Metropolis-2009
Superman just stared in horror and disbelief at the pile of ashes. Meanwhile, Darkseid turned around upon realizing that Superman had broken free from his prison.
"And again you surprise me Kal-El," Darkseid noted. "I didn't expect you to escape that. I'll be sure to not make the same mistake again."
Superman ignored him and continued to stare at the spot where Batman had died.
"Don't act surprised," Darkseid warned. "I promised you that there would be bloodshed today because of you. Your friend was only the first casualty. More will follow him."
Superman's eyes narrowed as he gritted his teeth. Sweat poured out of his face. He began to breathe unevenly and shake slightly before he clenched his fists in anger. Superman, his eyes now glowing red, glared back at Darkseid.
"You killed him!" he shouted.
"Don't blame me Kryptonian. You brought this on your own world and allies when you dared to oppose me," Darkseid responded as he got into a fighting stance. Superman's eyes continued to glow red with rage. He was ready to murder this time.
"Yes," Darkseid whispered encouragingly. "Come and strike me Superman."
The Kryptonian charged at Darkseid madly. Darkseid grinned and threw out another ball of electricity. Somehow, on pure rage, Superman had not let the pain of the second Agony Matrix stop him, much to the New God's surprise.
"Impossible," Darkseid exclaimed as he took an uneasy step back moments before the Kryptonian collided with him. Darkseid yelled as he was pushed out of the crater. Superman forced both of them higher into the air. Suddenly, the Kryptonian changed direction and flew towards the ground. He kept his arms wrapped around the New God. Darkseid struggled to try to free himself, but Superman's grip was too strong. Before the tyrant could react, they had hit the ground. They didn't stop at the street and kept falling past the foundations of the road, past the subway tunnels, right into the deep, forgotten old sewers of Metropolis. Finally, their fall was broken after they landed on the sewer floors.
Darkseid was on his back with Superman on top of him. As soon as Darkseid got over the initial shock of the attack and was able to move again, he made to push Superman off of him. However, Superman had recovered a lot faster than he had expected and before Darkseid knew it, he was picked up by the neck and slammed against the wall. Superman's eyes showed a combination of hate and grief as he wound up his fist for a punch.
"You killed my friend!" he shouted before throwing a mighty hook that forced the New God through the tunnel wall. Darkseid tried to get to his feet, but somehow, Superman had managed to get behind him and was now lifting him in the air again, this time flying up and heading back to the surface. He had Darkseid in front of him to take most of the impact from flying back up to the streets. Finally, they were out in the sunlight again.
"And now I'm going to kill you!" Superman shouted as he swung Darkseid into the air. The New God roared angrily. He had enough of Superman's insolence. However, like the last time when the Kryptonian had flown him across town, Superman had sped over to interrupt the New God's path. Superman clenched his fists together, and swung around, timing it perfectly to hit Darkseid right in the gut. Darkseid coughed and grunted in pain as he fell back to the ground. Superman sped downwards and caught up to the free falling tyrant. Immediately, Superman repeatedly punched him as many times as he could before they hit the ground. Darkseid landed on a park car, reducing it to smithereens.
In a violent rage, the Man of Steel unleashed a furry of fast punches that even Darkseid couldn't recover from quickly. However, despite all the strength and anger Superman threw at him, Darkseid still had plenty of fight left in him as well. Clenching his massive fists, he brought them up and slammed Superman's temples with them. Superman howled and covered his head involuntarily. That was all Darkseid needed to get the Kryptonian off of him.
Stunned, Superman fell to his knees while clutching his head. That blow really did shake him up. Darkseid smiled as he calmly walked over to the Kryptonian. Superman lunged and tried to punch him, but Darkseid was ready this time. He moved out of the way and grabbed Superman by the cape, sending him flying into a building. Superman went through it before landing against the wall of another one. He hit it like a fly hitting a speeding car. The impact from the hit had stunned him. Groaning, he slowly fell to the ground. He had been thrown through buildings and at walls before, but after taking a beating from Darkseid, he could hardly stand. A part of him felt like he was going to black out. He barely noticed Darkseid had approaching him.
"You can't beat me Kal-El," Darkseid taunted. "Do we have to destroy your beloved city before you realize this? How many more will suffer and die before you give up?"
Angrily, Superman slowly got to his feet. The memory of Bruce smiling out of spite in the face of death still burned in his mind.
"Who should I destroy with my Omega Beams next?" Darkseid demanded while cracking his knuckles.
"This ends now Darkseid! I won't let you hurt anyone else!"
Darkseid flexed his muscles.
"Then you will die a failure Kal-El!" the New God said as he rushed up to the Kryptonian, ready to resume their fight. Superman flew at him and the two foes met halfway.
Somewhere in the Universe
In space, Metron watched the fight between the two mortal enemies. Superman, despite previous circumstances, seemed to be holding his own against Darkseid. Maybe things would turn out for the best. The priority right now for Metron though was that Darkseid needed to be stopped. Hopefully, Superman in his anger over the loss of his ally would find the edge he needed to destroy Darkseid once and for all. The future was dangerous with the tyrant still alive. It was Metron's duty to ensure the future would be saved. The challenging part of that duty was as a passive observer of the timestream, Metron refused to interfere directly. Instead, he relied on manipulating lesser beings to fulfill their fates.
It didn't always work however, as Luthor proved earlier. But fate seemed to be compensating for Luthor's failure by giving Superman a chance to defeat Darkseid once and for all. There would be a time for Metron to worry about Luthor later, but his focus was still on the fight. Could Superman achieve the impossible and destroy Darkseid for good?
Luthor absorbed all the knowledge of past, future, and present. He was living his dream and learning the secrets of everything. But then he found other secrets that he didn't want to know. His mind soon became flooded with the secrets of torture, death, and destruction. In the Source Wall, he experienced every atrocity Darkseid had ever committed. Every evil the tyrant ever committed replayed in Luthor's nearly breaking mind. Luthor felt the pain of the thousands, no millions, no billions of lives destroyed by the New God's own lust for power.
Being in the Source Wall didn't just give Luthor knowledge, it also gave him empathy. He felt the billions of emotions caused by Darkseid. The feelings of pain, loss, anger, sorrow, rage, terror, fear poured into his soul constantly. Luthor felt himself die and die again from the emotional overload. He then remembered his purpose for coming here; Darkseid needed to be stopped! There would be time to go back here and continue learning the secrets of the universe. Metron brought him here to find the one thing that could stop Darkseid. As if sensing his question, the Source Wall gave him an answer.
"The Anti-Life...despair...oblivion...nothing..." spoke disembodied voices around Luthor. Lex Luthor realized all Darkseid wanted was the Anti-Life Equation. Darkseid thought Anti-Life provided absolute control and dominion over others, but the secrets of the Source Wall helped Luthor understand that Anti-Life was more than that. Anti-Life was as its namesake suggested, the opposite of life literally. Anti-Life did not just destroy the body, but the soul as well for eternity. And that was when Luthor realized how Darkseid could be stopped once and for all.
If Luthor tricked Darkseid and gave the New God unharnessed Anti-Life, he would destroy the monster in both body and soul. All that would remain would be his visage carved on the Source Wall with the infinite faces. It would be a fate worse than death for the New God. He would disappear from life and death and no longer exist, save for an echo of him now joining the endless collective consciousness of the Source. But Luthor realized the flaw of his plan. He would be destroyed too forever and experience the same fate as Darkseid. How could he bring himself to be destroyed into oblivion? Yet at that moment, Luthor felt something he almost never felt. For the first time in his life, Luthor felt remorse.
He was responsible for bringing Darkseid back to life so it was his duty to stop the monster by any means. Thus, Luthor knew it was his responsibility to destroy Darkseid, even if that meant his own destruction as well. Who would've thought in the end, after all this time, Luthor would sacrifice himself to save Superman? Luthor sighed as he got ready to use the power of the Source Wall to transport himself to Darkseid. He would see if he could change into his power suit. He might as well look good when doing the only selfless act he ever would commit in his life.
Superman and Darkseid were fighting near the crater where Darkseid had slain Batman earlier. At this point, both aliens had their hands clenched on each other. They wrestled for dominance as they both grunted and strained under the stress they had created by using their full strength.
"Give…up…Kal-El…" Darkseid ordered between grunts.
"After…you…" Superman replied angrily. His eyes lit up red and he shot his laser vision at Darkseid's chest. Darkseid howled and involuntarily loosened his grip. Superman took advantage of that moment and slammed the New God onto the street. He then picked up Darkseid by the head with one hand and with the other, gave a powerful uppercut that sent Darkseid straight up in the air. After the New God finally landed a few good yards away from Superman, the New God began to do something Superman rarely saw him do. The dictator looked Superman in the eyes and weakly began to laugh.
"Hehhehheh..."
Superman twitched angrily at Darkseid's mocking laugh.
"So is this it, Kal-El? The two of us locked in a never-ending battle until my forces destroy your beloved home?"
"My friends will never give up, and neither will I!" Superman responded. "Until I make sure you aren't around to hurt anyone again, I will not stop fighting you, even if that means both of us will have to die!"
"As much as I would like to see that Superman," a third voice spoke. "I have some unfinished business to attend with Darkseid."
Superman and Darkseid both turned around to see the newcomer. To their mutual surprise, it was Lex Luthor. He wore a business suit in contrast to the battle uniform he had on earlier.
"Luthor?" Superman asked. He had forgotten about his old enemy almost entirely. Darkseid took advantage of Superman's distraction and shot a quick Omega Beam blast at the Kryptonian. The Kryptonian howled in pain as it pushed him across the street.
"Sorry I took so long, I needed to change into my power suit," Luthor said smugly.
"You dare challenge me?" Darkseid asked in surprise of Luthor's sudden boldness. Luthor smiled in response.
"No, I bring a gift to you my friend," Luthor remarked, opening his fist to reveal something white and glowing.
"The one thing you want most in the universe," Luthor explained.
"The Anti-Life Equation!" Darkseid exclaimed and walked over to Luthor, forgetting Superman was nearby, getting to his feet.
Superman's superhearing had picked up the conversation. Luthor was giving Darkseid the Anti-Life Equation? What the hell was he thinking? And how did he get it? The Kryptonian decided to worry about that later. He got to his feet and sped over to his two enemies. He was almost about to tackle Darkseid when he saw Luthor push Darkseid's palm onto his own hand, which held the white glowing light. Luthor gave a victorious smile just as a loud sound was heard. Something began to swirl around the two villains. A vortex of light was forming around them. Superman couldn't help but pause at the sight. What was going on?
BOOM!
Before he could react, the vortex contracted and expanded, knocking Superman out of the air. He quickly got to his feet to see what had happened. He watched as the dust cleared and saw, to his surprise, that both Darkseid and Luthor had vanished.
China
Wonder Woman, the Martian Manhunter, Shining Knight, and Star Sapphire fought a swarm of Parademons over a Chinese city not too far from the area by the Great Wall where they had been fighting earlier. Using her trained reflexes, Wonder Woman dodged a Parademon lunging at her and grabbed it by the staff. Prying it from the drone's grip, she chucked the staff at an approaching war machine. Her aim was true and it hit the machine in the right spot. The war machine began to rapidly descend as smoke poured out of it. The Martian rushed up to it and used his strength to steer it away so it wouldn't crash into the city. At that moment, a familiar sound was heard.
"Now what?" Star Sapphire complained.
Exhausted, the Amazon warrior let out a sigh. She knew it was the sound of boom tubes. What else was Darkseid throwing at them? However, all the war machines and Parademons were turning around. They were fleeing the city and heading away from the planet via the portals!
"What are they doing?" Star Sapphire asked.
"I believe they are retreating my lady," Shining Knight pointed out. Wonder Woman didn't believe it at first, but she realized the medieval knight was correct. Darkseid's forces were leaving! The entire army of Darkseid in that area had headed straight towards the boom tubes. They were leaving Earth and that could only mean one thing.
"They did it," she said excitedly. "They did it!"
She couldn't wait to see Superman and Batman again. First thing she wanted to do after embracing her two closest friends was to tease Bruce on how he thought they weren't going to survive this fight.
"Attention all League and Legion members, standby to be teleported to the Metro Tower for debriefing," Mister Terrific said on the commlinks from the Watchtower. "I repeat, standby. The enemy is retreating!"
Wonder Woman noticed the Martian had returned to the group as she hit her commlink to communicate.
"Mister Terrific, this is Wonder Woman. J'onn is with us. Can you teleport him as well?"
There was a pause on the line before Mister Terrific spoke.
"He's back?" she heard him chuckle. "Will do Wonder Woman."
Beaming, Wonder Woman embraced her long lost friend.
"Everyone's going to be happy to see you again," she remarked.
"Really?" the alien asked with fake surprise.
"Of course. Even Batman," she teased as they felt their molecules be torn apart to be transported to the Metro Tower.
Superman stared at where Darkseid and Luthor had stood moments ago. It was empty now. In the distance he could hear the sound of boom tubes opening again and Darkseid's forces retreating and people cheering. But he really didn't care at the moment.
"Superman!" a female voice was heard. Superman looked up and saw Lois running to him. She had managed to get out of the Daily Planet relatively unharmed. Her hair was a mess, her skirt was dirty, and her blouse was torn, but she was still alive and relatively unharmed. She ran up and hugged him, not caring if she was doing it in public. She was just glad he was alive.
"You're okay..." she whispered as she pulled him into an embrace he didn't return. Immediately, she was a little put off by Superman's cold response. He didn't return her embrace or even smile at her. In fact, he sort of just stared through her. It looked like he didn't even notice she was there.
"Superman?" Lois asked while slowly letting go of him.
When Superman continued to stare blankly, Lois looked around before whispering, "What the hell is wrong with you Clark?"
Not long ago, Superman had revealed his secret identity to Lois. She already had known for a long time though and thus wasn't surprised at all when their relationship had gone to the next level and he told Lois the truth. But still, she never called Superman by his real name when they were in public. However, he was behaving differently this time and she wasn't sure what to do.
"Are you okay Clark?" she whispered in a worried tone. Finally, that seemed to bring Superman back to reality. He looked at Lois with a pained look before turning around and walking away from her.
"Superman?" Lois asked, feeling confused by his reaction. The onlookers who had been cheering at Darkseid's defeat were now growing quiet and whispering. The sight of Superman being so quiet and showing so much sorrow and pain was disturbing. Superman didn't care though. He headed to the crater where he almost had his heart cut out by Darkseid. Jumping into it without changing his pace, he slowly walked to the middle of the crater and stopped to stare quietly at a pile of ashes. The onlookers' whispers were buzzing now.
"Superman!" Lois shouted as she made her way into the crater. "What the hell are you doing? You're creeping everybody out."
Superman again ignored her and just fell to his knees. His hand then brushed lightly against the pile of ashes. Was this how Bruce had felt when everyone thought Superman had died? Did he feel so helpless and uncertain? Or did he feel angry at himself for failing to save his friend? Then again, Superman didn't leave behind any evidence of his body which allowed Bruce to have the hope he was still alive. Batman however, had left behind his remains. The ashes were a cold confirmation of his demise and a reminder to Superman of his own failure.
As Lois angrily approached Superman, something started clicking in her head when she realized he had been staring at a pile of ashes. Superman was fighting Darkseid with Luthor and Batman. She and everybody nearby had seen Luthor disappear with Darkseid. But where was Batman?
"Superman, where's Batman?" Lois inquired, even though she had an idea what the answer was. Upon hearing her question, Superman had turned around to reveal his now watery eyes. His facial expression told her everything she needed to know.
"No…" Lois said as she felt her knees almost buckle. Bruce couldn't be dead! She wouldn't believe it! But Superman would never lie to her.
Meanwhile, the curious onlookers had managed to pick up on enough signs to know what was going on. Many of them realized that Batman was gone too. Superman had turned back and was just staring at the pile of ashes with his body shaking slightly. This was no victory. To the world it was. But to Superman, he had sacrificed his own best friend. Lois walked up to Superman and got on her knees as she put a comforting arm around him.
"It's okay…" she whispered even though tears were starting to develop in her eyes as well.
"My…fault…" Superman croaked while trying to not sob.
"You know that's how he always wanted to go," Lois said sadly. "At least he went down fighting."
Superman bowed his head in shame. Why couldn't Bruce let someone else make the sacrifice?
"Attention all League and Legion members, standby to be teleported to the Metro Tower for debriefing," Superman heard Mister Terrific announce on the commlink. Superman angrily yanked his commlink out. He made to throw it in the ground, but Lois stopped him.
"What are you doing?"
"Batman just died!" he snapped at Lois. "I don't care about debriefing the League."
"But they need you. You're the leader!"
"I can't give them a shallow, inspirational speech when I failed."
"You didn't fail!"
"Batman died!" he shouted back.
"And he did it for all of us!" Lois retorted. "Don't let his death distract you from being Superman! It's not what he would've wanted!"
"Don't you dare bring him up!" Superman shouted. Lois just glared at him with her violet eyes. Superman sighed in defeat, feeling regret for his outburst. Lois was right; he was the leader of the League and Batman's death didn't change that. He had responsibilities he needed to attend to before he could wallow in guilt and self-pity. The world and the League would need to look to him to heal from this invasion. But there was still the pile of ashes sitting there like an open wound and Superman couldn't ignore that.
"I can't just leave him here," Superman replied, pointing to the visible sign of his costly mistake.
"I'll watch it until we can find a suitable urn for his remains," Lois assured. "I won't let anyone desecrate it."
Superman sighed.
"Mister Terrific," Superman spoke into his commlink. "This is Superman."
"Glad to hear your voice again Superman," Mister Terrific said on the commlink. "Can you, Luthor, and Batman head to the Metro since you're already nearby?"
Superman sighed and looked at Lois.
"It'll be just me," Superman said with finality.
"What, did Luthor run away?" Mister Terrific asked.
"Yes…I mean I don't know. He disappeared with Darkseid, I'll explain later."
"But what about Batman?" Mister Terrific asked. Superman gulped. Saying the truth out loud would seal Batman's fate to the public. The Kryptonian was the only one who saw Batman perished and admitting it to Mister Terrific would make the death official for not just the League, but the world as well.
"Dead," he muttered after what felt like an eternity of choking on his own words.
"What?" Mister Terrific asked, his voice cracking slightly with surprise.
"Batman's dead," Superman reiterated sadly, trying to fight back more tears. "I'll tell the others when I arrive."
Mister Terrific hesitated on the other line before speaking.
"Understood, I'll make sure to tell them to wait for you."
Mister Terrific ended the connection and Superman paused to reflect on his current situation. Breaking the bad news to the rest of the League wasn't going to be easy, especially because he was the one to blame. Taking one more look at Lois, Superman took off into the air not as a victorious, confident hero, but as a reluctant, broken man.
Metron was still outside the Source Wall as he watched the aftermath of Darkseid's defeat on a monitor in his chair. So things turned almost exactly like the machine had shown it would. Almost being the operative word. Since the machine didn't account for Luthor taking awhile in the Source Wall, another unaccounted variable had emerged. Batman had died during the invasion. However, Metron assured himself the death of one mortal did not matter. Based on the original future that Metron had attempted to bring about, Batman didn't have much importance anymore after the invasion. This fight with Darkseid was supposed to be the last important thing Batman did anyways, so his death meant nothing to the rest of the universe. Metron had seen what Batman's future would be if he had lived. In a few months, one of Batman's enemies would attack one of his sidekicks, which would traumatize Batman enough to end his Batclan and quit the Justice League. Batman would spend his remaining years alone until he got too old and had to train someone else to replace him.
But Metron wasn't too worried because Batman had died before he disbanded the Batclan. Surely one of his protégées would take up the mantle and pass it down so the timestream wouldn't be too adversely affected. The first Batman wasn't that important anymore to the universe. His actions in saving Superman had more meaning than the remaining years of his life. In a way, Batman dying made his life matter more. Nonetheless, the scientist couldn't deny he still felt like something was wrong.
He hit a button on his chair to teleport himself to his secret lab. Despite his own reassurances, he decided to consult his machine that showed him the future again. He already proved the machine was faulty, but he wanted to assure himself that Batman's premature death didn't cause any significant alterations to the fate of the universe.
