Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or Dc characters seen, mentioned or used in this story
Year One…
Peter had to blink a few times to help his vision adjust as he, Batman, Black Canary and Catwoman appeared in the hideout after the less than stealer trip to Superman's fortress in the artic for the secret super soldier pill
"Their back!" Black Lightning said as he was manning the console for the teleporter
Peter slowly pulled himself from Catwoman's side and stood on wobbly feet "Good news everyone, the trip sucked!"
Batwoman walked up to them followed closely by Huntress
"Did you get it?" Batwoman asked hesitantly
Batman said nothing as he placed the small pill on the teleporter console for everyone to see
"That's the secret meta making tech, a fuckin pill?" Tarantula said in disbelief while he made his way to check on Peter along with Anti-venom and Black Cat who looked horrified at the state of Peter's chest
"In a handbasket, what were you expecting? Some kind of ray gun or something?" Peter said as he rubbed his chest and say down on the teleporter "Or maybe some kind of irradiated animal?"
"Either one is better than some damn aspirin!" Tarantula growled out as he glared at the pill
"Where are Atom and Green Arrow?" Huntress asked as she saw that their resident strongman and archer were nowhere to be seen. She looked towards a saddened Dinah "Dinah?"
The blonde simply turned away and began to make her way down the hall with Huntress watching her go in concern "Dinah!"
"What the hell happened out there?" Black Lightning asked in shock
"We got our asses kicked by a paranoid alien that refused to listen to reason" Peter growled out
"Lightning, Superman is no longer than man we knew. He's gone" Batman said quietly as he finally came to accept that his friend was well and truly gone.
Clark Kent died that day along with Metropolis…
Batman grabbed the pill and began to make his way to the teleporter much to the team's confusion
"We're out of time. I suggest you all find somewhere to hide. I believe he'll be coming for us" Batman said as he stepped on to the teleporter
"Where are you going?" Batwoman asked in confusion
"The cave. My computer there is the best chance we have of analyzing this. Once I know how it's made I should be able to synthesize it. It could be our only chance to stand against him"
Catwoman did not look too pleased to hear this as she rushed after him "Superman will be coming for you!"
"I know" the dark knight said in a grim tone
"The cave is the first place he's going to look for you" Black Cat said as she stood beside Peter and rubbed his shoulder in comfort
"I know" Batman said as he turned to address Catwoman "I just need to buy enough time for the analysis"
"You need to buy enough time?" Catwoman said as she crossed her arms and gave him a hard look "In case you haven't noticed, you're not the only one here"
Batman looked at Catwoman with a blank stare, his face and eyes betraying nothing of his internal thoughts on the matter. Peter winced as he felt his healing factor begin to kick into overdrive. At his estimations, he'll be hopefully back to one hundred percent by the end of the day
'Can defiantly say that I've missed the enhanced healing factor' Peter thought as he rubbed his wrists remembering that they produced stingers earlier 'Won't be long until the 'other' things come…'
"Bruce, if you think that for one second that I'm letting you face him alone, then you're out of your damn mind!" Catwoman said in an angry tone as she poked the caped crusader in the chest with a claw
"Which is why I'm going with him" Peter said as he stood up and began to make his way towards the teleporter while ignoring the low growl of disproval from Black Cat "Sides I have a doctrine in Biochemistry and bioengineering. You gonna need my help probably"
"You're not going to stop him?" Black Lightning said to the members of the Spider clan as he gestured to Spider-man's departing form
"Trust me, even if we said something he'd still do it" Tarantula said with a sigh "Like trying to reason with a hurricane"
"More like a stubborn jackass" Anti-venom chuckled
"He's faced worse in even worse conditions" Felicia said with a shrug but kept a worried gaze on Peter's form
Batman watched Peter stand next to him and gave the dark knight a look "Bat's if you know me as well as I think you do, then you should know that there's no point in arguing"
"I'll have a better chance of facing him if I don't have to worry about you" Batman gave the wounded arachnid a hard stare
"Oh shut up! Cut the stoic crap and let us help you Bruce!" Catwoman pleaded as she took a step towards Batman who has yet to face her directly "You want everyone to think you're this invulnerable, infallible thing, but I know that's not true. I've seen your scars, hell I've heard you snore"
"Did not need to know that" Peter said with a deadpanned look
Catwoman than forcibly turned Batman around and gripped the front of his cape "Your human, he's not! He'll crush both of-"
Catwoman was cut off as Batman pulled her into a searing kiss that caused quite a few people to look away in embarrassment. Peter felt his eye twitch at the display and looked over towards Tarantula who shrugged
Batman pulled out of the kiss and gave Selina a look of regret "I'm sorry…"
Bruce held up a small capsule and sprayed Selina in the face with a powerful tranquilizer
"BRUCE NO DON'T-" Catwoman tried to fight it but was almost instantly rendered unconscious as Batman grabbed her to keep her from falling to the floor
Huntress let out a sigh as she approached the duo "She won't forgive you for this you know"
"I know, but she can be pissed off and alive. Cassandra and Jason are going to need her more than I will…" Bruce said with a heavy heart as he handed the woman he loved off to the purple clad vigilante and turned to see Peter standing there with narrowed lenses
"Try pointy ears and let's see if I don't kick your ass. Besides I still have a score to settle with Superman and I ain't gonna let a blast of nuclear energy stop me from kicking his ass!" Peter said with a slight growl in his tone
"He'll kill you" Batman stated as he came to stand next to the wall crawler
"Yeah, he can get in line" Peter said with a snort as he crossed his arms "Thankfully you still have some Kryptonite in your cave"
Batman gave him a side glance before addressing the team as the teleporter started up "Hide all of you. Go deep underground. If this works, I'll find you"
"Don't forget to hit the lights when you leave" Peter said as he and Batman were teleported to the Batcave
…
The moment the light faded Peter and Bruce rushed over to the computer and began to set it up to scan the pill. Peter placed the pill on the scanner while Bruce rushed to begin the analysis
"I don't have any more kryptonite… you know this" Bruce said as he entered in the scanning sequence
"I know, it was for their benefit not mine" Peter said with a shrug as he pressed a few dials and started up the scanner. On the Batcomputer a screen showing the analysis rate at one percent appeared and slowly rising
ZZZT
A monitor next to it switched on and showed a faint outline of a figure "…He's comingZZZT…ZZZT…He's coming"
"Yeah that's not creepy in anyway but they ain't wrong" Peter said as he felt his spider sense begin to tingle
Bruce narrowed his eyes at the screen "Who is this? How did you-"
"LEAVE NOW!" the figure said urgently
Peter cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders as the tingling increased in strength and frequency. They didn't have long
"We can't, it's not ready" Batman said in a grave tone as he began to steady his breathing for the coming fight he knows will happen
"He's coming!" the figure repeated before Bruce stared at the screen
"No… he's not" Bruce said in a quiet tone
Peter didn't have to turn around, his spider sense was telling him all he needed to know as he slowly turned around while Bruce kept staring at the static filled screen
"He's already here"
ZZZT
Standing there was Clark only his suit was badly damaged and he still had a few fading bruises and cuts on his face. It was obvious that his fight with Captain Atom or likely the explosion he caused was a bit much for even the man of steel himself
"I took away all the mad men" Clark said as he glared at Peter and a slowly turning Bruce "But I left the original. And like them, like all your insane reflections, you'd see this world burn!"
"Ironic, coming from the guy who has heat vision" Peter said as he stepped in front of Clark "Than again you haven't always been the most intelligent from what I've hear-"
Peter was interrupted as Clark grabbed him by the front of his suit, or what's left of it and held him up with his eyes glowing red "Be careful how you speak to me!"
"Or what? You gonna kill me to?" Peter growled back with rage in his eyes
"Why are you here Clark?" Bruce demanded as he saw that the analysis was at twenty six percent, they just needed a bit more time
Clark turned to address Bruce "I'm here to put an end to this!"
"Oh well than we accept your surrender" Peter sneered as he glared down at Superman's face
"Clark, you're not here for that" Bruce said as he took a step forward "If you wanted to kill us, we'd be dead already. You didn't have to face us"
"Unless your one of those up close and personal types" Peter said with a snort
Bruce shot Peter a look before returning his gaze towards Clark "Clark with your powers you could have easily lobotomized me or Peter from orbit"
"But that would imply intelligence which again you don't seem to have" Peter stated which caused Clark to raise a bloodied finger at Peter
"Not one more wor-"
"Is that Ollie's blood your covered in?" Bruce growled out as he saw the bits of blood on Superman's torn suit and hands
Clark looked down at the floor "He-"
"Was one of the most ethical and compassionate friend we had!" Bruce nearly shouted in rage
"Go on Clark, justify his death" Peter said in a dark tone "Bruce here can call Dinah up right now so you can why he had to die for the greater good!"
Bruce chanced a quick glance at the screen and saw that it was at thirty seven percent
Peter also saw this before he stared at Clark with a look of contempt "You know I'm starting to see why my wife left you all those years ago, she saw that deep down beneath the smiles and superpowers you were nothing more than some selfish little brat that when things got tough decided to throw a goddamn temper tantrum"
STOP TALKING!" Clark yelled as he threw Peter across the cave and had him land painfully on the Batwing
"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you" Bruce said with a glare as Clark turned towards him "If we both just stopped talking"
Clark growled as he shoved Bruce away and had him crash into a nearby group of stalagmites. Bruce grunted in pain as he slowly stood up glaring at his former friend "I bet your hoping that I throw on a metal suit and hit you over and over again. Who knows, maybe have Peter there expose you to some Kryptonite so that you can feel pain!"
Peter slowly removed himself from the damaged jet and looked over towards the screen to see that it was at fifty four percent
'Just a little more time' Peter thought with a wince as he felt one of his ribs shift, indicating it was broken 'Yeah… just a little more time and a damn suit of armor'
He then leaped up into the rafters and slowly began to make his way over the two while keeping the percentage rate of the analysis in sight.
Meanwhile Bruce was slowly reached for something on his belt as he kept talking to Superman "I'm sorry to disappoint you with this anticlimax Clark, but I won't do that. I'm not going to fight you. I don't think I can without killing you!"
Bruce than pushed something on his belt that caused a video to appear on screen "And I'm not like you Clark. I'm not a murder"
Peter used the moment that Clark turned to look at what appeared to be a recording of his wedding with Lois to snag Bruce and pull him up into the rafters
"So now what?" Peter questioned the caped hero
"Keep him distracted…" Bruce said as he gestured for Peter to flank the man of steel before looking back down at the distracted man who took a step back
"Stop it" Clark said shaking his head
"Honor and protect" Batman said as he let the cave bounce his voice around
Clark looked around only to see that Bruce wasn't there. He looked over towards where he threw Peter and saw that he was gone too. He growled in anger as he scanned the area for any signs of the two
"You can't hide from me. I won't play your games!" Clark yelled out in rage
"You failed to protect her" Batman's voice echoed through the cave
Peter was standing right above the man of steel and chanced a look over at the screen and saw it was at eighty three percent 'Almost...'
"I failed? You failed, both of you! You failed everyone!" Clark snarled in rage
"And honor? Do you truly believe your honoring Lois? Do you think that this is what she would want?" Batman demanded from the darkness
"I'M DOING THIS FOR HER!" Clark shouted as he scanned the ceiling for signs of Bruce or Peter
"Oh now we all know that's a load of bullshit Clark!" Peter snapped "You stopped doing this the moment she died!"
Peter stared down at Clark from the shadows above him with narrowed lenses "And if Lois would support this Clark, then maybe the Joker did the world a favor by snuffing her out, last thing we need is someone in the world carrying your seed actually supporting your shit!"
Peter felt his spider sense tingle as Clark turned towards him and fire off his heat vision. Peter narrowly avoided it as he dropped down and turned to come face to chest with Clark's enraged form. He took a swing at the man of steel who simply caught his wrist and lifted him over his head and slammed him into the ground before throwing him into the cavern wall
KOOOM!
Peter felt the wind knocked out of him as he slowly slid down the rocky wall and saw Clark approaching him with red glowing eyes "Heh, what's wrong Clark strike a nerve?"
Clark gritted his teeth and looked like he was about to reduce Peter to ashes when something fell in between them and emanated a loud and powerful sonic screech
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Clark shouted in pain as he gripped his ears in pain while numerous bats began to swarm around him. Peter used this moment to stand up and grab a chunk of rock and approach Clark, with him distracted he can try and knock the alien back and make his way towards the scanner that looked about done. Peter saw that Bruce was thinking the same thing as he fell to the ground aiming for the computer
Peter was just about to strike Clark when suddenly he shot his heat vision and incinerated the bats around him and the rock Peter was about to hit him with. He dropped the burring stone and shot a web ball at his eyes in an attempt to stop the heat vision but suddenly Clark vanished and before Peter could react he was smacked into the Batcomputer and slammed right into the screen as it said ninety nine percent
"GAH!" Peter shouted as he felt glass tear into this skin and his chest that was still healing
Bruce for a moment hesitated at the sight of his friend hitting the screen and it was all Clark needed as he grabbed Bruce's hand
"No" he growled out as he reached and tore off Bruce's cowl "Your right Bruce I'm not here to kill you! But I can't have you in a position where you can hurt me or the world anymore"
Peter was able to regain his bearings enough to see Clark raise Bruce over his head despite the man's struggles. His eyes widened at what Clark was about to do
"Clark wait don't!" Peter yelled as he tried to shoot his webbing at the man of steel but saw that his web shooters were broken
"CLARK-" Bruce shouted before Superman brought Bruce down on his knee
KRAAKT!
"RAAAAAAGGGHHHH!" Bruce shouted in agony as his spine was snapped by Clark's knee
Peter stared at the scene with wide eyes as he saw Clark drop Bruce to the ground before turning and leaving
"I'm sorry Bruce but your too dangerous"
Peter growled before he punched himself at Clark only to be grabbed by the throat and held in the air. Peter sent a punch into Clark's face and winced as he felt one of his fingers break from the force of his hand colliding with his impenetrable skin. Clark gave him a blank look before he threw Peter into the scanner that was holding the pill
KOOOM!
"AGH!" Peter growled in pain as he felt another rib break
Bruce looked up and saw that the analysis was complete and the data was being uploaded to a remote server
Bruce held in a snort as he tried to rise but his back protested and he felt a sheering pain emanate from it causing him to hiss in pain
Clark looked back with no emotion on his face "Don't try to get up. You can't"
Bruce ignored him as he kept pushing himself through the pain and out of the corner of his vision he saw Peter begin to stir
"Two of your lumbar vertebrate are cracked. I'm surprised your still conscious" Clark said in a emotionless tone as he watched Bruce struggle to rise "I'm putting both you and Peter away with the monsters accept it"
Bruce ignored him as he rose a bit higher while letting out a pained grunt
Clark's eyes narrowed as he approached Bruce "Stay…Down!"
Clark slammed Bruce back into the ground with his foot on top of his damaged vertebrate, his eyes glowing red
"It's over Bruce, stop trying to fight me" Clark said in a hard tone
It was than that Bruce began to softly chuckle much to Clark's confusion "What's so funny?"
Bruce looked up at him with a pained smirk "Wasn't trying to… fight you… was trying to…distract you"
"What?" Clark said as he looked towards the screen as it made a beeping sound and displayed the words
Analysis and data Transfer Complete
"What did you do?" Clark said in horror
"I gave us a chance" Bruce said with a pained smile "We can synthesize it now. We can stand up to you!"
Clark looked back down at him with a furious look on his face as he grabbed him by his cape and held him up causing Bruce to grunt in pain "Where did it upload to! Who has access to it!"
When Bruce didn't answer Clark slammed his hand down of the two lumbar vertebrae he broke which caused Bruce to scream in agony
"TELL ME!" Clark shouted in rage as he applied more pressure
Bruce gritted his teeth in pain "No matter what you tell yourself in the future, I want you to remember this moment"
Bruce glared at Clark with a look of cold rage in his blue eyes "When you resorted to torture for the greater good!"
Clark seemed taken back by what he did and Bruce's words unaware of the figure standing behind him slowly placing something in his mouth
"I…I didn't mean to-"
Bruce snorted in dark amusement "Of course you didn't! It's always someone else's fault. It makes it so much easier to justify your atrocities. Your no hero Clark, your just another thug!"
Suddenly Clark felt someone touch his shoulder
"Clark Kent…"
Clark turned around to see an injured and bruised Peter standing there with his mask off and a dark glare on his face
"Peter…" Clark said in surprise
Peter reared his head back and slammed it into Clark's face
KOOOM!
Clark was sent stumbling back by the sheer power of the blow as he clutched his now broken and bleeding nose. Peter grabbed him by the back of the head and pulled him into another headbutt that created a small shockwave before grabbing Clark by the arm and throwing him into the batwing
KABROOM!
The explosion shook the cave and caused a few distant Stalactites to fall further in the cave. Peter glared at the burning wreckage as suddenly Alfred came running down the steps
"Alfred, get Bruce to the teleporter, I'll catch up in a second" Peter said as he saw Clark pull himself from the wreckage still dazed
"What are you doing Peter?" Bruce growled out as Alfred helped him to his feet with some difficulty
"Remind this false god that he can still bleed" Peter hissed out before launching himself at Clark and delivered a series of powerful blows that caused the cave to shake with rocks and dust falling from the ceiling, bats fleeing in fear as they felt there home being destroyed by two men with god like strength
Alfred quickly made his way towards the Teleporter "Master Bruce I fear that you may have to remodel the cave when this is over"
"Agreed" Bruce forced out as he and Alfred steeped on the teleporter "Peter! We're leaving!"
Peter had knocked Clark to the ground and was delivering punch after punch into the man of steels head, creating numerous cracks in the ground as his fists collided with Clarks skull
KOOOM!
KOOOM!
KOOOM!
Peter reared his bloodied fist back and delivered one more punch into Clark's face that forced his head into the ground before he quickly ran towards the teleporter as it started up
"Bruce what about-" Peter began only for Alfred to interrupt him
"We have everything we need sir" Alfred said before he sent a look of disdain towards Clark's slowly recovering form "There's nothing left worth saving here…"
Peter nodded as he cast one last look at Clark before they vanished "Next time I won't be so merciful…Kal-El…"
And done.
So, year one ends and we all finally got to see the throw down between Spider-man and Superman that we've all been waiting for, but don't worry, this won't be the last time the wall crawler and the man of steel will duke it out
Next chapter will come at Friday and serve as a sort of annual that I will do at the end of each year, sort of like in the comics but these annuals will show the progression of Diana and Peter's relationship before Metropolis
Stay tune for Year Two… War with the Green Lantern Corps!