Chapter 34: The Final Battle

When the portal to the phantom zone collapsed, General Lane stormed towards him. "I demand to know what you just did? Was that a black hole you created?" Such technology was beyond acceptable, in his eyes. This could very well be technology that he will be forced to take away from Superman. The U.S Government will not allow a weapon that can create black holes to kill people, to be in the hands of any private citizen.

"No, I did not kill him. I sent him to what is known as the Phantom Zone. It serves kind of like a prison, but the atmosphere, there, will keep him alive and healthy, while keeping him from doing any more damage. It was the only way I could save his life."

"Talking about saving lives, I need your help, Superman. A fellow reporter of mine, Clark Kent, has gone missing." Lois asked, almost embarrassed that she had almost forgotten about him in all the craziness.

"Is he a tall man, kind of goofy looking, with glasses?" Superman asked.

"You've seen him?"

"Don't worry, Lois, he is safe. I rescued him from Lexcorp tower," He assured her.

"So that dungeon we found was for Clark Kent, not you?" Turpin deducted. "What happend to you?"

"Metallo had me in a tight situation for awhile. I apologize to everyone for my long absence. Now, if you don't mind, I have to stop Metallo from killing Luthor."

"I think I know where you can find both of them," Lois said.

Lex entered his secret hideout which he had built several years ago. Only Mercy knew of its whereabouts, but the problem was that she had become a loose cannon. How long this hideout would remain secret, he could not estimate. He did not imagine her to have loose lips right away; but then again, his faith in her had taken a massive nose dive. For now, at least, it would be safe enough to hide from the authorities, Metallo, and the defective clone.

That blasted clone had cost him everything. Somehow, he had made a mistake in trying to manipulate Superman's DNA to create the clone. It appeared that Superman had more complex DNA than he had anticipated. He should have known as much. This was a catastrophic mistake that was costing him everything. If he could lie low long enough, he could rebound from this and rebuild his empire.

Building his secret lair down underneath Metropolis was a stroke of genius. No one ever came down to the abandoned subway tunnels, let alone search them hard enough to find secret entrances. It took many years to turn the storage rooms and parts of the tunnels into a massive penthouse-like lair.

Lex headed for his desk when his desk chair spun around. Sitting there was Metallo, and his eyes beamed straight for him. "You have a quaint little place here. If I was fully human, I might have actually enjoyed your pool."

"What? How did you find this place?" Lex was angry and confused. It was impossible for him to have found this hideout.

"It wasn't all that hard," he gloated, standing up from behind the desk. "How I found you, really isn't that important; what's about to happen to you, is."

Lex grinned; his moment of shock had disappeared as quickly as it came. "Do you really think that you can catch me unprepared?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, single button control. "All I have to do is press this button, and your Kryptonite heart gets ejected from your chest."

Metallo ceased his approach. The human half of his face clearly showed disdain towards Lex. He should have known Lex would have something up in his sleeve.

"Now, I would much rather you refocus your attention towards killing Superman, but if you come any closer to me, I will not hesitate in shutting you down. I created you and I can destroy you."

"The boy scout will die by my hands, in my own time. You, on the other hand, have a much shorter life expectancy. You are already passed your expiration date."

"It's a pity," Lex replied dryly. "After everything I have done for you, you spit in my face. I suppose I should be able to find another way of Killing Superman."

Lex pressed the button on the remote. There was a small clanging in Metallo's chest, as the chest plate cover tried to open up. Making other strange noises, the cover struggled before finally giving up; it had become jammed. Lex's confidence had immediately vanished.

"Well, how about that?" Metallo laughed. It appears that my battle with your clone has jammed my chest plate. My Kryptonite heart is quite safe where it is."

Metallo lashed out at him, and grabbed Lex by the throat. He let out a gurgle as he nearly used enough strength to crush his throat. "It's time for you to learn to fly."

He threw Lex into the statue of David. His head hit against the elbow of the statue before crashing onto the ground. Blood trickled down from his temple as he tried to focus his vision through the blur. The replica was made from real stone, and weighed thousands of pounds. It didn't even budge upon impact.

Metallo stood over Lex, enjoying every moment of torturing the man who had ruined his life. "You're always prided yourself on your book smarts. Perhaps you have a book that can help you, right now, against me. Here, let me help you to your books." He picked him up, off the ground, by the color of his shirt. He violently swung him into the massive bookshelf wall. Lex hit the center of the bookshelf with his back, causing a searing pain reverberate across his spine. As he fell to the ground, several dozen books fell on top of him.

The impact caused the bookshelf to teeter before it decided to come down on top of him, spilling the rest of the books on top of him. The bookshelf, itself, came crashing down on top of him, completely burying him.

Broken, but still alive, Lex struggled to free himself. He could feel blood moistening his face, though he could not tell how bad it was. The pain, which he was feeling across his body, told him that it was pretty bad.

Metallo threw the bookshelf to the side and dug through the books to pull Lex out of the pile. He dragged him across the floor and dropped him in front of the replica of the Statue of David. "You have crushed everyone who ever stood in your way. Now, it's about time someone returned the favor."

He stepped around to the other side of the statue and placed both of his hands onto the statue. He let out a loud grunt as it took much of his strength to tip the statue. Leaning on only one edge of the stone platform, gravity took over. Lex was too stunned to roll out of the way. The statue came crushing down upon Lex's chest. Blood poured out of his mouth, as he could feel one of his lungs collapse. With massive internal injuries, death was calling his name.

"You know that you deserve every minute of this," Metallo said. "How does it feel to be tormented relentlessly?"

Trying to speak was excruciatingly painful, and breathing had become increasingly difficult. Each breath he took felt like a fire burning in his chest. He could feel the blood building up in his throat. If his luck did not change quickly, he would end up choking on his own blood.

"By the looks of it, you have very little time remaining on this planet. If you believe in God, perhaps now is the time to repent of your sins."

"Perhaps you should take your own advice," Superman said, walking through the secret entrance.

"Superman?" Metallo was not surprised to see him, but what was surprising was him coming to his rescue. "You are going to rescue this piece of filth, despite what he has done to you?"

"No one deserves to die, even people like Luthor. The courts will deal with him. Let me get him to the hospital and try to save his life."

"You're a man of high ethics, Superman. The only problem is that I will not allow you to come near him unless you kill me. If you want to save this scumbag's life, you're going to have to violate your own code of ethics, and we both know you won't do that."

The two of them stared at each other, daring each other to make the first move with their eyes. Superman walked towards Lex, determined not to allow the android to intimidate him.

With his chest plate jammed, Metallo had no way of winning against Superman. His intent was to keep Superman distracted until Luthor died. He could always retreat afterwards and find a way to open his chest plate again. He followed through with his warning, and tackled him like a line backer. They crashed through the heavy stone wall, which crumbled upon their impact. They were back out in the dark subway tunnel, standing on the dead railroad tracks.

The two of them immediately went at it, trading blows and jabs. Without the use of his Kryptonite heart, the momentum was definitely going in Superman's direction. Despite him having been on death's doorsteps a few hours ago, he had come back stronger than ever. Metallo just could not keep up with his momentum.

The only light in the pitch blackness of the tunnel was the light from the hideout through the newly created hole in the wall. The darkness did not bother Superman, because he could use his x-ray vision to work like night vision. As for Metallo, he had night vision built into this android's body.

Metallo made a lunge for Superman, pushing him up against the wall. He pulled his right arm back delivered a breath-taking punch into his gut. He was able to get in two more punches before the short lived momentum switched again. Superman swiped the side of his face with his left fist. The blow had caused him to stumble to the side.

The swipe made such an impact, that Metallo's vision became staticy for a brief second. When it cleared up he looked over to where Superman had been up against the wall, to see him no longer standing there. Instead, he looked up to see him in the middle of a leaping punch. This time, Metallo collapsed unto his belly.

Superman stepped back from the android to a safe distance, as he took a deep breath. As soon as his lungs were full, he unleashed his icy cold breath. The pressure of his breath pinned Metallo to the ground as icicles began to form on his body. Soon, a layer of ice had formed, and he found himself frozen to the railroad tracks. Superman continued assaulting him with the icy breath until Metallo was encased in a giant piece of ice.

Turning around, Superman went to rescue Lex. Certain that he had the time to get Lex and get out before Metallo could break free, he stepped through the hole. His hope, however, was dashed when he could hear the ice shattering. He froze where he stood and could hear Metallo charging at him from behind. He waited until the time was just right, and then stepped to the left to avoid being rammed from behind. As he was in the process of running past him, Superman grabbed him by the throat and arm. Lifting him off the ground, he spun him around once and then swung him into the second section of the lair. He flew through the doorway and landed in the deep end of the giant swimming pool.

Not waiting a single second, he pranced over to Lex who was in the middle of a coughing fit. With each cough, blood would pour out of his mouth; he was in critical condition. Using his X-ray vision, he could see the massive internal damage in his body. If he did not get to the hospital right now, he was going to die.

Superman bent his knees and grabbed the statue that had Lex pinned. Using his legs in a proper heavy lifting technique, he hoisted the stone statue until it was standing upright once again. He didn't stop there; repositioning himself, he went from lifting to pushing and tipped the statue over in the opposite direction. The statue broke into three pieces as it hit the floor.

With the statue out of the picture, he knelt down to Lex and looked up at him with glassy eyes. "You are in desperate need of medical attention. I have to take you to the hospital."

"You're not…taking me anywhere. I am paying…for my sins."

"It does not have to be like this, Luthor."

"You need to worry…about Metallo. He knows how to kill you." Lex coughed up more blood. "If you do not finish him now…He will kill you. There will be…no stopping him."

Superman thought about his logic. It made complete sense, but it would also mean that Lex would die. Even though it could come back to kill him later, he was not willing to allow anyone to die in order to prevent what might happen later.

"You must…remove his head. It's…the only way…to stop him."

"No matter what he has done, I will not kill him. I will never take a life, Luthor. That is one thing that is different between you and me."

Lex would have laughed if he was not in complete agony. "Always the boy scout, Clark. You've always been…a good friend to me."

Superman was stunned. How did he know his secret identity? "How did you know?"

"Never mind that," Lex replied, before spitting up more blood. "Metallo…is not…an android. He is…fully robot."

"I don't understand," Clark said, giving up on his proper English which he used to further hide his earthly identity.

"Lied to him. Told him…that his brain…was put into…body of a robot," Lex sentences were becoming shorter. His time left on this earth was nearing its end. "Could not save brain; …only saved memories. Told him he was still…part human…knowing you wouldn't kill him. There's a button…on back of neck. Push it…remove his head…will be...permanently deactivated."

Superman did not know how to take this information. On one hand, he was glad that defeating Metallo was going to be easier than he had thought; on the other hand, he was even more furious at Lex for what he did to Corben. Lex had him killed in cold blood for no other reason but for revenge.

"Now that I know, I can deactivate him at a later date. I must get you to a hospital."

"Leave me!" He said angrily, causing a major coughing fit and a massive loss of blood. He weakly tilted his head to look towards the pool. "Stop him now! He's going for…more Kryptonite."

Superman looked into the other section to see Metallo approaching a giant vault on the overhang balcony over the deep end of the pool. The Kryptonite had to be in that vault, and somehow Metallo knew about it. Despite the growing danger, Superman was still not comfortable about leaving Lex here to fight Metallo. "Go you fool!" Lex growled.

Against his better judgment, Superman stood to his feet and turned towards the swimming pool. Moving with lightning speed, he flew through the doorway into the second section and up towards Metallo, who had just reached the vault. He rammed into the back of Metallo with such force, that the android slammed into the vault, putting a deep dent into the door.

Before Metallo could come to his senses, Superman grabbed the android's shoulder and threw him off the balcony. The android fell into the water like a boulder. This was the opportunity to end this madness. He leaped feet first into the water after the android, whose weight made it near impossible to float to the top of the water.

The two of them wrestled underwater. Holding his breath, Superman was able to position himself behind the android and put him in a headlock. Metallo flailed wildly to try to break free, but his grip around his neck was too strong.

Superman slipped his free hand between his chest and Metallo's neck as he felt around for the button that Lex had told him about. It did not take him long to find a square notch directly in the center of his neck. With his thumb, he pressed hard on the notch, and bubble ascended as the body sank to the bottom of the pool.

With no one fighting him anymore, he swam to the shallow end of the pool with Metallo's head in his left hand. When he reached the shallow end, he was surprised to hear Metallo still running his mouth off. "What have you done to me? This can't be happening! I am going to kill you!"

Stepping out the pool, Superman could tell that the head was running on backup power, but without a body, Metallo was more than harmless. He could not help but feel like it was still murder to allow his power to run dry. An essence of John Corben still lived in this robot. There was only one thing he could think of to do. He dropped Metallo's head into the pool, and unleashed his frigid breath onto the shallow end of the pool. Before long, the shallow end of the pool froze into a massive piece of ice, freezing the head inside.

"That should take care of you until I can take you to the fortress."

With Metallo dealt with, he returned his focus to Lex; but when he returned to him, he was moments away from death. There was nothing that could be done for him any longer; he had lost too much blood.

As Superman knelt down beside him, Lex looked up at him. For the first time in a very long time, he had the friendly face that he used to have back during their school days. "Clark, I'm sorry…for everything. Allowed father…to control me. You've always been…my best friend." Lex Luthor's eyes gently closed, as he passed away.