Chapter Fifty: The Death of Superman
Downtown Metropolis was the site of a mass evacuation after Cyborg and Reaper contacted the Metropolis PD's Special Crimes Unit with the former's projections of the Doomsday creature's warpath. Captain Maggie Sawyer, head of the SCU and friend of Superman, immediately called for the evacuation of the supposed ground zero. Silvia knew that it would do no good though. One jump sent Doomsday miles in any given direction; an evacuation would only lure him towards more life.
Silvia knocked firmly on the door of an evac bus, having assisted its passengers in boarding. The driver sent her a grateful nod before pulling away and sending the last load of people on their way.
Reaper tapped on her earpiece. "Uh...this sector's clear. How're you doing?"
"Finishing up. I just hope JLE got my emergency signal."
Silvia was pessimistic about Justice League Europe being able to arrive in time. They're already on assignment somewhere...in the middle of some other fight. With Doomsday, every second counted. The Titans were away at the moment too...off in some alternate dimension or something. "I don't think they're gonna make it..."
"One hell of a time for everyone to get busy." Cyborg grunted.
That left only the Metropolis based heroes to stand between the behemoth and innocent lives. Supergirl was keeping watch in the skies for Doomsday's arrival and Guardian was helping with the evac process. Apart from that, there weren't many others capable of doing anything worth while.
Steel was out of the fight; his armour was breached and had his chest gouged, breaking most of his ribs. Booster Gold's own 25th century powered suit was on the fritz, so he out of commission too. Fire suffered several broken bones from the bug's wreckage collapsing on top of her. Booster apparently used the last of his suit's juice to fly himself, Steel, Fire and Blue Beetle to a nearby hospital where they'd have to recover. Guy Gardner managed to keep on going for a while, but even he couldn't take any more.
The last Silvia heard, Ice used her powers to tend to Manhunter's injuries, whilst Superman tried his best to slow the beast.
Clark was the only one left. Silvia wanted to tell him how much she missed him. She wanted him to hold her again...but for the first time, she was beginning to feel that he might not make it. As those thoughts raced through her mind, she shut them down. He was Superman, nothing could stop him. Nothing ever has. And nothing ever will, she told herself.
"...Something's coming." Supergirl's soft voice called.
Silvia mounted her motorcycle and pressed her earpiece into her ear, trying to drown out the sound of sirens around her. "Is it Clark?" Silvia asked.
"Great Rao..."
Silvia looked up at the sky as a monstrous roar shook the earth.
Victor's rough voice added "There's your answer."
"I don't see Kal..." Supergirl said anxiously.
What felt like an earthquake tore through Silvia's location, setting off the alarms of any cars still here. The windows reverberated violently.
The tremors had to be caused by Doomsday landing on Metropolis island. Kara once again spoke "I can't wait any longer. I have to face it."
"Dammit Kara, be careful." Silvia muttered in response.
Silvia revved up her cycle as she cursed to herself. She couldn't live with herself if something happened to Kara on her watch, she was the only blood relative Clark had left.
She sped off down the street, towards the incredible growling that echoed through the tall buildings.
"Reaper, I'm heading for the origin point of this seismic activity. It looks like Doomsday made landfall." Cyborg reported.
Silvia weaved her bike in and out of abandoned cars and around street corners as she answered "Yeah, no kidding... I'll meet you there."
"Keep your distance. You saw what it did to the League." Cyborg reminded, knowing full well that Reaper tended to jump in guns blazing.
The city was empty, not besieged like it was during Zod's attack. This was eerie to Silvia, like the place turned into a ghost town. She was glad that they managed to warn the police early; there was no telling how many lives were saved from the evacuation. All of that now hinges on wether or not Supergirl could hold Doomsday off for long enough for Clark to show up... if he wasn't gone already.
Silvia shifted her focus from her fear onto the matter at hand. Thunderous cracks sounded consecutively, and the closer Silvia got to the battlefield the more the rubble seemed to dance from the impacts.
As she tore around one last corner, Silvia saw Supergirl trading blows with the beast. Her suit was blackened and scarred, not something to be taken lightly, since that fabric was as impenetrable as a kryptonian's skin under Earth's sun. Several of the buildings on this street were cracked open, undoubtedly by the two powerful aliens slamming each other around.
Kara played the defensive, dodging blow after blow from Doomsday and sucker punching it with every opportunity. As Silvia pulled to a halt, she swiftly dismounted her ride, detached a weapon she had clipped to its side and came running for cover behind an overturned bus.
Doomsday, who seemed to be getting faster with every blow that Supergirl dodged, managed to strike her, giving it an opening for another brutal attack. It swung an arm at her with such ferocity that it sent her flying into the side of a shopping mall, causing the entire structure's face to collapse.
Without a second's delay, the monster suddenly sprinted toward Silvia, somehow already knowing of her presence. "Whoa fuck...!" Silvia snapped.
Doomsday barely had enough time to start his charge before Kara recovered and rammed herself straight back into the fight. She growled as she attempted to wrangle the creature, and the pair slid across the road as Doomsday struggled to keep its feet planted.
Kara was evidently concerned about Doomsday's proximity to the still populated areas of Metropolis, so she braced her legs with a grunt and pushed off of the ground with tremendous force.
The instant sonic boom was enough to send Silvia rolling, and every glass panel on the street was rendered into shards of clear shrapnel.
Without delay, she stumbled back onto her feet and stared straight up. She could barely see the two...but she could tell that their steady climb was coming to a halt.
Cyborg hovered down from his jet-powered flight, also gazing up at the two combatants. He jogged to a halt several metres down the street from Silvia.
"Vic, what's going on up there?!"
There was a pause as Cyborg zoomed in with his enhanced optics. "...He's not letting her control the fight. They're coming down...! Move!"
It was too late for Silvia to react. Doomsday forced Supergirl down into the Earth at a devastating speed, causing an incredible explosion, most likely from the ignition of an underground gas main.
Silvia's eyes were overcome by a whirlwind of dust, fire, ash and concrete. All she could feel was ger body was being flung around and smacked against object after object.
This lasted about five seconds and silence gripped the city once more. When Silvia's vision finally cleared, she found it to be obscured by the side of a car. She was pinned between the vehicle and the road. It was flipped onto its side, and laid across Silvia's abdomen. She wheezed when the pain finally settled. She felt the pressure on her gut and the force collapsing her organs.
Silvia planted her hands onto the car's side, and thrusted with all of the effort she could spare. Her arms shuddered as she urged them to push.
The same immense thunder cracks from before began sounding once more, telling Silvia that Kara was still battling Doomsday.
Silvia screamed, both in pain and in exertion. Metal groaned and strained, as Reaper barely managed to press the machine off of her. She inhaled sharply and threw herself away, letting go of the car.
She went rolling several metres away as the car fell once more with the scrunching of steel and breaking of glass.
Silvia panted desperately, her arms feeling like jelly from the extreme effort. She wanted to rest but she had to see Kara. She had to make sure she was okay.
She wearily got to her feet and stumbled through what seemed to be ancient ruins now. In the span of seconds, this skyscraper-laden district was turned into a graveyard. Silvia finally came to grips with how strong Doomsday was.
Reaper held herself up by leaning on the side of an alleyway, shuffling along. The structures that formed the alleyway were sliced in half. They cut off halfway, and a gigantic crater the size of a small football field laid beyond.
The crater was scattered with vehicle chassis, steel-reinforced concrete and more structural debris. Kara was sweating. Beads of the stuff ran down her face as she gripped Doomsday's fist with both hands. She struggled against it.
Silvia unslung the plasma rifle she brought along and forced herself to steady her arms. Although still shaky, she centred the sight on Doomsday's massive shoulder and pulled the trigger.
A jet of red energy lanced out from Silvia's rifle, and caught the creature off guard. Not appearing to hurt it at all, the attack drew its attention for long enough for Kara to make a move.
She took a deep breath...a breath that seemed to create a whirlwind. Kara then unleashed the air from her lungs as a unyielding blizzard of ice-cold tempests.
Doomsday turned its head back to face her as its body became encrusted with ice and slowed. His fist moved to slap Kara aside, but it too moved far too slow.
Supergirl ran out of air and collapsed, a ten-foot ice sculpture looming over her where Doomsday was standing. Silvia stowed her rifle and sprinted down into the crater.
Every muscle in her body begged for her to fall, but she ignored them. Before too long, Silvia arrived at Kara's exhausted body. Not wanting to take any chances, she dragged her several metres away from the creature before she looked her over. Her costume was darkened but not ripped...and her skin was glistening with sweat. Silvia had never seen a kryptonian sweat before.
"K-Kara." Silvia gasped, falling to her knees by Supergirl. "Y-You're okay."
Silvia felt for a pulse and sighed in relief when she felt one. Kara's eyes opened and she gasped for air. As she coughed violently, Silvia glanced back up at Doomsday, who still hadn't moved.
When she looked back down to Kara, the kryptonian girl's intensely blue eyes stared into Silvia's. "N-No what are you doing here...? Y-You can't...can't get hurt. I-I promised Kal..."
Silvia placed a finger on Kara's lips and said "Shh...shh... It's okay. Clark knows that I'm impossible to control anyway."
The ice cracked, dismantling the silence. Kara's eyes widened. "I...I have to f-fight..."
"You fought enough already, you really let the fucker have it..." Silvia muttered, trying to calm her. "Kal would be proud of you."
One by one, fragments of ice fell onto the dirt and Doomsday hissed ferociously once his body was freed from the icy prison.
"...H-He's here...it's okay." Kara whispered.
A red and blue missile fell from the sky onto Doomsday's grey hide. A mushroom cloud of dirt erupted, masking the action from Silvia's eyes. The ensuring impacts were infinitely louder than the ones that echoed through the city when Supergirl was beating down on the monster.
The bangs eventually became softer and rumbled through Silvia's bones... The dust settled, and a gigantic hole was pocked in the middle of the crater. From the hole hovered Superman.
His face was bruised and his costume was torn and tattered. The once bright 'S' was washed with soot and ash.
"Kara...?" He whispered.
Silvia ran a hand through Kara's hair as she spoke. "She's unconscious again but she's okay." She pushed to her feet as Clark came closer. He was probably checking her vitals with his x-ray vision. "Clark..." Silvia said.
Clark's attention shifted from Kara to Silvia. He wasn't smiling for once. "You're hurt."
"So are you." Silvia's voice trembled. "You've done your part. Someone else can take it from here."
Clark glanced to the ground and his eyes glazed over. "It threw me into a plane. One hundred and twenty six people dead... two hundred and five injured. It derailed a train. Two hundred and seventy two dead. Then it smashed through a construction site. Eighty people, broken and snapped. Twenty seconds, Sil... All of that in twenty seconds."
Silvia trembled. "D-Don't go...please...I'll do it."
Clark froze when he heard the words leave her lips. His face softened. Surely she knew that she didn't stand a chance... but she was so desperate she tried to take his place anyway. Any hostility between the two of them vanished, and Clark was reminded of the determination that made him fall for her in the first place, "There's no time. It has to be me, no one else can face him. I have to end this. Please...get to safety."
He embraced her one last time, wrapping his arms around her exhausted body and holding her head. "Silvia...I love you. More than you know." Clark softly pressed his lips to her masked forehead.
"Clark!"
He released her and hovered backwards, with that look on his face. The look that he gave her when he needed to go...
As suddenly as he always attacked, Doomsday pounced out of the deep chasm that Superman created with his body, talons outstretched towards the Man of Steel. Clark snapped his hand out, snatching Doomsday out of the air by the neck.
His eyes burned red as he grimaced, mustering all of his strength as he reeled his fist backwards. When Clark lashed forward with the punch, time seemed to slow down. The blow hit its mark smack in the middle of Doomsday's skull, and the sound came a second later.
No crack, or thud, but to Silvia it sounded like an explosion followed by white noise. The punch caved Doomsday's face in and shook everything in the immediate area. Silvia felt the shockwave reverberate through her sore muscles, and she fell onto her back.
Doomsday was flung backwards so fast, Silvia could've sworn that it teleported. It hit the edge of the crater, and skipped into the air, twirling uncontrollably.
Clark glanced over his shoulder at Silvia as she got to her knee. Without another word, he vanished with an ear-piercing boom.
"Cyborg...?" Silvia muttered into her comm.
For the first few seconds there was nothing then Victor's strained grunting sounded. "Silvia? I read you now. Got dropped into the subway...had to find another way out. What did I miss?"
"Clark's here now but Kara needs help, she's unconscious."
"Okay. I'll get a S.T.A.R response team on site."
The now familiar sound of a kryptonian trading blows with Doomsday started once again. "I-I'm going to stay close to them."
"...Maybe its best we keep our distance."
"Where exactly can we go that Doomsday can't follow?" Silvia replied as she went to mount her motorbike once more. "If Clark can't finish this then none of us are safe. He has to do it. I'll keep you posted."
Cyborg's comm fell as silent as the abandoned city around him. He knew that she was right. If Superman fell, he would need to know the moment it happened. Not only would those remaining within Metropolis have no chance of survival, but the monster would jump from country to country until nothing remained but rubble. They all believed that Clark would win...because if they thought otherwise, it would be expecting the end of life on Earth. "Be careful." was all Cyborg could say in such a dire situation.
There was a split second where no answer came through... then finally, with a deep breath, Silvia said "You too, Vic."
Nothing but the sound of an engine roaring down the broken streets could be heard after that, and the loud banging of two powerful beings tearing apart the sky.
The wheels on Silvia's motorcycle struggled through the craters and cracks littering the city, whenever it spun out and flung her over the handle bars, she'd jump straight back on and force it to continue. If she stopped for even a second she'd lose sight of the two of them.
After a little over an hour of chasing, Silvia finally noticed the fight slowing down...she was starting to catch up. Here, she began to notice even more wanton destruction. In her years being friends with the Justice League and eventually joining it. She'd never seen anything like this before. It was worse than the many war zones Silvia had witnessed. And to think that two beings were responsible for this mess and it wasn't even intentional, it was the equivalent of two normal people ramming each other into walls and knocking furniture over... it was frightening.
The road up ahead was strewn with so much rubble that there was no way Silvia was getting the bike through. With a growl, the Reaper bounded from her vehicle and landed in a sprint.
Her body had more than enough time to heal from the minor injuries she sustained from having a car drop on her, so Silvia now ran as fast as she could, slipping in and out of the carcasses of fallen structures.
The once distant booms became brain-trembling shocks, and the sheer noise was enough to overwhelm Silvia's senses. She couldn't hear anything after a while...
A human-shaped figure hurtled through the building ahead of her on the left, causing the mass of concrete and steel to fall. Silvia dove desperately, only barely clearing the debris.
She rolled to her feet and froze. There, to her right... Standing in its presence was the only thing that ever struck true fear into Silvia's heart.
It already recovered from dealing that strike to Clark...and poised for another attack. It stood at over twice Silvia's height, and was wider than any creature she'd seen. Its eyes were as red as fire...but it wasn't as fearsome as it once was. Its face was crushed, squashed. The bone was very obviously splintered. Littered over its body were burns and black-blooded cuts.
The wounded Doomsday raised an arm, and lazily swung the back of its hand at Silvia, as if she was of less trouble to him than a fly.
Silvia, being a human, couldn't even comprehend the speed at which she was hit. One second she was standing before it, the next, her body was twisted and mangled, wedged between a concrete wall and the dirt stained ground.
The immense pain took hold of her. Almost every bone in her body was shattered. All that left her mouth was a whimper, as she lay contorted in the battlefield.
What came next was a incredible roar so full of horror, so pained, that it seemed to make reality itself shudder at its existence. If it was a word, it was so loud that it was beyond human comprehension. Even through this, Silvia knew that it was Clark's voice. In response, blows that cracked the immediate structures sounded. Impacts so forceful that solid concrete cracked just from being close to the source.
Silvia could barely move. She tasted blood. Regardless of what had been done to her, she couldn't give up. She needed to make sure he was okay. She screamed, not from the pain, but from the sheer will that it took to urge her broken body to work. She could feel bone jutting out of her skin, scraping against the rough interior of her suit but she pressed on.
She slowly clawed her way out of the ruins and into the street. From the ground, she saw Clark fighting with unfathomable rage. His costume was rendered into rags, leaving his arms and chest bare. His body glistened with sweat and was sprinkled with bloody cuts.
Superman brutishly sent a haymaker at the now equally sluggish Doomsday, who threw a punch at the same time. The two fists impacted, and the adjoining arms folded, snapping under the incredible stress.
Blood, red and black, splattered across the street as the feedback split the very foundations of the city. Now very visibly worn, both combatants lashed forward with their opposite hands.
Doomsday's spiked knuckles landed on Clark's chest, and Clark socked the creature in the temple. The final blow of the fight brought a shockwave outward with the loudest crack of the day...then silence answered.
Silvia's heart stopped. It couldn't be...Clark had to be alive. He couldn't...die... He's Superman. Superman can't die... This sudden fear flicked that switch in her brain, the one that allowed her to ignore vigorous amounts of pain.
Silvia pushed upwards and stumbled into the street. In the middle of a crater were two bodies...one of a demon, and one of a saviour. Doomsday's head was a mess of black blood, caved in so that it was almost just a stump.
Superman was beaten up with a pool of blood forming beneath his limp form, his arm was broken, but he looked to be in much better shape.
Silvia forced herself to keep walking, despite the fact that she should be comatose if she was a normal person. She dropped by Clark's side and tried to get her throat to work. It was hoarse and dry, from her pained screams. "...Clark...! Clark...! Y-You did it...! C-Clark...wake up...!" She croaked, as she wrapped her arms around his body, cradling him.
Clark's eyes opened wearily, and seemed to freeze when they spied Silvia. His battered face was soaked with sweat. His left eye was swollen from severe bruising and blood ran from his mouth. His face cracked in a smile and his breathing rattled.
Clark raised a hand, and it tenderly ran down Silvia's cheek...
Without a word, the hand fell. His head tilted as the muscles released. His eyes stared unfocused into the distance. And a weak breath escaped his lips.
"Clark, no! No!! P-Please, don't go!!" Silvia shrieked.
The music of Downtown Metropolis that day at late sunset was the sobbing and pleading of a woman who had lost everything, and the silence of a man who had given everything.