Lois Lane stood in front of Jimmy Olsen, a thin ginger cameraman, as she prepared to deliver the story of her life. Around her were fifteen bodies with sheets stapled over them, and six more covered by body bags. Despite the chaos and bloodshed, Lois stood immune to the scene around her.

"We're live in three, two," Jimmy said, focusing the camera on Lois and the collapsed building behind her.

"Good evening, my name is Lois Lane. I'm at the east end of Metropolis where some kind of monster, rumored to be a space alien, has left behind immense destruction. We've confirmed the deaths of twenty-six people, with fourteen more in critical condition, and an unknown number more missing or dead. All residents of Metropolis East, Northherd, Wolf's Bridge, and Metropolis Square are advised to move to one of the city's many fallout shelters, or if you are unable to, a basement," as Lois finished saying this, a loud explosion came from far off, shortly accompanied by the complete collapse of a distant skyscraper. Lois looked back to the camera and continued, "As the destruction continues, we have only one question. Where is Superman?"

Gotham

Bruce Wayne pulled the cowl over his face, as Martian Manhunter stood behind him, and Dick Grayson to his left and Alfred to his right, all watching Lois' broadcast. Dick asked, "We're going to Metropolis?"

"We're not going anywhere," Bruce said. "Me and the Manhunter are going to see what we can do. This is too dangerous for you."

"Aw, come on!" Dick yelled. "I'm sixteen! I've beaten up like, two hundred guys! I can dodge bullets for crying out!"

"This is different. Whatever this is, it's strong. Superman strong."

On the screen before them came the limping and bloody figure of princess Diana, her lasso trailing behind her. Lois moved towards her, Jimmy following as she said, "Wonder Woman! Lois Lane, Daily Planet. Did you fight the monster responsible for this? What happened?"

Diana looked to her in fear and said, "There's no stopping this monster. I've killed monsters, gods even. But this… it's too strong. It won't stop until… until everything is dead."

Bruce then added to his earlier statement, "Stronger than Superman."

"What!? No way!" Dick exclaimed.

"On average, Superman is exactly equal to Wonder Woman in terms of strength. The maximum strength he's ever displayed has been during the summer, in the middle of the day, and it was only roughly 2.3 times that of Wonder Woman's peak strength. This thing, it beat her at the end of the day in fall through pure strength, then kept going. The best we're going to be able to do is stall it, and hope that with Superman on our side, we're enough."

Metropolis

As Batman prepared for his venture to Metropolis, another, stupider hero was already there. His name is Booster Gold, the leader of his own new team of super heroes, The Super Buddies™©. With him was millionaire Ted Kord, his boyfriend, who really only joined to be supportive. The only other two members they could find were The Wonder Twins (paten pending), Zan and Janya.

Booster Gold was the physical embodiment of narcissism. Which is fitting, as Narcissus was based off him. He towered over his teammates at 6'5, and despite his horrible diet was relatively thin. His hair was pure golden blond and his eyes as blue as the sea, with an all-star smile that would woe the coldest of hearts. His costume was simply a yellow-gold and black jumpsuit with a large star on his chest, and a pair of yellow tinted square goggles. That was of course technologically enhanced to grant him super strength and flight. Flying with him was also his robot companion, Skeets, who is just a golden oval with a red eye on it.

Ted was a bit out of shape, as he never intended to be a super hero. He's only 5'11, and is always slouching over, making him appear much shorter than his boyfriend. He dresses in a basic blue jumpsuit and mask with blue tinted goggles, and a basic utility built. Luckily, he also has several advanced pieces of technology, including a gun that produces various powerful soundwaves, a stun gun capable of bringing down a raging elephant, a grappling hook gun, and a device that can nearly instantly hack almost any piece of technology. Under his costume he hides reddish-brown hair and blue eyes, along with deep bags.

The Wonder Twins both stood at 5'8, and of course looked exactly the same. They both had short black hair, brown eyes, and a rather ambiguous skin tone and facial features. This was due to the fact that they were aliens, although if someone were to compare them to a human ethnicity it would land closest to Mongolian. They both even dressed in the same purple hoodie and black jeans. The only way to tell them apart was that Zan wears black lipstick, while Janya wears none.

Booster Gold had the brilliant plan of saving the day by fighting the monster tearing through Metropolis all by their selves. As they flew towards Metropolis Square in The Beetle, a blue bug shaped ship developed by Ted, he laid out his plan for The Super Buddies™©, "So, first I distract the monster, saving some terrified woman right before she's killed, then Janya turns into water,"

"I turn into water," Zan said.

"Then Zan turns into a dinosaur,"

"I'm Janya," Janya stated.

"As the monster charges towards poor defenseless me, I sock him in the face! Then Janya, you get all over him. Just, cover him in your water. Then Teddy, you shoot him with your taser and get him all toasty. Then Zan, you just! You just eat him! Just like that!"

"That's a terrible plan," Ted said from the cockpit as he pulled his mask on. "We're here."

"We're going to die," Zan and Janya both said at the same time.

Booster Gold approached Blue Beetle as he said, "Twins! That's not the Super Buddies™© spirit!"

Blue Beetle looked up at him in confusion and asked, "Did you just… say the trademark and copyright symbols out loud?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Booster replied. "So, where's the monster?"

Blue Beetle frantically looked back out to the streets below and exclaimed, "He was just," he was cut off ship lurched as the monster grabbed hold of its hull, before ripping it open and shoving its hand inside, reaching for wires to pull free. Blue Beetle quickly shouted, "Hang on! I'm bringing us in for a landing, and it'll probably be a crash!"

He was right, and Booster Gold should have strapped into a seat. As the ship crashed into the lifeless street, he went flying through the cockpit and tumbled across the road before coming to a stop twenty feet away. He quickly recovered, having only broken his goggles and cut open his cheek, before he froze in horror as he watched the monster climb onto The Beetle. It grabbed hold of Blue Beetle, of Ted, of HIS TED, before throwing him away like an old toy. Booster watched as Ted hit the side of a car, caving in its door, before going limp. He took off running towards his boyfriend as The Wonder Twins fought back against the monster and Skeets flew towards him from within the ship's wreckage.

Skeets quickly scanned Blue Beetle before saying, "Ted Kord is injured but alive. He has broken forty-two bones and ruptured a kidney."

Booster cried out, "Ted! Can you hear me!? Ted!?"

"He is unconscious. You should turn your attention to the rest of your team."

Janya charged forward in the form of a triceratops, headbutting the monster as she continued forward. Her middle horn just barely pierced the monster's chest and she only managed to push it away from the ship before it raised its arms into the air and brought them down over her back. Janya fell to the ground as Zan let out an alien curse, before taking the form of water and flowed towards the monster. It looked down in confusion as he snaked up its leg, before spreading out across its body. Unsure what to do, the monster began to claw at its own body in an attempt to get Zan off as he lowered his PH level to turn acidic.

Booster Gold rose to his feed and clenched his fists, which began to crack with electricity as the tasers built into his gloves activated. He walked forward with pure rage, before striking the monster in its back, the shock boosted by Zan. He delivered a second punch as it quickly turned, hitting him square in the chest in retaliation. Blood shot from Booster's mouth as he flew back into the wall of a building close to Ted, before the monster began to stalk forward, ignoring Zan.

The monster raised both its arms into the air as Booster Gold looked up at it in defeat, blood trickling down his chin. He could barely produce a whisper as he said, "Skeets… take care of Teddy…"

Before Skeets could deliver a reply, a strange green substance wrapped itself around the monster's fist before darting down to the ground behind it, holding the monster's arms up in the air. The substance took the form of the Martian Manhunter with his arms in the form of tendrils to keep the monster from killing Booster. Overhead flew the Batplane, before Batman himself dropped down to the ground dressed in a suit of power armor.

"You're late," Booster said as he attempted to stand, before coughing up more blood.

"You're lung's punctured," Batman said as he approached them. "Zan, get Booster and Kord out of here. Manhunter, once they're clear, move Janya."

"Wait, who are you?" Zan asked.

"Are you sure?" Martian Manhunter asked.

"I'm positive. This suit was designed to beat Superman. It'll hold."

Zan returned to his humanoid form in front of the monster and quickly moved towards Booster Gold, scooping him up as the hero yelled at him to get Ted first. Behind them, the Manhunter began to loose his grasp. Once Booster was clear Zan headed back for Ted, moving him quickly as well.

Once they were a few feet away Batman said, "Now."

Martian Manhunter let go and flew towards Janya's unconscious triceratops form. The creature smashed its arms into the ground, shattering both the sidewalk and the road, as Batman delivered a super powered punch to its ribs. The monster turned on him as he upper cut it and delivered another rib punch at the same time, before dodging out of the way as it grabbed at him. He quickly kicked it in the side of its left knee, hoping to break it, only for the monster to punch him in the left side, knocking him through the building.

The Batman landed in the empty waiting room of a dentist's office before quickly picking himself up as the monster closed in on him. His gauntlets crackled with electricity before he attempted to punch it in the face, only for the monster to grab his arm and deliver a punch to the chest, deeply cracking his armor. Still holding on to his arm it pulled its free arm back and delivered another punch to his head, shattering both his helmet and his mask, as well as cracking his skull.

He looked up through dim red vision as the monster prepared for one final blow. Just before it connected, Martian Manhunter tackled it, knocking it away from Batman, a second before Superman appeared, punching it in the chest hard enough to send it flying into the building across the street.

"I think I'm dead," Batman said as he fell to the ground.

"You're beat bad, pal," Superman said as he approached him. "Stay down. We'll handle this. Speaking of which, who are you?" he asked, looking to Martian Manhunter.

"I'm a friend of Batman's. You can call me the Martian Manhunter."

"Ah, figures. Pleased to meet you. I'm Superman."

Ahead of them the monster had recovered and began charging forward, roaring as it did so. Both Superman and Martian Manhunter flew forward at once, Superman far faster. He hit it with an uppercut to the chest that send it flying into the air, which allowed Martian Manhunter to turn his arms and legs to vines that quickly wrapped around it then hold it in place before it could fall back to the ground.

Superman began to hit the monster with all he had while Martian Manhunter bound it, each blow dealing enough damage to kill any one of his normal enemies. Each strike did little more than make it mad. With each strike its bone structure strengthened, allowing it to absorb more damage in the next hit. Then with no warning it broke its right arm free, hitting Superman in the side of the head, rupturing his right ear drum and sending him flying back towards the ground. Martian Manhunter attempted to bind it again but the monster moved too fast, grabbing hold of his head and crushing it in its fist, spilling green blood onto its hand before it fell back to the ground.

As the monster stood up Martian Manhunter crawled away, reforming into his humanoid shape while holding his injured head. Realizing he was blind he opened two eyes on his chest and began to slowly walk forward, attempting to find a safe place to recover. The monster paid no attention to him however and instead moved towards the recovering Superman. It grabbed him by the head and delivered a powerful blow to his ribs. Then another. And another. And another. Each blow tore away his costume, cutting open his body with the bones on its knuckles.

Superman let out a sustained blast from his heat vision for nearly twenty seconds before it burned through the monster's hand and it dropped him to his knees. He then spit out blood before flying forward, taking hold of the monster and slamming it into a car, completely destroying it. The monster simply punched him in the chest, knocking him off it, before it abruptly jumped high into the air.

Superman slowly got back to his feet, nearly falling over before he steadied himself. Then he quickly looked around for the monster, panic setting in. Then he heard it. He barely had time to move as it crashed into the ground, completely tearing through the road, taking him with it as it fell into the subway system.

The monster grabbed hold of Superman's legs and began to slam him into the walls of the tunnel, shaking its foundation. The sound of a train filled Superman's ears and he began to struggle free with more intensity, knowing what would happen if it reached them before he got free. It was of no use however, and soon bright light filled the dark tunnel.

It simply dropped him as the train approached, turning to take it on as it completely ignored Superman. Seeing his chance, he grabbed hold of its arms from behind and held it in place as the train hit them at full force, dealing the most damage to the monster. It wasn't done yet though, and began to elbow him in the face, before delivering a strike powerful enough to knock Superman off of it.

As Superman fell to the side of the train he watched in horror as the monster planted its feet into the tracks, suddenly stopping the train in its place with terrible effects as screams filled the tunnel. He flew forward as fast as he could, pulling cars down as they flipped over each other, making sure the damage couldn't escalate beyond a few broken bones. As he reached the front of the train, the monster raised the engine over its head and through it at Superman, hitting him dead on and knocking him back onto the top of a car as the engine fell to the ground, killing the engineer.

The monster leapt onto the train, landing directly over Superman. It raised its fist and punched him in the chest, tearing open the symbol on his chest and knocking both of them down into the car, causing even more screams. It hit him in the face, breaking his jaw, but Superman wasn't out of the fight yet. As the monster hit him again, he grabbed hold of its fist and delivered a blast of heat vision directly into its eyes, blinding it. The monster fell away from him as it groped its face, allowing him to grab hold of its leg and chest then raise it over his head and fly upwards, using it as a shield to tear through the various layers of concrete, dirt, and rock overhead.

Once above the street Superman didn't stop, intending to throw the monster into space. He didn't count on it recovering though. The monster suddenly grabbed hold of his arm and twisted itself off him, pulling up down towards the ground, before punching him in the ribs as it still held on. It grabbed hold of his cape and tore it from his back then threw him to the ground below. Superman hit the ground first, landing atop a van that he completely flattened. The monster landed a few seconds later, atop the wreckage of The Beetle, causing even more damage to the destroyed vehicle.

It stalked forward as flames enveloped the crashed ship, before it completely exploded, but still the monster walked forward. Superman got to his feet, refusing to back down, then charged at the monster with a roar. The monster roared in return as it raised its fist to meet him and open the claws on its left hand. Superman raised his left arm to block its punch as he hit the monster in its face with his right fist but didn't expect it to stab him in the gut. His eyes went wide with shock, then confusion, and finally pain, before the monster ripped its claws out and even more pain filled him.

Superman stumbled back as blood dripped onto the street, and he stared down at the large bloody hole in his abdomen. He looked back up at the monster loomed over him before Kara slammed her fist into the back of its head at the full force of someone who just broke the sound barrier, her scream of fury filling the air a few seconds later as she stood panting over the monster with its head lodged in the road. The monster's right eye popped out of its skull from the force of her blow, before the monster's skull was embedded into the pavement.

"Kara..." Superman weakly said, stepping towards her.

"Kal…" Kara replied as she looked to his wound in horror and sorrow.

The monster began to rise to its feet once again, pulling its head free, before turning to Kara. Superman growled, "No more," then took hold of its jaw and the top of its head once its back was turned.

He completely twisted its head around backwards, severing its spinal cord and finally killing the Doomsday monster before it could hurt his cousin. He dropped its body to the ground where it remained lifeless, nothing more than a husk of flesh and bone. Then he fell to the ground, coughing up large amounts of blood as Kara attempted to compress his wound. The Batman stumbled out from the building he had been to see Superman fall over, and Martian Manhunter watched as his breathing slowed while Kara took hold of his hand and softly cried.

He whispered to Kara, "Protect them…"

"No! Hang in there, Kal! Don't leave me now! You're all I have left!"

Lois Lane and Jimmy Olson arrived on scene just in time to see the downed hero, her heart breaking at the sight of him bleeding to death. She froze in place for several seconds before she ran towards him, dropping her microphone to the ground, before she fell to her knees at his side.

"Clark, that's you, isn't it?" she asked, looking to him with tears in her eyes.

"Hi… Lois…" he said before coughing up more blood. "I'm sorry…"

"It's not your fault… you had to keep it secret. I get it."

"I meant… for being late…"

Lois laughed for a moment before she began to cry then choked out, "You jerk! Don't leave me now, damn it!"

"I'm… sorry… Kara, remember… what I told you…"

"Don't die! The world needs a Superman!"

"It has one…" he whispered, looking to Kara, before his eyes fell shut.

"I… I don't hear his heart beat," Kara said, before she began to shake him. "Wake up! Please! Wake up!"

"He's gone, kid," Lois said, putting her hand on Kara's shoulder.

In that moment, as the heroes of Earth watched as their greatest champion die, no one would know just how devastating it would be. The entire world would weep for Superman, and for just a moment all would be unified in memorial. But the world needs a Superman, especially in times of Crisis.