow answered. She paused for a moment, and then continued her thought. "You'd do it, Buffy. You have done it."

Buffy sighed. "It just sucks."

Willow nodded, hugging her best friend. "It often does."

Buffy hugged Willow back before standing and moving towards the back hallway where the bedrooms were. Willow had barely taken another sip of coffee before Buffy came back with a puzzled expression on her face.

"What?" Willow asked.

"Conner," Buffy replied, "he's… he's…"

Willow held a hand to her mouth. "Oh God. No."

"No," Buffy said, shaking her head. "He's gone. Dawn, too."

Willow was silent for a moment, letting the statement sink in. Then, she smiled a little as she realized what it meant. "Oh…"

Buffy slipped her hand back into Willow's and squeezed.

Conner sat beside Dawn on a red and white checkered blanket, letting the younger Summers sister rest her head on his shoulder. In the midst of their snuggling, Conner reached for the picnic basket on his other side, pulling a bottle of water from it and taking a sip. "Beautiful country."

Dawn smiled. "I've never been to Paris before." She wrapped an arm around Conner's waist. "Never thought I'd get here by flying in a superhero's arms, or that I'd be picnicking on the Eiffel Tower watching the sunset." She looked over the edge, noticing how far they were from the ground. "You think they'll be mad about us being up here? The French, I mean."

"Maybe," Conner answered, "but by the time they get up here, we can be in New York eating pizza or England checking out Big Ben… wherever you want to go."

Dawn looked up at him, her eyes becoming misty. "It's not that I don't absolutely love all this, Conner – because I do. This is probably the most romantic thing anyone's ever done for me. I just…" Dawn looked down, unable to look him in the eye. "If it were my last night on Earth, I'd want to do something special, and spend it with somebody just as special."

"I am." Conner stated, lifting her gaze back to his with a gentle finger to his chin. "I promised you flying, and here we are. As long as you're happy, I-…"

"But I'm not happy." Dawn interrupted. "I don't want you to die. I know how I come off, like some whiny schoolgirl with a crush. I know I've only known you for three days. But you've done more for me – for us – in those three days than the whole Watcher's Council ever did." She looked away. "You deserve better."

"If I could be just half the man that Kal is, live up to his name, feel like I'd earned the S that I wear, well," Conner explained, "I think I'd be okay with dying. Just as long as someone knew that I died for something good, something noble; something that would make the world a better place…" He smiled. "…and at the same time, piss Lex Luthor off."

Dawn smiled as well, though the corners of her mouth were weighted with sadness. "I don't see how there was ever any doubt that you were a hero."

Conner canted his head to the side. "Most of it was probably in my head. Most heroes are really insecure."

Dawn giggled a little, and Conner placed his water back into the basket. "Come on, Dawnie," he said, "I've got to get you home."

Dawn looked up at him, staring deeply into his eyes, a certain fire building up in her own that sprang from her gaze to his like electricity. "Five more minutes?" she asked simply, moving her mouth closer to his.

Conner closed his eyes and met her in her embrace, lips that could blow arctic cold impeaching Dawn's with a surrender that was so gentle and warm, Dawn could barely fathom the self-control it must have taken. Their kiss deepened after a moment, after which Dawn reluctantly had to pull away as the need for air arose in her.

Five minutes. Five precious minutes that blanketed the two in perpetual paradox, an eternity that passed by entirely too quickly. More was said in the kisses and tender squeezes in those five minutes than words had told over the last seventy-two hours; and yet, it didn't seem enough time. For when their blissful reverie ended, there came the piercing consciousness of reality that told them in a few moments, when they were finally back home, Dawn was going to have to send Conner home to die. Tears fell from her eyes as they kissed, only to be stopped in their slow meandering travels down her cheeks by the swift thumb of a hand that touched her so affectionately, Dawn could swear she felt it in her soul. She just knew that somewhere in the depths of space and time, a small part of the energy that made up his Kryptonian physiology, and the tiniest fragment of what made Dawn the Key that she was in days long since past, mingled inseparably.

I won't be alone, he'd said to her. I'll take a little piece of you with me. Because you – and people like you – are what I fight for.

Maybe it was just her mind's way of coping with losing him, needing to believe in something better; hope springing eternal. Maybe it was just a dream, and when he was gone, all she would have was the phantoms of her memory of him, and those would only dim with the passage of time. Maybe she just wanted to believe that something good had come from his sacrifice, that he would indeed carry a part of her with him, and vice versa. Maybe she was just a dumb girl. Or maybe, she gave him the strength to do what needed to be done.

Whatever the case, there simply wasn't enough time.

Buffy and friends had already organized the runes needed to send Conner back, similar to the ones they'd used on Darkseid. The four placards rested on the table, an ominous reminder that they were about to lose a friend. Xander sat on the couch, silent. Willow sat beside him, looking as if she was trying to concentrate on the text in her hand, but to no avail. Giles and Buffy sat across from one another at the table, waiting for the teens to return.

Giles offered to break the silence. "I could call…"

"No." Buffy said. "Give them time."

Conner entered, not with a gust of air through the window, but normally through the front door. Dawn came behind him, holding his hand. They'd wanted as much time as they could scrape from the day before they were torn apart. Everyone stood when he entered, almost out of solemn respect.

Conner sighed, slowly releasing Dawn's hand. "Well, I guess it's about that time. I've got villains to face and all that."

"Well, first," Willow said, picking up a folded black cloth from the coffee table and holding it up for Conner to see, "I figured you'd need one of these."

It was a t-shirt, black, with the red S insignia boldly emblazoned across the chest. Conner smiled at the thoughtful gift, quickly putting the shirt on. It fit like a glove. He hugged Willow. "Thanks, Red."

Willow blushed, trying not to cry. "Oh, that's okay. Just a little magic between friends. No biggie."

Conner released Willow, moving over to Xander and extending his hand, which Xander proudly took, pulling the boy into a hug. "Take care of yourself, Xander," Conner said. "And you have to beat that boss on level 7 with magic arrows to the head."

Xander nodded, understanding. After all, what was there to be said? 'Take care'? 'You too, bro'? Xander let his arms fall, shaking the boy's hand solidly this time. "Thanks, Conner." His voice cracked. "For everything."

Buffy stepped up to the teen, offering her own hug, squeezing with all her emotion since she knew the boy could take it. "Go save the world."

Conner nodded, only giving her a light squeeze in return. "Might as well. No more crazed Englishmen with demigod bodies around here. It's getting kind of boring."

Buffy smiled through her grief, joining the levity Conner was trying to provide. "I'm gonna miss being Super Buffy, though. It was fun."

Conner looked over at Giles. "You know, you Watchers have a real knack for… well, watching."

Giles let a brief smile come across his face. He'd spent enough time with Buffy to know when a teen was being sarcastic, and when one was putting up a brave front in the face of death. "Well, one does have to train awfully hard at it."

As Conner took his place in the center of the kitchen, Buffy picked up a rune and placed it on Conner's left arm. It glowed, then seemed to become part of his skin, like a tattoo. Buffy let a tear fall as she stepped back, letting Willow place one on his right arm, which pulsed and did the same as it's predecessor.

Xander placed one on the right side of Conner's chest, the rune mystically embedding itself in Conner's shirt. Xander moved aside, averting his eyes from the scene as Dawn picked up the final rune. She moved over to Conner, closing her eyes and slowly leaning in to kiss him goodbye. The embrace was soft, loving, and warm, trying it's best to linger before it was lost to time and space.

Dawn pulled away slowly, achingly slow. She sniffled, trying to smile. "If you make it there okay, try and find some way to call me?"

Conner smiled and nodded. "If I live, you'll be the first to know."

Dawn placed the last rune over Conner's heart, and in a few flashes of white light, the Superboy was gone, vanished to the annals of space-time, back to his rightful place. Back to his crisis, his battle, his good fight.

Back to his death.

Dawn fell to her knees on the floor, the sobs coming freely now. Buffy knelt next to her, arms winding around, trying her best to comfort her sister. But all the hugs and reassuring words in the world weren't going to change the fact that Conner was going to die, and the gang knew that. So instead, they stood in silence, remembering.

Suddenly, a flash of light formed in the spot where Conner had been standing, but there appeared to only be a letter with Dawn's name on it. She picked it up, opening it cautiously before removing and unfolding the letter to read aloud.

"Dear Dawn. I'm okay. Got busted up pretty bad in the fight. Okay, so, yeah, I died. But they said there was some kind of traces of magic on that shirt of mine that kept me viable. Thank Willow for me. I was put into a restoration chamber that took about a thousand years to repair all the damage that was done, and eventually I returned to my own time. I got a friend of mine to beam this to you at hopefully the right time, so you won't be too sad. I'm okay. And so is the world. Hopefully I'll get to see you again one day. Give Buffy and the gang my best. Keep up the good work. Your friend, Conner."

Dawn looked up at Willow. "You..?"

Willow smiled. "Well, yeah. It was worth a shot."

"It was the least we could do." Giles said.

Dawn beamed, folding up the letter and holding it against her chest. "Hey, Will?" she asked.

"Yeah?" Willow replied

"If I baked some cookies, could you teleport them to a different dimension?"

THE END