A/N: For those of you who are not familiar with the supervillain Volcana, she's a recurring villainess with pyrokinetic abilities who appeared in Superman: The Animated Series and the Justice League cartoon from the early 2000s. Here, I decided to adapt her into the Smallville world. Anyway, this is the longest and most action-filled chapter in the story. Feel free to review and let me know what you guys think so far.
Chapter 4
Upon setting foot in the middle of Metropolis, Barry and Bart were greeted by the scene of a heated battle taking place between several members of the Justice League and the Legion of Doom. A helicopter was flying around in the night sky.
The first thing the pair of Flashes noticed was Superman engaging some sort of silver and black robot that stood no less than thirty feet tall. Superman was swerving around the robot, trading blows with it and evading the green energy beams it fired at him. A green beam then struck Superman, sending him flying back and crashing to the ground. Regaining his bearings, Superman got back up and fired a powerful blast of heat vision at the robot.
The next thing the Flashes saw was Green Arrow engaging Vordigan (also known as the Dark Archer) in a more or less evenly matched battle. They then saw Superboy trading fierce blows with Solomon Grundy, at the same time making sure to dodge the flames Volcana shot at him. Also was Cyborg and Icicle firing laser beams and ice shards, respectively, at each other, as well as Stargirl and Captain Cold going at it.
"Guess we don't have to ask Ollie what he meant by 'trouble'," Bart remarked.
Barry looked over to where Stargirl and Captain Cold were fighting. Cold gained the upper hand as he managed to fire a blast of ice from his cold gun directly at Stargirl. Barry whooshed over and sped Stargirl out of the way.
'You didn't have to save me, Bart," Stargirl protested. "I had that." She then noticed the difference in costume. "When did you get a new costume?"
"Uh..." Barry was about to answer, but was suddenly struck in the back and thrown to the ground by a blast of ice. He let out a groan.
"Well, well, well," Captain Cold announced, slowly walking over to Barry with his cold gun trained on the speedster. "The Scarlet Speedster. I was wondering when you were gonna show your pretty mug."
"Snart?" Barry muttered in disbelief. Granted, the version of Captain Cold standing before him was a few inches shorter, the voice was quite different, and his blue parka was brighter, but Barry had no doubt he had come-face-come with his former nemesis' counterpart. "I see you're still a bad guy on this Earth."
"I have to say, Allen, I like the new outfit," Cold commented. "The cowl definitely suits you."
Barry rolled his eyes at Snart calling him 'Allen', only to remember the latter was obviously assuming he was Bart. So, Captain Cold being aware of The Flash's true identity was yet another constant between this world and Barry's.
"Well, I hope you enjoy it because it's the last thing you'll ever wear, Flash," Cold continued, before firing another blast of ice at the person he thought was his nemesis.
Barry super-sped out of the way, appeared behind Cold, and knocked him out with a single punch. "That's one down," Barry announced, proudly. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't simply done that to his Captain Cold and Heatwave when he battled them in the middle of Central City over a year ago. Instead, Barry had put his own life in jeopardy, allowing Snart and Rory to attack him so that he could trick them into canceling each other's weapons out, when he could've just sped up to them and knocked them out before they even saw him coming. Thinking back, Barry realized his plan that night had been sort of foolish and he seriously could've gotten killed. Of course, there was some justification in that he wasn't as experienced back then as he was now. Barry sped off to help deal with one of the other villains.
"How many times are we gonna keep going through this, Merlyn?" Oliver exclaimed, as he and Vordigan were dodging and blocking each other's attacks.
"I told you, Oliver," Vordigan replied. "This feud between us will only end when one of us has been put in the ground."
"You can keep insisting all you want, old man," Oliver said, in the midst of throwing a kick which Vordigan easily dodged. "You're never gonna get me to do what you want me to do to you. Because that is not who I am."
"Why? Is it because you're afraid you'll let your caped leader in red and blue down if you drench your hands in a little blood?" Vordigan sneered. "It's not like you haven't done it before."
"If you're talking about Lex Luthor, look around," Oliver said. "The guy's alive and well. Not to mention running for President, which, if he wins by the way, will be very unfortunate for everybody who lives in this country."
"That still doesn't change the fact that Luthor died in the truck explosion you set," Vordigan pointed out, "only to miraculously come back from the dead a few years later."
Feeling a surge of anger rushing through him, Oliver managed to knock Vordigan to the ground, but the older archer climbed right back up.
"You might think that, by choosing not to kill me, even though we both know that's exactly what you wanna do, you're being strong," Vordigan continued. "But the real reason you won't kill me is because you're simply too weak."
Suddenly, Bart whooshed over and knocked Vordigan across the sidewalk, rendering him unconscious.
"He was my bad guy, Speedy Gonzalez!" Oliver protested. "I hate it when you do that."
"You can thank me later, Green Bean," Bart remarked. "We still got bigger fish to fry after all."
"You're lucky AC isn't around to hear you say that," Oliver said. "You know how irritated he gets hearing those type of fish jokes."
Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane and the teen photographer Jimmy Olsen, the nigh-identical brother of the late Henry James Olsen, were also in the vicinity. The latter had a camera clutched in his hands.
"I wonder where Mr. Kent is right now," Jimmy said. "I can't help but notice he's never around whenever things, you know, get exciting."
"Just focus on capturing as much action as you can, Jimmy," Lois demanded. "Last thing you should be doing right now is worrying about what someone else is doing."
"Right, Ms. Lane," Jimmy nodded, submissively. If there was one thing he wanted to avoid, it was getting Lois Lane riled up. They look up at the heated battle between Superman and the mysterious thirty-foot robot.
"That's right, hon... Superman! Kick that Transformer-wannabe's ass!" Lois shouted, making sure to keep Clark's secret in front of Jimmy, since he, like most of the world, was unaware of the fact that her husband-slash-co-worker and Earth's greatest superhero were, in fact, the same person. Luckily, Jimmy didn't seem to pick up on her near-slip-up.
Barry vibrated his entire body so that the three ice shards Icicle flung in his direction simply passed through him. He then circled around the cryokinetic villain several times, built up a bolt of lightning, then hurled it directly at Icicle, who was promptly out for the count.
"That was an awesome move, man," Cyborg commented.
"Yeah, that lightning toss comes in handy from time to time," Barry said.
"I don't think we've had the pleasure," Cyborg said.
"Uh, you can just call me Flash," Barry introduced himself. As he noticed Cyborg rolling his eyes, he added, "I know, it's, uh, it's not to be confused with the Flash you know from this Earth. Uh... I'd have to explain it to you in detail for it to make sense and now's definitely not a best time to do that."
Bart created a vortex of wind as he rapidly spun his arms around, while Volcana blasted flames at him, their respective powers meeting halfway as one desperately tried to overpower the other. Barry joined the fight and performed the same arm-spinning move as Bart, attacking Volcana from behind. Trapped and overwhelmed by the powerful winds coming from the two speedsters, Volcana attempted to escape by generating more flames from her body, but her effort proved vain. Barry and Bart kept their arms spinning until Volcana eventually passed out from the lack of oxygen.
"You and I make a great ass-kicking Flash duo, Stretch," Bart chuckled, using what used to be his nickname for Clark now for Barry.
"Oh, yeah, we do," Barry agreed.
"Now all we gotta do is help take out Grundy and that giant robot," Bart said. He and Barry looked around. While Green Arrow and the newly arrived J'onn J'onzz, who was in his human disguise as a detective, were placing power-dampening cuffs on the villains that had already been taken down, Cyborg and Stargirl had joined Superboy in his battle against Solomon Grundy. Bart decided to help the latter three heroes with their large zombie-like opponent, while Barry ran off to help Superman deal with the robot.
After causing much damage to it with his fists and heat vision, Superman finally managed to defeat the thirty-foot robot, blowing it to the ground with his super-breath. Superman flew down just as Barry whooshed over.
"I was just about to help you take care of this thing," Barry said. "But it looks like you got it under control."
Superman ripped through the upper part of the robot like it was a sheet of paper and pulled out Winslow Schott, better known as Toyman, who had been controlling the machine from inside it. Superman held the plump toymaker up with one hand.
"Hey, that wasn't very nice," Toyman complained. "You broke my toy!"
"You didn't really think that your 'toy' would stand a chance against me, did you, Winslow?" Superman angered.
"Maybe not," Toyman answered, smiling smugly. He pointed over Superman's shoulder. "But he can!"
Before Superman could react, he was suddenly hit with a wave of burning-hot, extremely familiar pain, causing him to involuntarily drop Toyman and collapse to the ground.
"Hey, are you okay? What's going on with you?" Barry asked with concern, confused as to why Superman (who was supposed to be more or less invincible, according to what Barry had learned about the Man of Steel thus far) was acting like he was feeling ill all of a sudden.
"Kryptonite," Superman muttered weakly, as he turned around to see John Corben, better known as Metallo, standing over him. "Corben," he grunted, as Metallo picked him up and punched Superman into a large truck parked a few meters away. The truck became heavily damaged as Superman collided with it, resulting in an explosion that Superman quickly put out with his super-breath.
As Toyman tried to make a run for it, Barry immediately blocked his path. "Oh, no, you don't," the speedster said.
"Flash," Toyman called out, displaying a wide grin that Barry could only describe as creepy. "Oh, my, is it just me or did you get a new suit? And you've gotten taller too!"
Barry punched the villainous toymaker out. "That's none of your concern," he said.
Metallo leapt over to Superman, weakening the latter once more. He lifted Superman by the neck with one hand and delivered three punches to the Man of Steel's abdomen with his other hand.
"I might've failed to kill you during our previous encounters, Kent, but this time I'm making sure I get the job done," Metallo vowed, then threw another punch in Superman's abdomen.
Barry sped around in circles again as he decided to build up another lightning bolt. Considering that Metallo was powerful enough to physically engage such a powerhouse like Superman with no problems, Barry thought better of simply running up to their cybernetically-enhanced opponent and punching him. The last thing he wanted was a repeat of what happened when he had earned himself multiple fractures in his hand after punching Tony Woodward, aka Girder, his childhood classmate/tormentor who was transformed into a meta-human with the ability to turn his entire body into a steel-like substance at will.
Barry hurled his lightning bolt at Metallo, causing the latter to involuntarily drop Superman. Though stunned by Barry's attack for several seconds, Metallo remained mostly unaffected and smirked at Barry.
"Is that the best you got, Red?" Metallo taunted. He smacked Barry in the chest with the back of his hand, sending Barry flying into the air.
Barry groaned in pain as he landed on the pavement, clutching his chest where he had been hit.
Metallo focused his attention back on Superman, whom he picked up from the ground.
From the sidewalk, Lois looked on with a worried expression as she saw Corben beating the crap out of her beloved Kryptonian husband.
"No!" she cried out. Lois' expression quickly shifted to that of anger... no, heated anger towards the bastard she disliked ever since he had openly expressed his hatred for The Blur, the codename Clark was using at the time. Discovering a brick lying on the ground, she picked it up and charged towards the scene.
"Ms. Lane, what do you think you're doing?! It's not safe for you to go over there!" Jimmy exclaimed, concern and panic in his voice, but Lois, who had a determined look on her face, ignored him. Was she crazy? Jimmy may feel a bit intimidated by her sometimes, but that didn't mean he didn't care about Lois' well-being.
"And after I'm through with you, I think I'm about due for a visit to my favorite ace reporter," Lois heard Corben say to Clark, as the former kept on punching the latter. "You know, that dame Lois Lane? How is she these days?"
"Why don't you ask the woman herself, jackass!" Lois shouted angrily, causing Metallo to turn in her direction, Clark still clutched in his hands.
"Speak of the devil," Metallo remarked, smiling. "I've missed you, bright eyes."
"Let go of him, Corben! You're killing him!" Lois exclaimed. Utilizing all her strength, she threw the brick at Metallo, hitting him square in the chest exactly where his kryptonite power source. Unsurprisingly, that proved even less effective than Barry's lightning toss.
"That's the basic idea," Metallo pointed out, delivering another punch to Clark's stomach, causing blood to start coming out of his mouth.
"Clark," Lois gasped, fearing for her husband's well-being. Seeing Clark so ill and feeble in that metallic son of a bitch's clutches nearly caused her eyes to water up, but Lois successfully prevented any tears from falling as she preferred to keep herself strong. It was times like that moment that she fervently wished she had special powers and abilities of her own so she could do more to help out. She'd always hated feeling so helpless, even when she was a little girl.
"Think about it, sweetheart," Metallo continued. "Maybe after your beloved Superman is out of the picture once and for all, you'll learn to love me the same way I've always love you."
"Screw you, Tin Man! That will never happen!" Lois spat out, as she glared hatefully at him. "Not in this lifetime! Not in any lifetime!"
"I'm willing to take the bet that you'll eventually come around and change your mind," Metallo said, as he then wrapped both of his hands around Clark's neck, preparing to squeeze the life out of the weakened Kryptonian.
Suddenly, having recovered from the pain in his chest, Barry reappeared, aimed his arms at Metallo, and rapidly spun them around. The resulting vortex sent Metallo off his feet and into the air. Metallo crash-landed on the ground a good thirty feet away.
"Nice job," Lois said to Barry. The two rushed over to Clark, who was already climbing back up to his feet.
"Clark," Lois breathed out, placing her hands on his cheeks and then stroking his hair. "Oh, Clark."
"Get somewhere safe, Lois," Clark instructed. "I know 'safe' isn't exactly a word in your personal dictionary, but you shouldn't be out here."
Lois nodded. "Please be careful, Smallville. I don't wanna lose you tonight."
"You won't," Clark assured her, stroking a lock of Lois' dark brown hair.
"Look out!" Lois suddenly shouted, as Metallo leapt back over to them.
Metallo grabbed Clark and flung him into a building, causing Clark to crash clean through the wall. Metallo then swung his arms at Barry several times, but Barry dodged the attacks. As Clark had instructed, Lois moved back onto the sidewalk and rejoined Jimmy's side.
Intending to give the lightning toss another shot, this time generating a larger and more powerful bolt, Barry super-sped in circles around Metallo. Metallo stamped on the pavement, causing Barry to abruptly get thrown backwards. Barry climbed back up just as Clark came back outside, hovering in the air.
"How do we defeat this guy?" Barry asked, looking up at Clark.
"We have to deactivate his heart," Clark answered.
"You mean that weird glowing green thing in his chest?" Barry asked. "That's his heart?"
"It's where all his power comes from," Clark explained. "But I get weak whenever I go near it. We power that down, we defeat him."
"Got it," Barry said. "Let's work together and give him a double whammy then. You hit him with your heat vision and I'll spin my arms around."
"All right," Clark nodded. Focusing his eyes directly on Metallo's kryptonite heart, he activated his heat vision and blasted Metallo's power source.
Barry, in the meantime, ran up to Metallo, trained his arms on the kryptonite heart, and once more spun them around. Metallo started screaming as the combination of Clark's heat vision and Barry's vortex was heavily damaging his power source. Once he was shut down, Metallo stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, completely motionless.
Barry and Clark approached the unconscious Metallo. "We did it," Barry said, though not entirely certain. He turned to Clark. "Did we?"
Clark suddenly moved a few inches back as he felt the painful effects of the kryptonite from Corben's depowered heart. "We did it," he assured Barry.
"Why exactly do you get weak whenever you go near him?" Barry asked.
"It's because of the green meteor rock in his chest," Clark explained. "It's called kryptonite, radioactive fragments of my destroyed home planet. If I'm exposed to it for too long, it can kill me."
Barry simply nodded in response to Clark's explanation.
Meanwhile, at the same time Clark and Barry had defeated Metallo, Solomon Grundy was also down for the count, albeit via the combined efforts of Bart, Cyborg, Stargirl, and Superboy. After all the villains were apprehended, they were taken to Stryker's Island Penitentiary for what wouldn't be the first time.
