No one had said anything quietly for a while. It seemed like ages since Superman had left them to face his challenge.

The world around them was silent. Although Superman was floors way below them, it still seemed odd they hadn't picked up any sound yet.

Lobo gave an exaggerated yawn.

"Once again, ya dweebs have found a way to make a fight dull," whined Lobo. He was tired of all this bullshit. Oh if only he had his bike right now. As soon as he paid that geek Destiny for insulting it. Lobo didn't give a shit about insults towards him, but insulting his bike, that was crossing the line.

Finally Diana's superhearing picked something up. It was faint, but she heard it alright. It was the sound of a big fight.

Diana could hear much groaning and punching going on below her. Whoever Superman was fighting was putting up a big challenge.

Finally she couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm going down," she said.

Shayera grabbed her by the arm.

"You can't Diana. He needs to complete the test himself. Don't worry, Clark's going to have that moment we all had where it looks bleak and you finally understand something about Batman and you pass the test. He'll be back in no time."

Flash however was curious. What the hell was taken Superman so long?

"What's Supes facing?" Flash asked. "Is it a foe he fought before?"

"Oh yea you betcha," Terry said. "This is going to be the fight of the century."

John was annoyed.

"Why can't you just tell us?" he asked. He was tired of the mystery.

"Fine," muttered Terry. "You're no fun. Superman has to beat-"

CRASH!

Superman went flying upward through the bottom of the floor. Something had thrown him up there. That something then jumped from the basement, through the hole he had just made by throwing Superman. It landed in the lobby with a thud, his white eyes glaring at Superman who was still trying to recover from the blow.

"-Doomsday," Terry finished.

Doomsday like bull charged at Superman. Superman managed to get out of the way just in time for Doomsday to run through the wall.

Diana knew Superman was in trouble. Last time Clark needed her and a volcano to defeat him.

Doomsday recovered and walked out threateningly to his foe. Superman got in a fighting stance. He was bruised and had a few cuts on his face. His hair was a mess, but still his eyes showed determination. He still had a lot of fight in him.

"An audience has gathered to watch you be crushed," Doomsday taunted.

Superman was not fazed and in an act of defiance, beckoned Doomsday to come right at him.

Annoyed and enraged by the slight, Doomsday charged. Superman flew in the air at the last minute, missing Doomsday by inches before somersaulting in the air and punching the monster in the back with so much force, the two combatants crashed out of the building into the streets of Metropolis.

The group like spectators quickly exited the building. To their surprise there was no sign of Doomsday or Superman except the damage the two had caused. The street was torn up.

But they could hear the fight; it was probably a block away.

Terry flew up into the air and the group followed. They needed to get to higher ground to watch. The group stood on top of the roof of LuthCorp, they could see everything for miles. Including Superman and Doomsday who delivering punches at each other a few streets away.

"Come on Supes," Wally said nervously. Doomsday appeared to be stronger than Superman since they last had fought.

Superman managed to get an uppercut through, sending the behemoth across the street. However it didn't take long for Doomsday to recover and he was back on his feet. Doomsday grabbed a park car and threw it at Superman. Usually Superman would easily be able to dodge it, but his reflexes and stamina had been weakened. The car hit its target with full force.

Diana could hear Superman grunt from the impact.

Diana made to take off, but she found J'onn and Shayera restraining her.

"How can you sit beside and watch him get killed?" she asked. She couldn't take it anymore. She was already too late for Bruce, she was not going to stand by and let Clark get himself killed too.

"Diana he needs…"

"Who cares!" she shouted and broke free. "He can't win by himself!"

She was about to fly off, but Terry grabbed her. His grip was surprisingly strong.

Diana looked at Terry and gave him a threatening look. She could easily break his hold. However, something about his childlike smile seemed to soften her fears. She submitted and relaxed.

Terry didn't let go though. Diana had a feeling he wasn't going to let go until the fight was over. And hopefully it was soon, because Superman looked like he didn't have much life left in him.

Doomsday walked up to a dazed Superman who was buried under two cars.

"You can't beat me Superman. With every blow you throw, I become stronger. I heal quickly. You are powerless without the sun or your friends to help against me."

Superman grunted as he struggled to free himself. Doomsday was right, he had a point. He was giving all he got and getting worn out whereas Doomsday did not seem injured at all.

It was time for a plan. Thank goodness this Metropolis actually had no people.

Superman broke free and flew high into the air. Doomsday laughed.

"Come back and get me you coward!" he taunted.

Superman flew straight back down, but he didn't stop, he broke through the concrete sidewalk with enough force it caused the ground to shake. Doomsday was off balance for a moment but soon found his feet. He then laughed tauntingly.

"What did that accomplish?" he asked as he made away to the recent hole Superman had made while he dived into the ground.

However just as the monster was within a few yards of the hole, the ground started to tremble again more violently. The epicenter was at the Daily Planet building that was a few yards behind Doomsday.

Doomsday looked up in surprise to see the building was shaking violently. All of a sudden like a rocket, it began to lift off in the air. The building and its own foundations were rising, with Superman at the very bottom.

Superman had lifted the entire Daily Planet from the ground.

"You know," grunted Superman as he was straining himself. "A part of me has always wanted to do this when I was really stressed out at work."

And before Doomsday could react, Superman threw the entire building over him. Doomsday did not have time to react. The base of the building landed, crushing him. The impact had caused the entire street to collapse sending the building even further down.

But that wasn't he end. When the building finally stopped dropping into the ground, it had begun to collapse on itself. For a minute Superman just watch at the destruction he caused. The Planet had collapsed. Only the globe on the roof remained relatively unscathed and was on top of the rubble, rising just above the street.

Superman descended down to examine the ruins. His super senses weren't picking up on anything. It seemed he finally had won.

But of course, it was never too easy.

The globe began to rumble and shake violently.

"Aw come on," Superman muttered.

The globe went flying off the rubble to reveal a very angry Doomsday. The monster had pieces of rubble sticking out of him all over his body. One of his arms looked out of place, as if it had been dislocated. At least Superman had made a dent.

Doomsday grabbed his arm, and forced it back into his socket with a loud crunch. Doomsday gave such a loud roar in pain that Superman had to cover his ears.

As Superman keeled over the bloodcurdling sound, Doomsday then flexed his powerful muscles.

Every piece of glass and rubble popped out of him, the cuts they had left were healing instantly.

"I'm unstoppable!" roared Doomsday and he picked up the globe and threw it over a kneeling Superman.

Superman groaned as the globe crushed him. Doomsday with manic delight jumped on top of it, in attempt to put more pressure on the Kryptonian.

Diana was watching the fight. There seemed to be no way out. She had to do something. As if sensing her thoughts, she felts something wrap around her wrists.

Diana turned in shock to find John had used his ring to place handcuffs on Diana. He had also restrained her feet as well.

Diana gave John a threatening look.

"John…let…me…go…"

"It's for your own good," Shayera snapped, tapping the mace in her hand. "Please don't make me have to knock you out!"

"How can you all sit there? Do you remember when both of you were each tested, the other one was practically trying to fight their way in to help."

"We were Diana, but we both had all of you to restrain us. Now we're returning the favor. This is something Superman must do," Shayera said in a command voice, but her eyes showed calm understanding and pity.

Defeated Diana sighed. However, the group was so distracted by the possibility of Diana descending to save her best friend they hadn't noticed someone else had dropped down.

"Lobo! Get back here!" Dick called when he realized the Czarnian had managed to begin climbing his way down the LuthCorp building while everyone else was distracted with Diana.

"I'm sick and tired of just sittin' around lettin' everyone else get in on the action! Besides! Supes look like he can use some help!"

And before anyone could say anything, Lobo had jumped the rest for his descent. He stuck his landing with a thud.

"Hold on Supes! The Main Man's comin'!"

000000

Superman felt like he was about to blackout, his eyes were barely open. He could feel Doomsday was stomping closer to him.

His mind racing. There had to be a way to beat the monster, there had to be. He needed what Shayera and the others had during their test. A sudden realization. But nothing was coming to him.

How do you have hope against a foe you simply cannot beat?

Superman felt the globe thrown off him. He was so sore he could barely move.

"It's a shame really," Doomsday remarked. "I was hoping you would go down in the air, not on the ground beneath my feet."

"Eat ion you fraggin' bastiche!" a voice called. A blast was shot at Doomsday knocking the monster off his feet.

Superman to his surprise looked to see that it was Lobo who came to his aid out of all people.

"Lobo?" Superman asked confused.

"Don't think I'm goin' soft on ya, I'm just fraggin' bored watchin' you get your ass kicked," Lobo muttered.

However as superman got to his feet so did Doomsday, who was glaring at Lobo with angry eyes.

"Fragger…" Lobo muttered. Doomsday was a lot bigger in person.

"You are not the one being tested," the monster remarked. Before Superman or Lobo could react, a force of blue light shot out of Doomsday at Lobo, sending the Czarnian flying.

"This is why I never help!" Lobo complained as he was flown clear across town.

J'onn went after where they saw Lobo land to recover him. Terry meanwhile looked at the rest of the group.

"That's why you don't interfere…" he warned.

00000

Superman was enraged by what happen. Even Lobo had come to his rescue. But why? Why Lobo?

Then a sudden realization hit Clark Kent. He knew how to beat the monster. Or so he hoped.

Superman got to his feet and flew at Doomsday, who was still watching Lobo fly away in the distance.

The attack took Doomsday by surprise and he was knocked off his feet.

"You still have some fight in you. Good," the monster remarked with hints of sadistic enjoyment.

He sprang up to his feet and pulled Superman in a crushing bear hug.

Superman could feel his body cracking under the shear amount of force.

"Don't try to resist, you are done," the monster remarked. "And don't try to shoot your lasers in my brain. Same trick can't work twice."

"I…wouldn't…dream…of…it," Superman gasped between pained breaths while still having the defiant Boy Scout grin on his face.

"What's so funny?" Doomsday demanded, squeezing tighter. Superman still refused to give in and kept on smiling.

"I'm just imaging the look on your face when you are beaten," Superman taunted.

Enraged Doomsday threw Superman to a wall behind him.

"You cannot defeat me Superman! I am Doomsday! I am your executioner!"

"And I have something that you can't take," Superman said, as he struggled to get to his feet. He managed to get up into a position where he had one knee down, and the other up. He was keeling over coughing up blood.

"I have hope."

Doomsday laughed.

"You think hope is going to get you anywhere? You can't beat me."

"Hope isn't a weapon. It's an idea, a purpose. Something you can't destroy. I have hope that I will find a way to beat you. I have faith that I will succeed."

Doomsday walked up enraged and grasped Superman by the neck with one gigantic hand.

"I will enjoy squeezing the life out of you when your eyes finally show your acceptance of the reality that I will not be stopped."

Superman, in a sudden burst of energy, aimed a good kick at Doomsday's abdomen, causing the monster to grunt, and slightly loosen his grip. Superman took advantage and broke free.

"But you see the hope doesn't stop there. I don't just have faith in my abilities, but my friends as well. If I can even inspire Lobo to come out and fight you, I have faith that even if I'm defeated, my friends will pick up the slack and find away to beat you. Hope is stronger when you believe in others as well. That's why Bruce never gave up on us even when we gave up on him. He believed in us."

"Enough talk. It is time for you to die!" roared Doomsday who charged at Superman. Superman did not even bother to defend himself. He was knocked off his feet, and found Doomsday's own foot slowly crushing him.

"But here's the best part," Superman grunted out as Doomsday started twisting his foot on his chest to cause more pain.

"Not only do I have hope in my friends or myself, but I have hope and faith, that my sudden realization will be the reason why I stop you."

"You put a lot of faith into a weak plan," Doomsday cried gleefully as he started stomping on Superman violently.

The group watched in horror as Superman was slowly stomped to death. This couldn't be happening. Superman couldn't be dying.

Terry however had an opposite look from the rest. In fact he was smiling, almost ecstatic.

"Cue the music!" he randomly announced.

"What music?" Wally asked confused by that random outburst.

A sudden trumpet played from nowhere. The League looked around confused, trying to find the source.

Doomsday had stopped his stomping to listen to the music.

"No!" the monster cried.

"Oh yes," Superman said, and with sudden inspiration he got to his feet, his hands were glowing blue.

The music continued into a full fledge symphony. To Wally, it sounded like something John Williams would write. It was like this music was made for Superman. Like his own theme song.

As if sensing the confusion, Terry smiled even more and explained.

"Bruce is actually quite accomplished with music. Sometimes when he is really bored on a stakeout, he composes songs in his head. This song was inspired by Superman."

"Hey look!" Dick shouted pointing to the ground. The group saw that Superman was on his feet, his fists glowing blue which were currently pummeling Doomsday.

"What's going on?" John asked. He never saw Superman have a power like that.

"Superman has understood what hope is. As a reward, the Realm has given him more power to defeat Doomsday."

Superman continued to fight his foe, while the music continued to play in the background. It sounded similar to the Start Wars theme.

"What were you saying about killing me?" Superman said mockingly as he continued to pummel his foe.

Doomsday ignored the taunt and managed to get a good punch in. The monster then tried to flee. Superman however was too quick.

"We are going for a ride," he remarked and carried the squirming monster in the air before slamming both of them onto the street from high altitude. The impact had caused a crater. Superman did not seem to notice and just continued to punch Doomsday with his glowing blue hands.

Doomsday roared in pain and tried to resist.

"You can't stop hope! No matter how hard you try, you can't! It isn't a political promise! It is not a guarantee! It is something worth fighting for! Batman's hope is that one day crime will finally be stopped. Well mine is Truth, Justice and the American Way of Life! I have and still hope that one day there will be a just, free world!" Superman announced before delivering the final blow.

Doomsday roared and threw Superman off of him. However his body was cracking all over the place. Blue light was emanating from the cracks on his body.

Doomsday fell to his knees and shook violently, before he exploded into pure blue light.

The light was so bright, that the entire group on the LuthCorp building had to shield their eyes. Finally when the light went out, all that was left was the crater, minus Superman and Doomsday.

"Kal!" Diana cried and she finally broke free and flew to the crater where they saw Superman moments ago.

She landed in the crater; there was no sign of him.

"No," she whispered. Not him too. She felt a tear strolling down her cheek.

The rest of the group had reached the crater. They had also realized the music had ceased.

John put his arm around Shayera. Dick and Wally bowed their heads. Only Terry seemed undisturbed.

"There he is," Terry said pointing off in the sky.

Everyone immediately looked up.

There was Superman slowly descending towards them. But he looked different. He didn't look tired at all and his wounds were healed. The only thing that did not change was his slightly torn costume.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "When the blue light healed me I just felt like flying around really quickly. I needed a victory lap."

Diana flew up and punched him in the shoulder.

"You are such a jerk," she said happily through tears.

Everyone rushed up to hug the Man of Steel. He was the best choice for this test. Something about him just inspired all of them.

"Look who's back," Shayera said.

The group looked to see J'onn returning with Lob in his arms. J'onn arrived to the group while dropping a pouting Lobo.

"Hey Lobo," Superman teased. "Thanks for your help. You're a good guy."

Lobo glared. "I wasn't trying to help! I just got fraggin' bored up there!"

"Sure," teased Superman.

"I'll frag you to hell then!" Lobo said pulling a pistol out.

"Alright that's enough," Dick spoke. They needed to hurry.

Terry pulled something out of his pocket that was glowing blue. Even though it was glowing blue though, the Emblem was a red cloth. A torn red cloth.

"This is the Emblem of Hope," Terry explained. "When Superman was believed to have perished, Bruce refused to acknowledge that. All he had to give him hope that Superman was still alive was this torn cloth."

Superman took the Emblem and slid it under one of his sleeves. It felt warm and good.

"Now you understand that even Batman has hope. But it is not just in himself but others as well. Hope is not a promise but an idea. An idea that things will get better. Faith in yourself and your friends. Even though Batman fights crime in an endless battle, he even has hope that maybe someday his efforts will not be in vain. That is true hope. Even in the face of adversary and darkness, the light still continues to burn."

The group paused at that remark. Something about this realm just made them feel good. All of them had hope that they would get the last two Emblems on time and save Batman.

Terry clapped his hands and a bus had appeared out of nowhere. It was painted in an odd color. Like a mixture of blue and purple.

"This will take you to the next realm," Terry explained. "This realm and the other two are close knit so you don't have to go outside and worry about Doctor Destiny attacking you again."

"Come on guys," Dick said, taking charge. "Let's go."

The group followed. The last one to board was J'onn. Things seem to have gotten a little better because he didn't feel as shunned before, but still there was an awkward tension between him and the rest.

J'onn looked at Terry as he was about to board the bus.

"Don't hate yourself too much J'onn," Terry comforted. "You understand Bruce more than the rest. That is going to be important for the next test."

"I doubt they will let me get selected after what I did," J'onn said.

Terry just smiled.

"You just got to have faith J'onn."

And with that the Martian boarded the bus which began to take off. Taking them out of Metropolis to the next realm.

I don't own any of John Williams work or Star Wars. For some reason I just heard that song playing in my head when I wrote this chapter. And I don't care what the people behind Superman Returns thought. You can't take out the American Way from Superman. I think it is obvious which realm is next so who will the manifestation of that realm be?