Lillian Luthor smiled as she observed the completion of one of Cadmus's finest projects.
"So, it looks like it's nearly complete." Lillian said to one of her scientists, who nodded.
"Yes, I admit it was touch and go for a while, since we were unsure if the host would accept the enhancements, but we managed to succeed." the scientist said.
"How long will it be before we can deploy it?" Lillian asked.
"A few more hours, we need to make sure it's stable, since you know as well as I what could happen if the power source decays." the scientist said and Lillian nodded in agreement.
"Agreed. I've waited this long, I can wait a little longer." Lillian said.
"I'm just grateful that this project is nearly complete." the scientist said.
"Oh, and why is that?" Lillian asked.
"Because once it's complete, we can begin redirecting our resources to other projects, especially since our targets have now doubled." the scientist said and Lillian nodded, accepting that answer.
"Yes, I have to admit, I was wondering when Jeremiah's daughter would finally make her debut. I'm glad we could give her the necessary push." Lillian said.
"And you aren't worried about what she'll do if she finds out that we were responsible for that attack?" the scientist asked.
"Of course not, we made sure it looked like an accident." Lillian said smugly.
"It's too bad the attack didn't succeed at eliminating the aliens on that bus." the scientist said and Lillian shrugged.
"We have to be patient. Now that the world knows she exists, things have changed. We can now attack her." Lillian said, however, before her subordinate could respond, they heard the computers beep that the project was now complete, aside from testing.
"It's time. Make sure it's stable before deploying it to Metropolis." Lillian said.
"Are you we should be attacking so soon? If they recognize Corben?" the scientist said.
"John Corben died years ago. What we have now is Metallo. And he will do what Corben failed too. He'll kill Superman. And then when he's done with that, he'll set his sights on Supergirl." Lillian said as Metallo grinned.
"I do look forward to getting some payback on the Kryptonian who defeated me last time." Metallo said.
"Well, now you have a second chance to kill him and now you've got an advantage, since now you're stronger and faster then you were before, not to mention, you're now armed with the one thing that Superman isn't impervious to." Lillian said with a grin as she touched his chest and the green kryptonite heart embedded in it lit up.
"Time to go to work." Metallo said with a grin.
"It is. Go to Metropolis and do whatever you have to in order to get Superman's attention. He's the biggest threat to Earth. If you can beat him, you should be able to defeat his cousin with ease." Lillian said.
"Just say when." Metallo said.
"I understand we're all eager to kill Superman, but we do need to run some tests to make sure that Metallo will survive long enough to do it." the scientist said.
"Well make it quick. It took you long enough to fix me, I don't want to have to wait much longer to get my revenge." Metallo said and the scientist nodded as he got to work as Lillian grinned.
Clark was currently out working on the farm while the boys were at school and Lois was at a job interview at the local paper, the Smallville Gazette, though Clark knew that was merely a formality, since like a majority of the small business owners left in Smallville, he went to high school with the owner, Chrissy Tegan, who he already knew would be thrilled to have a big time reporter like Lois Lane working with her, since he knew Chrissy well enough to know that she'd take Lois in a heartbeat.
However, he was drawn from his thoughts and his farmwork when he heard the screams coming from Metropolis.
"Time to go to work." Clark said he opened his shirt to reveal his Superman suit beneath it before flying off.
When he arrived in Metropolis it was very easy for Superman to find the source of the chaos and he sighed, since he knew this would be complicated.
"Metallo." Superman said as he flew down to behind the cyborg.
"Corben, what are you doing here? How are you even alive?" Superman asked him, since honestly, after the last time the two of them had fought, which was really just him fighting drones, he thought that Corben had been crushed by rubble when his base had collapsed. Now he knew that Cadmus had once again gotten ahold of him.
"I think you already know the answer to that." Corben said.
"Cadmus." Superman said.
"Very good. I see you're not just a pretty face Superman." Metallo said, only to get blasted by his heat vision.
"I'm only going to ask this once. Where is Jeremiah Danvers?" Superman demanded, taking Metallo by surprise.
"I'm sorry what?" Metallo asked.
"Don't play dumb. I know all about Cadmus and I know that your boss is forcing Jeremiah Danvers to work for her against his will. So, why don't you just tell me where he is and I'll make sure there's enough of you left to go back to prison." Superman said.
"That's cute, but I don't think so." Metallo said as he then proceeded to blast Superman with his kryptonite heart, which the man of steel just barely managed to dodge.
"This changes things." Superman said to himself, since unlike his cousin, he did not have a genius friend on hand to make him an anti kryptonite suit.
"Not so much fun when it's a fair fight." Metallo said with a smirk as he blasted Superman again and this time, it was a direct hit.
"You think I can't take a few kryptonite blasts?" Superman asked, since honestly, one good thing that had come from all his fights with Lex had been it had really boosted his body's natural defense against kryptonite, since the more he was exposed to it, the more he was able to build a resistance to it, but sadly, it still affected him.
"Oh I know you can. And I'm eager to see just how many blasts it takes to render you powerless and then how many it takes to finally put you out of everyone's misery." Metallo said with a grin as he fired another blast, but before it could hit Superman, the blast was blocked by a familiar, at least to Superman, silver shield.
"Jimmy." Superman said as he saw his old friend standing there, fully suited up.
"It's Guardian. Good to see you, Superman." Guardian said as he helped him up.
"Likewise." Superman said as the Guardian handed him something.
"What's this?" Superman asked.
"Gift from Winn. Place it on your chest." Guardian said and Superman nodded as he did exactly that and smiled as the device melded into his suit, developing into what had to be a kryptonite suit.
"Okay, once again, Winn comes through." Superman said.
"Now, let's take out this trash." Guardian said as they turned to face Metallo.
"Gladly. And also, glad we're finally working together." Superman said and he could Guardian was smiling under his helmet.
"It does feel very overdue." Guardian said as the two of them went to fight Metallo together.