When he could see again, he saw the machine, standing in the middle of darkness, its massive gauntlets raised, as pillars of pure light were standing on its surface, apparently projected by the crystalline walls themselves.

'Energy weapons,' his suit supplied, learning that Steel wanted information. 'Equal to or greater than our own.'

But not enough, Steel knew. The Machine wasn't even using its shield anymore. The Fortress had apparently nullified it, or it had simply learned that it couldn't be hurt.

Then it raised an arm, and suddenly Steel's head was split with a shrieking noise. It lasted only an instant, and then it was finished. Even the Suit hadn't been able to block it out. Thank whatever was watching over him that the Machine didn't realise the weapon it had possessed against him already.

There was crumbling, and the lights disappeared, and so did the darkness. Neutral dim lighting returned, neither dark nor bright.

There was a shudder in his suit, and he knew what it was instinctively. His power had been cut off. The Fortress had tried to shut the Machine down, and then the Machine had shut the Fortress down instead. He was functioning on batteries alone now.

But the Machine was damaged. He could see it. A weakness! He thought triumphantly. It didn't move immediately as he made his escape.

Overhead, was something that wasn't the "natural" Fortress formation. Some kind of substance that Superman had developed, a metal that he could use more readily than what the Fortress used. Sometimes you needed one thing, sometimes another, he had said. And ice got boring. That last part was just Steel's opinion, though.

But what was important is that it was metal. He melted the beams into slag with the laser cannon matching its exact atomic oscillation frequency, and then used thermal reversal to instantly solidify them again. Even slag, it's some of the hardest stuff I've ever seen. It's got to slow it down.

He heard the sound, boom, the Machine was testing that theory. It'd take some time hopefully.

'Temperature is increasing rapidly.' His Suit informed him. So it was using an energy weapon too. Maybe not long at all, if it could do exactly what he did.

But it gave him time enough. He had explored all through this Fortress and knew exactly where he was going. Firing his propulsors, he flew down into the depths where only the flying and usually invulnerable could go.

He landed, just in time to hear a reverberating boom behind him, travelling with acoustic excellence through the tunnel, followed by something he could only describe as a roar. Without a prompt from Steel the tunnel suddenly seal behind him, crystallic ice forming a sheet over it, like the surface of water freezing, but something much more complex, he knew.

"Finally!" he was triumphant. He found it. The Core of the Fortress.

He made his way over to the glowing sphere, alternating between white and yellows, and even reds on his visor. It was still active, and still functioning. It had just been cut off from the rest of the Fortress.

"Look, buddy, I know I don't know you, and you maybe don't know me – just a human guy. But I'm here to help Superman and I don't want this thing to melt me or the Fortress. Can you help me out?"

There was a sound like a bell. Yes. The thing had replied. It was the first time it had ever spoken to him.

And suddenly his systems were back online. "Alright! Time for one more round, you metal hulk!"

He turned as he heard the Machine make its own entrance once more. It paused in the hole it had made, as if hearing him. And raised one arm. Exposing the broken armour beneath.

"Shields to maximum! Set frequency to reflect!"

And everything disappeared in whiteness once more.

(*)