Quote from the animated movie Superman Doomsday: There comes a time when even Gods must die.

Author's Note: Take the quote above as a sign of what happens in this chapter and thanks to all those who have written reviews.


Clark and Lois walk in to the lounge to find Chloe with the tv on.

"What is so important Chloe?" Lois asks.

"Look" she says while she points at the tv screen.

On the tv is news coverage of the creature rampaging its way through Metropolis.

"What is that thing?" Lois asks.

"No-one knows. It just appeared and nothing can seem to stop it" Chloe tells them. "That's why I'm here since no-one could reach you any other way"

"We sort of turned everything off so we could be alone" Clark tells Chloe. "What about Kara? Hasn't she been able to stop it?" Clark asks.

Chloe shakes her head. "No. Not even her" she answers.

Clark's eyes widen with worry for his cousin "Is she alright?"

"I don't know. Haven't heard from her." Chloe admits honestly. "The League is battling it as we speak but if Kara couldn't stop it…" Chloe leaves it unsaid but her train of thought is rather obvious . If someone as powerful as Kara failed then even the League probably can't stop it.

In a blink of an eye Clark is in his Superman outfit. "I have to go." Then his ears are assaulted by a high pitch squeal he knows only too well. Next thing he knows he is standing in the darkness surrounded by a column of light. "Father!" he calls out.

"Kal-El. My son. I need to warn you" Jor-El speaks.

"About the creature?"

"Yes. It is known to me. It's creators built it to be the perfect soldier, precise, clinical unstoppable but they soon realised it could not tell friend from foe. So this doomsday machine lives to exterminate any and all life because it must"

"That is why I must stop it"

"Even you may not have the power to stop it Kal-El. Confront it and you may perish" Jor-El warns him.

"Innocent people are dying. I have to try"

"I know. Your mother and I are always with you Kal-El and we are proud of you." With that Clark finds himself back in his apartment.

"Clark?" Lois asks him as he went rigid for a minute.

"I'm fine. It was just Jor-El speaking to me"

"What did he want?" Chloe asks.

"To warn me"

"About the creature. What did he say?"

"It doesn't matter. I have to stop it" Clark goes up to Lois and gives her an achingly sweet and passionate kiss. "Stay here" he tells her and then he zips off.

"Oh god" Lois says with a fearful tone.

"Lois. What?" Chloe asks.

"He doesn't know if he is coming back"

"How do you know?"

"Because he didn't promise me he would be" Lois explains. Clark always promises he'll come back to her.

Chloe puts her arms around Lois. "It'll be alright." she tells Lois even though she isn't sure of that herself.


Clark soon finds himself on the trail of the creature. He is about to rush ahead of it when he notices a splash of red among the ruins of a building. "Kara!" He flies down and digs her out and examines her. He has never seen her so beaten up. There are bruises and cuts and as he scans her a broken bone in her left arm. At least she isn't bleeding internally. "Kara" he repeats.

Kara's eyes flutter open "Kal?" she says in a croaky voice. The last thing she remembers is that creature hitting her.

"I'm here" Clark reassures her.

"That creature. I've never fought anything with that kind of power. I couldn't stop it. I've failed you"

"No Kara. Never believe that but I am going to have to reset the bone in your arm"

Kara nods in understanding and braces herself. Clark snaps the bone back in place and Kara screams out.

"Easy. It's done." he tells her as he picks her up. "You'll be fine after some rest" he tells her as he flies up and towards the centre of Metropolis. Once there he finds the rest of the Justice League fighting the creature and losing badly. He spots Oliver picking himself up and lands next to him. "Arrow" Clark greets him.

Oliver is just picking himself up after trying to stop this thing but they can't even make a mark on it. He spots Clark land next to him with Kara in his arms. "Superman. What happened to her?"

"That thing happened to her. Here take her" he says as he hands her over to Oliver.

"Kal. Don't. You can't stop it" Kara pleads with him.

"Look after her" he tells Oliver.

"I will" Oliver promises.

Clark stokes Kara's cheek. "You always were my favourite cousin"

"I'm your only cousin" Kara jokes weakly.

Clark smiles "Take care of yourself Kara" he tells her as he flies off in pursuit of that doomsday machine as his father called it. He flies into it, and punches it with everything he has. Every punch sends ripples of pain up his arms. The creature catches his fist and squeezes with such pressure like Clark has never felt and knocks him away like he's nothing. It then picks him up throws him a few feet in front of it and then kicks him sending him flying several block until he crashes into the side of a building. Oh god had that hurt. He picks himself up, dusts himself down and flies back off towards it.


By now the rest of the League have gathered around Oliver and Kara and are watching the fight. They've all been hurt trying to stop it to varying degrees. Bart, Victor and AC are all currently unconscious but thankfully still alive.

"We can't help him can we?" Dinah asks as she limps over next to Oliver.

Bruce shakes his head and holds what he knows are broken ribs. "No. We can't even make a dent in it. It's up to Superman now"

"And if he fails?" Oliver asks him.

"He won't. Kal always find a way to win in the end" Kara tells them even if she doesn't totally believe that herself.


Clark's next attack ends up with the creature smashed through a truck but still it gets back up. Clark lets out a breath. This is taking everything he has just to keep up with it. Wait. On it's rock like skin are tiny but noticeable purple marks. He can damage it. He flies at it once more and his fist connects with its fist sending a shockwave out and sending both him and the creature flying back from the rebound. His foot digs into the ground causing it to crack under the force as he pushes himself back towards it. He knees it in the face and then grabs it and flips it over his head and sends it flying through the air with him in pursuit.

From his office Lex watches as the creature flies past his window through the building across the street with Superman in pursuit with a sonic boom that cracks his window. This is wrong. Superman has usually won by now so why hasn't he?

"I can't just sit here and watch Clark on the tv fight out there alone" Lois tells Chloe as she heads for the door. She can't take this anymore. Clark needs her.

"Lois! Wait! What are you doing?" Chloe asks her.

"I am going to my fiancé and don't you dare try and stop me Chloe" Lois warns her.

Chloe sighs. This is so stupid and dangerous and typically Lois. "I'll come with you" she says as they both exit the apartment.


Clark follows the creature as it lands in an electricity substation and several thousand volts flow through it. He is just about to attack it again when it grabs his head and drags him along the ground carving out a trench as they go. It then jumps in the air and throws him through the road and they land in a subway tunnel with the creature's hands around his throat squeezing the life out of him. He concentrates his heat vision and hits it with a blast that would vaporise most things. All it does this time is knock the creature away. Clark gets to his feet and tries to regain his breath but the creature is already back up and charging at him. It hits him sending him into the tunnel wall. Before he can even think of moving it is pounding him deeper and deeper into the wall.

Chloe can't believe Lois is doing this and worse she is going along with it. They are driving towards downtown Metropolis when suddenly Clark flies up through the road directly in front of them and lands in a heap. "Clark!" Lois exclaims as she slams on the brakes. Before either her or Chloe move the creature comes bursting up and lands in front of them as well. It looks at them with soulless, glowing red eyes and is about to smash the car with them in it when Clark picks it up and throws it into a building across the street which promptly collapses from the force of the impact. He leans against the car catching a breath as Lois gets out.

"Lois you shouldn't be here" Clark tells her. God he hurts all over. He has never hurt this much before.

Lois can see Clark is actually hurt. There is an actual bruise on his face and his eye is beginning to swell up. "You're hurt" she says with some considerable concern.

Just then the rubble of the building across the street stirs. "You need to leave now" Clark tells both her and Chloe.

Lois grabs Clark's hand "Superman don't…"

Clark cuts her off "This is why I'm here"

The creature emerges from the rubble. "Go now" he says forcefully.

Chloe grabs Lois and drags her off behind some cover. From there they watch Clark and the creature continue their battle which is slowly destroying downtown Metropolis. As time passes one thing becomes brutally clear. Clark is losing. They try to follow Clark or more correctly Lois won't let him out of her sight and Chloe follows her. They come across Jimmy.

"Jimmy! What are you doing here!?" Chloe demands to know of her husband.

"What am I doing here!? What are you doing here!?" Jimmy asks back.

"I asked you first" Chloe points out.

Jimmy holds up his camera "My job"

Clark suddenly lands in a heap not too far away from them. "I've never seen him take such a beating" Jimmy comments as he witnesses Superman struggle to get back to his feet.

The creature picks Clark up by the neck and proceeds to punch him repeatedly in the stomach. The next thing Lois knows is that she is being splattered by something red. She wipes her hand over her face and realises with horror that it is blood, Clark's blood. The creature drops him and Clark holds his stomach while he coughs up more blood. He's losing. He knows that but he can't stop fighting. It is up to him now to protect everyone. Even though he has managed to make several more he guesses bruises on the creature's skin it doesn't seem to notice them or maybe it just doesn't feel pain or tiredness as it relentlessly gets up every time he manages to knock it down. There has to be a way to stop this thing, a weak spot, something. It picks him up again and draws its fist back.

Lois has watched enough. She has to do something, even if all she can do is distract it and give Clark a rest bite. She moves out behind the creature and shouts. "Hey!"

Clark focuses on the voice. Oh god no. Lois! The creature drops him and moves towards Lois. It is then Clark knows what he must do. It's funny how calm he actually feels at the realisation. The creature raises its fists to pound Lois possibly quite literally flat and summoning what strength he has left Clark superspeeds over and grabs it around the waist. The ground buckles as he propels them both skyward faster and faster and high above the Earth he turns them round and pushes them earthward but even now the creature continues to fight him. Clark accelerates as the fireball of re-entry forms around them and he plunges them as fast as he can into the ground.


Lois, Chloe and Jimmy spot the fireball above them and watch it plunge into the ground not too far away from them. The blast wave knocks them off their feet. Lois pushes herself up and runs towards the now crater. As she approaches she can see Clark's red cape torn and tattered fluttering in the breeze caught on a piece of metal. Then a shadow appears in the dust and out from it comes "Superman!" Lois shouts. She rushes over just as he collapses to the ground.

Lois cradles his head. His suit is torn and she can see that he is cut, bleeding, bruised and his eye is now swollen shut. She has never seen him this badly hurt before. "Superman" she speaks to him praying he responds.

Clark tries to focus his one good eye. "Lois…are you…is everyone…" he struggles to get the words out to ask.

"We're fine. You did it. Everyone's safe" she assures him.

A small pained smile appears on Clark's face "Good. That is all…that…matters." he says and then the darkness consumes him as he takes his last breath and he doesn't fight it because he knows at least Lois is safe. To him personally that is all that truly matters.

"Clark?" Lois asks in a tiny voice. Tears are already running down her cheeks and she breaks out sobbing uncontrollably over Clark's body as he breathes no more.

Both Chloe and Jimmy are also sobbing as they hold each other while back in Smallville Martha collapses to her knees sobbing in front of the tv where she had been watching it all on the news. Oh god Clark. Her precious little boy. This can't have happened, not to Clark. She can't have lost him too.

Lex turns from watching the battle on the tv to staring back out his window. Superman is dead and what annoys him is that he discovers he really isn't happy about it like he thought he would be. Why not? Why isn't he thrilled that Superman is dead? Because he wasn't the one who did it he suddenly realises. This is unacceptable. He'll have to think of some way to turn this around to his advantage somehow.

Oliver, Dinah and Zee make their way into the crater and discover much to their relief that is the creature really is dead. They had followed the battle as best they could. It wasn't easy considering how fast Clark and that creature moved at. Bruce had been right Oliver realised as they watched the fight. They could do nothing. It was all up to Clark. As they watched it, it was only then Oliver thinks he truly realised just how powerful Clark really is. Oliver had left Kara with AC and Victor and Bart who were in no shape to be coming down here. Saying that neither was Dinah but she insisted saying she wouldn't leave his side. As they study the creature they can see there really is no more glow from its eyes. Clark has done it. It is dead. He can see Bruce on the rim making his way down. "What about Superman?" he asks as Bruce had gone to check on him.

Bruce places his hand on Oliver's shoulder. "He's gone"

Both Dinah and Zee take a sharp intake of breath. "No" Dinah says unable to believe it.

Oliver doesn't believe it either and clambers his way back up to the rim of the crater and finds Lois crying over Clark's lifeless form. There is no getting away from it. Superman is dead.


Author's Note: I was inspired a lot by the animated movie Superman Doomsday when I was writing this. Love that movie especially the music as he fights and eventually dies battling Doomsday. Must have seen it at least 10 times. Anyway next up the immediate aftermath of Superman's death and how do people cope with his death.