DISCLAIMER: Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Cyborg was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. I do not own any of the main characters involved in this story. This story exists in my own fan-made continuity and should not be considered to be part of any already defined by the comics, television series, or movies, though it takes cues from other established continuities created for Superman and Teen Titans. Also, elements of Cyborg's back-story in this fanfiction are borrowed by the character Steel, created by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove.
Despite being long after the morning rush hour and being an hour before lunch, 11 AM is still a busy time out in the streets of Metropolis. After all, it IS a city with a population of millions, and not all of them have the same time-table for their work schedule. So, on this day in central Metropolis, the most densely packed part of the city, there were still people in the streets making their way to work, be it walking on the sidewalks or getting themselves caught in traffic.
It's often-times a child that sees first. After all, they're the ones that are looking to the sky the most, usually out of boredom while their parents are taking them for walks. They'd be looking up, making patterns out of clouds, admiring the sun, or as is often the case in Metropolis, looking up to see if Superman flies past. As a result, the children are usually the first to see when trouble arrives in Metropolis.
Today would be no different, as a 7-year-old with red pigtails tugged on her mother's jacket, pointing to the sky. "Mommy, lookit! Up in the sky!"
"What is it, Tisha?" the mother asked, too busy to look. "A bird?"
"No, looks more like a plane," Tisha replied.
The mother finally looked, her eyes widening in horror at the object dropping toward the city. "...That's not a plane...!"
Sure enough, a little less than a kilometre away, the massive robot that was at least 60 feet tall came stomping down into the city streets with a thud that could be heard across town. It was completely grey, save for the green liquid Kryptonite flowing in the vein-like tubes across its body. Its skull-like head featured jaws that looked like they could munch through a half-ton truck with no difficulty. Its giant steel fists clenched hard, looking ready for a fight.
Knowing he'd need some extra assurance that the Man of Tomorrow would show, John Corben hit a button from inside the cockpit of the robot. Within moments, the shoulders of the robot opened to reveal an array of missiles that opened heavy fire on Metropolis, nearly blowing apart several nearby buildings. If the people weren't running in terror then, it was only because the destruction left them without legs to run on. Corben grinned, seeing the ruination all around him, knowing there was no way Superman could ignore such an attack.
"...Just a matter of time now," Corben said to himself, readying all weapons.
Clark's eyes widened in horror at the sight across town from his balcony. This robot was far bigger than the one Victor and Kara described, and looked to be packing far more destructive weaponry. Now it was attacking Metropolis, a city of 11,000,000 people. All those innocents, unable to defend themselves, just to get his attention. He couldn't help but feel his eyes turn slightly red with heat just looking at it, his fists clenching hard enough to crush a small moon.
"So, that's the death machine, huh?"
Clark turned to face Lois, who was standing in the doorway to their apartment with a pair of binoculars. She looked a bit nervous by the appearance of the robot, but managed to shrug it off upon facing Clark. Those eyes of his. Yes, they were filled with righteous fury, but underneath that, was sadness mixed with the desire, no, the NEED to protect the people of Metropolis. Even seeing the damaged buildings was enough to bring grief to him. That's how much he cared for this city.
"...Well?" Lois asked. "You know what you're going to do, so go do it."
Clark nodded as he unbuttoned his shirt, revealing the emblem of the House of El on his costume underneath. "I know you won't leave, but keep your distance from that thing, and see if you can use that chopper you always hijack to get some people to safety."
"Hey, I'll have you know I didn't 'hijack' that helicopter," Lois retorted with a smirk. "It's a loaner. One of the many advantages of being an army brat."
Clark let himself smile a little before turning back to face the devastation down-town. With one swift movement, he tore his suit off, revealing his blue and red costume and cape. Then, with a speed matched by less than a handful of individuals on Earth, he rocketed himself from the balcony, making a B line for Corben's robot. With what few seconds he had before his arrival, though, he pulled out a communicator, holding it to his ear.
"Cyborg, what's your status?" Superman asked. "Is the package ready?"
"Should be, but we haven't had a chance to test it out!" Victor replied while huffing, clearly running from S.T.A.R. Labs to the site of the attack. "Guess this'll have to be the test!"
"What about Kara?" the Man of Tomorrow inquired.
"Last I saw her, she was in a medical bay," Vic explained, "but that was a couple of hours ago, so-"
"She's going after Corben's robot!" Superman interjected.
"...Yeah, that sounds like the most likely possibility," the Man of Steel agreed.
"No, I mean I can see her up ahead going after Corben's robot!" Kal-El yelled.
Sure enough, up ahead of Superman, Kara had managed to beat him to Corben. With a feral yell, she slammed a fist into the robot's skull, almost knocking it clean off its feet. The robot turned to face her, launched a half-dozen rockets at her, but lucky for her, Kal-El had managed to arrive, heat visioning them all to bits before taking a deep breath and blowing Corben's machine down, flat on its back with a massive thud.
"Nice timing, cousin!" Kara complimented.
Superman turned to face her. In his rush, he hadn't quite noticed, but she was wearing a VASTLY different costume. It was a white leotard of sorts, tight like spandex, only the material was the same light armour his costume was made of. She wore padded blue gloves and boots, a red belt, and a marvellous red cape. Less impressive to Clark, however, were the VERY high cut leg holes, and the opening on the chest area. Not too much that she'd be arrested for indecent exposure, mind you, just somewhat distressing for Kal-El to see on his cousin.
"...What...?" Superman stammered, Kara frowning in annoyance.
"Look, I'm really sorry, but I HAD to change costumes," Kara declared. "I can't just be Superman's kid cousin forever."
"I'm fine with that, but couldn't you have picked out a costume less...risqué?" Clark asked.
Kara just looked herself over and shrugged. "...What? It's not like I made it, it's female Kryptonian battle gear. Besides, it shows me for what I am: A strong, healthy woman who isn't ashamed of her form. I'm a walking, fighting, flying Power Girl."
Superman scratched the back of his head. "...Well, I suppose the lack of restriction probably DOES help in a fight-"
"Excuse me..."
Superman and the newly christened 'Power Girl' turned to face the giant steel fist of Corben's robot just as it slammed into them both, sending them crashing to the streets below. Clark groaned as he pulled himself from the ruined pavement, just in time to catch Corben shooting liquid Kryptonite through hoses protruding from the robot's fingers. Superman grabbed his cousin and quickly leaped out of the way of the sprays, the two landing on a nearby rooftop.
"It packs a wallop, and it's just barely slower than us," Power Girl observed, using her super-breath to blow away and deflect incoming missiles, sending them crashing into each other in mid-air. "One false move, and we're dead for sure. Any suggestions?"
"We can't continue this fight here in the city," Superman replied, using his x-ray vision on nearby buildings. "There are still people trying to escape, and this fight will only cause more damage. But there's no way we'll be able to carry him all the way out of the city."
Kara Zor-El growled out of frustration for a second before an idea hit. "...Hold on. Isn't there a park under construction that's completely sealed off and evacuated? And like, REALLY close to here?"
Kal-El smirked, getting out his communicator again. "Cyborg, where are you?"
"Not far from y'all!" Victor answered.
"We've got a plan," Superman explained as he and Power Girl flew off the rooftop to avoid more blasts of liquid Kryptonite. "Think you can help us force Corben's robot into Centennial Park?"
"Oh, I think I can swing that...!" Cyborg yelled, hanging up. Within moments of this, the Man of Steel could be seen leaping from a rooftop, drawing his sledgehammer as the actual hammer section suddenly expanded. Accompanied by the loud battle cry of "BOOYAH!", Cyborg slammed the massive hammer into the skull of Corben's robot, sending the giant crashing and sliding down the street. Then, before Corben could regain control and plant the robot's feet to the ground, Superman and Power Girl grabbed hold of the steel legs and flung it into the sky, landing with a horrible thwomp into the middle of the under-construction Centennial Park. The three heroes quickly entered the park themselves, Superman and Power Girl carrying Cyborg in before landing gently in the centre of the park.
"Think he might be down for the count?" Vic asked, just before having to shoot down an incoming rocket. "...Nevermind."
"We need to stop that thing, and that means getting in close," Superman exclaimed. "The dagger?"
Cyborg nodded, opening a panel on his hip to reveal a dagger holstered inside a hidden compartment. He pulled the dagger out, its light blue blade shining in the sunlight. Vic then turned to face Corben's robot as it got back to its feet, his one good eye narrowed.
"...Well, guess we're gonna find out if this really works or not in a second..." the Man of Steel commented.
Faster than anyone could say "Let's do this!", the three heroes found themselves running or flying out of the way of gallons of liquid Kryptonite and a barrage of rockets. Superman did his best to heat vision the rockets down, while Power Girl flung them into each other, all just to keep Cyborg clear of the attack. As he was getting close, however, the knees of the robot opened, revealing massive laser cannons. Seeing this just in the nick of time, Superman managed to fly down and take the intense blast, acting as a shield for Victor, who could only watch in horror as the Man of Tomorrow was blasted into the ground, but didn't stop. Leaping up and over the fallen hero, he reached his arm back before thrusting hard into a glowing green tube on the robot's body.
"What the-?!" Corben shrieked from inside the cockpit as the dagger began to break down in the robot's 'veins'. "...I don't know what you just did, but you're gonna pay for it!"
Cyborg barely managed to catch the giant steel foot that kicked out at him, but quickly found a metal fist coming down from above and smashing him into the ground below. Seeing both Superman and Cyborg down, Power Girl grit her teeth in anger and immediately flew down, feeling her hands heat up suddenly. With a yell that would make any human man scream "PANTS TO BE DARKENED!", she punched the robot's fist clean off, shattering it into pieces. Unfortunately, despite this small victory, Kara groaned as she felt herself start to lower toward the ground, her energy severely drained from that one punch.
"...That was a mistake...!" Corben yelled, firing a huge column of liquid Kryptonite into Power Girl and sending her crashing into a nearby tree, Superman watching helplessly as he pulled himself up.
"Kara!" Clark yelled, John Corben's robot looming over him.
"She was just for starters, Superman," Corben said with an evil sneer. "You're next, and I'm gonna enjoy every second of breaking you and leaving you buried in this park!"
AUTHOR NOTES: ...What, you honestly didn't expect me to finish the final climactic battle in one chapter, did you? lol
Couple of things I wanna point out. Yes, "PANTS TO BE DARKENED!" was a Wonder Woman pilot reference, specifically from the review that Linkara, Nash, and Film Brain of Channel Awesome did. If you haven't seen it...well, I don't really wanna give context, since I'd rather you check it out yourselves. The other thing is, if the name 'Centennial Park' sounds familiar to you, that's where they buried Superman after Doomsday killed him in the comics. And no, that hasn't happened in the canon of my fanfics, I just thought it'd be cute that they took the fight there, especially given what Corben says at the end.
About Power Girl. As I mentioned before, this interpretation of Kara is still learning the true depths of her powers. She can tap into physical power that dwarfs Superman's, including a slightly modified version of Atom's atomic punch (albeit this one is powered by yellow sun energy and is not nuclear), but she doesn't have anywhere near the mastery he does over their other abilities, and using them wastes a LOT of energy. Also, her costume is the classic one first shown in All Star Comics #58, though slightly more detailed to look like some of the armoured costumes we've seen Superman in as of late.
...While we're on the subject, by the way, I would just like to define my opinion on Superman wearing armour: I'm fine with it, provided it actually looks like the Superman costume. After all, we've seen him fight opponents with access to one or more of his weaknesses. It only makes sense that he'd want more protection in case of such an event. Plus, while I'm aware that Superman's bio-electrical field surrounds his costume, thus generally protecting it from being torn to shreds in battles, there have been occasions where that didn't work out so well, so a more durable costume would make sense there...Anyway, mini-rant over. lol
Anyway, check in next time to see if Superman, Power Girl, and Cyborg can emerge victorious against John Corben. Ja né!
