If you can't beat them…

Those were the last words he remembered saying, as he told Kara the story. He hadn't known how to explain what happened at first, when she came swooping back in. But luckily she was smart enough to follow along as he babbled.

"You can at least trip them up," he finished the thought.

"I think I understand," Kara said, lifting a few tonnes of robotic arm cannon like it was nothing. And she turned to look at him, her eyes sharp and blue. "It detected your, uh, project, and activated. Saw you were using the Fortress systems to power and make it."

"So it triggered a defense?"

"No, I don't think that was it. Even when the Fortress tried to shut it down, it refused. What I think happened, John, is that it saw you were creating something that would be its replacement. In its own mind, so to speak, it was threatened by you."

"Are you saying it had a case of jealousy?" John asked incredulously.

She tossed the arm into the rest of the pile, with a thundering crash that took a moment to quieten. Steel himself was standing in the pilot seat, exposed to the open air just above the pair of robotic legs which were all that were still functioning of the robot he built.

"Pretty much. All those were systems that would be used to activate itself, and I think it just piggy-backed off your project to bring itself to life, and then begin its mission in a way. To conquer like it was originally programmed. You were apparently the first "native defense" it had to conquer."

"So I did accidentally activate it, then…"

She shrugged, her hair waving in the act. "Either way. Still, you did an excellent job. I'm sorry I wasn't here. Asteroids in space, and sound, you know -" she made a wiggling motion next to her ear. "Doesn't travel up there as well."

(*)

A little later and it was a little quieter still. Superman was still out in space, and Kara had stayed for a few of her own reasons, and to listen. It didn't take long to tidy up at super-speed. But John appreciated the company.

"I put a little of my own AI into it, I wasn't sure how it'd perform. But computers are the only things fast enough to keep up with a Kryptonian."

Kara made a dubious expression. Depends on the computer, really. But didn't argue with him.

John noticed her expression, naturally. "Well, I wish I had Cyborg's brain sometimes, but I've been working on some of these systems since a kid. I believe in them."

I believe in you too, Steel, she didn't say aloud, but she smiled to convey her feeling. Like seeing a kid see his dreams coming true.

He sighed, a morose figure in the battlefield, surrounded by metallic wreckage belonging to both duelling war machines. "Guess that shows me, though. Guess I have to start again from scratch."

Power Girl shook her head, examining a bit of wreckage she held in her fingers. "I don't think you understand what a good fight you put up. That machine there, it was built to destroy or conquer worlds. It was Krypton's evil Superman before there was a Superman. If there's one thing you should know by now, it's that even Kryptonians can lose a fight. You didn't. You just stopped Doomsday, and still walked away. Don't you see? You proved your case. You just saved the world."

He made a face. "You're right, that does make me feel a bit better."

"Good. However, I have one bone to pick with you." She raised a finger, her expression alternating from playful to serious.

"Oh, what's that?"

"Next time, don't use a scanner to get my dimensions."

He went as red as it was possible to be.

THE END