The following morning, after receiving notice from Ray Palmer that he had finished making a fresh sample of krypton oxide, Bruce signaled for the team to assemble at his previous vantage point overlooking the area where the clone was known to inhabit. They were all dressed for action in their respective super costumes, except for Bruce, who was once again in his reconnaissance outfit.
Once they were all present, Victor struck out on his own towards the clone's building, carrying a plastic bag.
"It's the door on the left side," said Bruce, into his comm. "If you knock, he'll hear it."
"Okay", said Victor. "Switching off audio." He knocked on the door, and a few seconds later the clone opened it.
"Oh, hello Victor!" said the clone.
"Hey Clark," said Victor. "How's it going?"
"Me am good," said the clone. Then he looked around, suspiciously. "Why you here? Where Bruce?"
"Ah, we're in public, we're supposed to use our codenames, remember?"
"Right, me am sorry. So where Batsman? And where… me am not know Steve secret name. Me am call him Weak-Steve-man."
"Hah, well, they're not here. I thought I'd drop in and see how you were doing."
"Batsman smart. Him always know what happen. Him sneak and listen."
"No, really man, he ain't here. Look, I brought ice cream." Victor reached into the plastic bag, and produced two wrapped cones, a pistachio one for the clone, and strawberry for himself.
The clone's face lit up. "Me am not have ice cream in long time. Secret laboritee only have boring food." He reached out and took the pistachio one, tearing off the wrapper, and taking a big bite.
"Hmm… bit warm, is melty."
"Yeah, sorry about that."
The clone grinned. "Me am have trick!" He held the ice cream out and carefully blew on it, his mouth making a big o-shape. Lines of frost quickly appeared all over the cone.
"Super cold breath, huh?" said Victor. "Neat."
"Me am remember one time use trick at home when mom freezer broke."
A message appeared from the group comm feed, automatically converted from speech to text on Victor's internal visual display, so that the clone wouldn't hear it.
Superman: It was me that did that, not him.
Overseer: He mentioned a laboratory, it's probably in that same building. Cyborg, can you get him away from the door?
Victor looked around. "There ain't much to do around here," he said to the clone. "You wanna play a game of catch?" Victor reached into his bag and brought out a soft squishy ball. He hoped that it was light enough that even if the clone threw it with all his super-strength, air resistance would quickly slow it down enough that Victor might have a chance of catching it.
"Sure!" said the clone, then he leaned forward and whispered. "Tell truth, Luthor very boring too."
Victor laughed, put down the bag, and activated his jump jets. Dust blew across the ground as he rose up into the air with a loud whoosh, then flew backwards away from the clone. "Catch!" he shouted, and threw the ball over the clone's head.
The clone flew straight up and easily grabbed the ball. Victor continued flying backwards, as the clone threw the ball, which sailed past Victor.
"Aw, man," said Victor, under his breath, as he turned and flew after the ball, catching it just before it landed on the ground. He flew back up, and threw the ball as hard as he could, aiming over the clone's head.
Beneath them, two almost imperceptible streaks crossed the ground, as Barry and Clark, with their arms around the shoulders of Bruce and Diana respectively, moved at superspeed in through the door that the clone had left open.
Inside, another open doorway led to some steps downwards, a short corridor, and then a large bright room full of equipment.
Behind a thick plexiglass window in one of the walls was Luthor. He made a hat-tipping gesture to Bruce, who frowned. Then Luthor pressed a button on his side of the glass, and his voice came in over a loudspeaker.
"Mr. Wayne, how delightful to see you with all your friends."
Bruce inwardly winced at the use of his real name. If any of Luthor's staff were on site, they might easily be able to put two and two together. On the other hand, it could just be a ploy by Luthor to throw him off guard. Either way, it was low on Bruce's list of current concerns.
"You don't have any control over your copy of Superman, do you."
"Straight to the point, I see. And yes, I'm afraid you're right. I intended to make it more suggestible, but it appears that its intellect has suffered as a result."
"It's dangerous, you have to shut it down, or set the nanobots back to their original state."
"Hah! While it would be marvelous to have two of Mr. Kent flying about the place, I'm afraid I can't do that. The force field that they collectively project makes the swarm within quite impervious to interference, once activated."
Bruce felt a moment of unease – Palmer had only tested the krypton oxide on lone nanobots, not on Clark himself. Perhaps the clone's nanobots wouldn't be able to see it through their projection of the clone, and Bruce's plan to destroy them would fail. Then he remembered that it was their only available plan, and they had nothing to lose by trying.
"What you're doing is immoral, Luthor." said Clark, advancing towards the window.
"It's on your head, Mr. Kent," said Luthor. "If Mr. Wayne had let you assist me, all this could have been avoided."
"I make my own decisions," said Clark, his voice raised, sounding annoyed.
"Don't let him get to you." said Bruce, quietly.
At that moment, there was a banging sound from the entrance to the building. Victor's voice came through their group comm. "Hey guys, I think he heard-"
The clone burst into the room. "Weak-Steve-man!" he shouted, pointing at Clark, then at Bruce. "Sneaky Batsman!" He noticed Diana and Barry. "Oh, hello." The clone's eyes narrowed. "Are you side with them or me?"
"We're on the side of justice!" said Diana.
"Uh…" said Barry. "She means that we're not on anyone's side as such. Let's not fight or anything."
"Me am fight if want!" the clone said, angrily. "Me am make own decishums too!"
Victor ran in through the door behind the clone, and the clone spun around to face him. "You lie! Batsman here with you!"
"Hey, whoa, it's not like that," said Victor.
The clone turned back to face Clark. "Weak-Steve-man and all his friends still no can beat me." A sly grin slowly spread across his face. Then he said, almost in a whisper. "Me am been practicing." His face contorted into a strange grimace of concentration…
THWUP
A loud crack immediately followed, as the clone seemingly teleported in front of Clark with his fist impacting on Clark's face. Clark staggered backwards and fell to his knees, concussed from the super-speed hit. It had been far more powerful than the first time that the clone had hit him. The clone turned around to face the others and grinned again, even wider.
"Who next?"
The room erupted into chaos. Diana immediately leapt towards the clone, shouting at the top of her lungs. Barry became a periodic blur, moving back and forth across the room unpredictably, and Victor sprouted extra bits of armor covering his face, while his right arm morphed into a sonic cannon.
Bruce ran around the edge of the room towards Clark, holding his hand over his comm mouthpiece, to shield it from the noise. "Superman, we need you."
As Diana got close to the clone, she feinted right, then swung up from her left, hitting the clone in the side, where his liver would be, if he had a liver. There was a loud crunch, as her hand impacted on the clone's unyielding torso. She howled in pain, and retreated a few steps.
"Don't hit him hard." said Bruce. "Dig in with your fingertips." He didn't know whether this would work, but based on Barry's prior observations of Clark's skin, a direct assault definitely wouldn't.
Barry began throwing objects at the clone, mainly hoping to distract him, while Victor moved to one side, trying to get a clear shot with his cannon. Out of the corner of his eye, Bruce could see Luthor through his window, laughing, though no sound made it through the glass.
"Get up!" Bruce passed by Clark and approached the clone from behind. "We won't last long without you." He reached up and put his hands on the clone's shoulders, pulling backwards while pushing his knees into the back of the clone's knees. A takedown move that used steady pressure rather than impact, Bruce hoped that the clone would be susceptible to it.
He was not.
The clone spun around and swung at Bruce. It was easy to dodge. Bruce's wrists made contact with the clone's forearms, and his close quarters kung-fu training took over. From this position, face to face with an untrained opponent, he could avoid practically any attack using sticky-hands reflexes, but it was only a delaying tactic, since in this particular case hitting back would achieve nothing.
"Superman!" said Bruce, gliding back and forth out of the way of the clone's wild swings. "You're not really hurt. The nanobots are simulating the pain." Bruce didn't know whether this was technically true or not. Depending on the emulation's fidelity to human physiology, realistic neural damage might or might not be applied to reflect head trauma. Either way, at this moment in time it was useful for Clark to believe that he had been unaffected by the blow.
The clone scowled in confusion. "Sneaky Batsman! Why me am no can hit you?" The clone spread his arms wide and pushed forward, trying to grab Bruce around the waist. Bruce retreated, keeping pace, but aware that he would soon back up against a wall and then he would be trapped.
A deafening sound blasted across the room. Victor had come up to one side of the clone and levelled his sonic cannon at the clone's head. The clone halted his advance and bent over, clapping his hands over his ears. Bruce quickly moved out of range, also with his hands over his ears.
The noise stopped.
"Sorry man, but look, you gotta chill." said Victor.
Without any warning, the clone straightened up and elbowed Victor in the chest. There was a loud metallic clang, and Victor was sent flying backwards headfirst towards a wall.
THWUP
Barry caught Victor before he hit the wall, though he was far too heavy for Barry to support, and they both fell to the ground.
By this time, Diana had found a long metal pole, and vigorously attacked the clone, jabbing at his torso and swinging at his legs. The blows had no discernible effect. The clone looked angry, but instead of advancing on Diana his face contorted into a grimace. Bruce braced himself for a possible impact. Diana was the clone's most likely target, though even she was unlikely to survive a full-on punch at super-speed.
THWUP
Clark appeared directly behind the clone, grabbing him in a bear hug, pinning his arms and lifting him off the ground. Bruce relaxed, and Diana dropped the pole, repeatedly opening and closing her left hand, still injured from her initial attack. Barry was already on his feet, but Victor stayed down. His metal chest had a large dent in it, and he wasn't moving.
The clone thrashed about and shouted belligerently. Then he paused, and contorted his face in concentration. THWwWw… His head, shoulders and legs were briefly a blur as he tried to wriggle away at super-speed, but Clark held firm. THWwWw…
"We have to use the compound," said Bruce. "Being friendly doesn't work."
"I agree!" said Diana.
"I guess you're right," said Barry. "I'll go fetch it. Be right back."
THWUP
Bruce started a mental countdown. By now Barry would be in Palmer's lab, and Palmer would start transferring the compound from its cryogenic chamber to a vial, and placing that in a container of liquid nitrogen, ready for Barry to bring back. The whole process should take 30 seconds or so, which given the current situation, was quite a long time.
Bruce glanced over at the two super-beings. Clark's grip on the clone seemed secure for now, but the clone was still alternating between speed and physical exertion to try to extricate himself.
"Me am get free!" the clone screamed. "Me am strongest!"
"Superman, are you okay?" Bruce spoke quietly into his comm.
"Piece of cake," said Clark, his voice was muffled from his face being pressed sideways into the clone's back, and he was clearly using a lot of effort to keep the clone restrained. The clone had now stopped struggling, and was repeatedly scrunching his face in concentration and staring at Bruce, but this time there was no super-speed. He looked like he was trying to activate another power though. It reminded Bruce of something, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Something to do with the nanobots, and Clark being angry. Nanobots clustering around the eyes…
"Take cover!" Bruce shouted. He grabbed a nearby table threw it onto its side, facing the clone. "Eye beams!" he yelled, overturning a second table, and sending laptops and various equipment clattering to the floor. The flimsy tables wouldn't stop a super-laser beam, but if you were hiding behind one then at least the clone wouldn't know where to look.
That is, assuming he hadn't developed x-ray vision too.
Bruce was just about to go for a third table, when he felt a heavy impact from one side and was violently thrown towards the ground. Diana had flung herself towards him, just as twin lines of red light shot out of the clone's eyes, carving a deep cut in the wall behind where Bruce had been standing. Diana and Bruce landed on the floor behind one of the tables. A second set of red lines immediately cut through the table at Bruce's head. Diana thrust her right arm in the way, her metal bracer absorbing the light, and growing hot. Then the light beam disappeared, and appeared again, puncturing the table in a different place, missing them entirely. The clone evidently didn't have x-ray vision, that first shot had just been a good guess.
Steam rose from Diana's bracer, as the heat burned her arm. Diana gritted her teeth and frantically pawed at the bracer with her injured left hand, until Bruce grabbed it and yanked it off her.
As soon as Clark realized what was happening, he lifted the clone around, so that they were facing away from the tables, towards Luthor. A look of panic crossed Luthor's face, and he jabbed at a button on his console. A screen immediately swept across the window, hiding him from view.
"Turn back round, stupid-Steve-man!" shouted the clone. THWwWw… Bruce glanced over the top of the table. The clone was twisting left and right, causing Clark to stagger back and forth. The rest of the team were relatively safe, as long as Clark could keep his balance.
THWUP
Barry appeared next to Bruce, on his knees, one hand on a cylindrical metal container, the size of a small fire extinguisher.
"I got the compound." Barry looked back and forth at Bruce and Diana. "Why are you hiding behind these tables?"
"The clone can fire eye beams now." replied Bruce.
"Oh man."
Bruce glanced over the top of the table again. The clone had stopped struggling and was instead ranting about how Weak Steve couldn't hold him forever. This was true, they needed to act decisively, and soon.
