Chapter 15: No

The Daily Planet Bullpen, Midtown Metropolis.

"No no no no no no no no no no no no", mutters a nervous Lois Lane, leaning on the window next to her desk. "Not this, not him. No no no no no no-" "Hey, Lois, I got those cups of—OH MY GOD NO!", bellows Jimmy, dropping a tray of coffee cups right on the floor. "Jimmy, you got any idea if Perry's got a heart attack already?" "…No, why?" "Cause we're about to give him one! Get your coat—" "But I just got here—" "Then forget the coffee, we're going to the roof!" "Please tell me you're not thinking of using the chopper towards Lexcorp Tower." "You're a smart boy", Lois sassily replies, shoving many fellow reporters out of the way.

The Lexcorp Tower Rooftop, Midtown Metropolis.

On the ominous building's rooftop, a very well-prepared man paces around Superman's lying body, eager to strike at the perfect moment on this, as the glass windows adorning this dangerous tower reflect the final sunset Clark Kent may ever see.

"Heh. After all our fights, all your false wins, all those EMBARRASSING public jailing days, I have the last laugh!", a still armored Lex gloats to a barely unconscious Superman, firmly grasping a large emerald spear. "How glorious is it to know the greatest living human gets to kill the savior of humanity?!", he continues to boast, failing to realize Superman isn't listening. "I'll bet even you fail to see the extreme irony in that clever observation."

"W-wh-where am I? Oh wait, it's you again. …Darn", Clark slurs, still a bit woozy from the previous fight. "You, uh, you didn't hear my magnificent monologue, did you?", Lex asked sheepishly. "Your what?" "THAT'S IT! No more waiting, time to die!", he exclaims in blind rage, with a vein on his bald head now quite visible. As his spear hand slams into the pavement, Clark whizzes out of harm's way, missing the mortal blow by a hair. "Damnit, not now!", Lex laments, struggling to pull the spear out of the ground. "Lex, please just think for a second on what you're doing. Think about al the lives in danger right now because—" "Because of what? Brainiac's corpse is securely held by the Legion, and you, my big blue pain, don't fully realize the euphoria I get from killing you tonight", Luthor quickly corrects.

"Do you truly trust the Legion? Do you trust that cabal of thieves, killers, dictators and terrorists with arguably the greatest technological achievement in the universe?", Clark asks in a concerned manner. "Unlike your Super Friends Clubhouse and their communist ideas of sharing all knowledge no matter what, he's my trophy and mine alone. The Legion respects personal property of members." "Just like you respect law and order." "Oh, but I do. Did you forget who the Metropolis PD's biggest donor is?", Lex gloats. "Returning stolen goods and money never count as charitable acts", Superman rebutted.

"Giving money is giving money, whether it's taxes or reclaiming MY assets", the billionaire dismisses, finally pulling the spear out of the ground. "But killing you and doing it after destroying the last machine of Krypton too are QUITE different", Luthor exclaims in a slimy, slick manner. He immediately jabs the spear at Clark's head, with Clark barely dodging once again.

One hundred and fifty floors below, a messy situation gets messier. "Never run with all of us tied together again", Grodd gurgles, holding back vomit. "Okay, banana breath, relax! We're here, and we just have to put the body in Lex's office. No big deal", Zoom replies. "Allow me this time, future boy", Wilson barks, using his sword to climb the skyscraper like a mountain. "You might want to have the body with you, dumbass!", shouts Manta, jumping and climbing alongside Wilson. "I work with idiots", sighs Zoom, pushing the two up into Lex's penthouse via his super speed. "Hiya, sweetie!" "My little runner!", Cheetah purrs with glee. "Not these buffoons again", Mercy muttered. "I heard that!", Zoom and Cheetah say sharply in unison. "You're all buffoons. There's a back door entrance in the sewers that leads to an elevator for right HERE", Mercy replies, pointing to a liquor cart. "Wait, that's an elevator?", Wilson asks. "What vodka company has a lever shaped bottle?", she remarks, puling it to reveal the elevator. "All bottles are lever shaped, ya bitch", Wilson barks, taking a sip of a half opened smaller bottle of whiskey. "…Maybe not this one, but every other one is."

"Here's your damn science project, or what's left of it", Manta dryly states, tossing Brainiac in front of Mercy. "It's my boyfriend's, and my boss's." "You say those like they're separate." "I'm professional, unlike the Big Apple Circus over here!" "Hey, we at least stuck to the plan. We didn't run off halfway through to start a grudge match at our house!", Zoom replies.

Suddenly, the roof above gives into the raw power of Lex Luthor slamming Superman onto his luxury carpet floor. "Luthor, please! There has to be—" "NO. I have in my hands the perfect opportunity to not just defend my city, blame our robot friend's malfunctions on corporate sabotage in favor of an alien invasion, but kill all of Krypton's children once and for all ON MY TERMS", Luthor barked, almost gleaming at his master plan. "I can be Mr Metropolis once more with NO ONE to stand in my way!"

"Hey, Lex!", Zoom shouts. "I think somebody forgot he didn't get to this point by himself. Didn't he, fellas and ladies?", waving his hand towards the Legion to stand up. "Runner's right, baldy", replies Wilson, unholstering his gun. "Now?! Now you want to do this?", Lex berates, holding back a punch from Superman. "Mercy, show these idiots the door, NOW!" "I have a better idea", she replies, grabbing a strange green bottle off of his alcohol bottle is then thrown right onto Superman's head, revealing one last shard of Kryptonite inside a deceiving lead bottle slicing into Clark's right arm.

"Lex, please! Stop this madness, and get the shard out of me! I'll leave town if you just get it out! Please, I beg you!", Clark pleads uncharacteristically. "…You'll what?", Lex says in unison with Lois, barging in at the worst possible time with Jimmy, already filming their entrance. "CLARK!", Lois shouts, running into the scene, shoving Lex out of her way. "Goddamnit, Clark, what are you doing?!" "Lois, who's Clark? I'm Superman", he sternly replies, gritting his teeth while doing so. "You're that reporter, Clark Kent. You're him, aren't you?", Lex stutters. He gets down on one knee, holding Clark's head up by the chin. "You're just a newsman, telling everyone stories about you saving the day. Like an absolute egomaniac." "Don't you ever call my Clark that kind of name!", Lois yells, slapping Lex. "Heh. So that's how you hide your identity without a mask", Manta remarks. "Just be a dumbass reporter with a hot, sassy girlfriend." "Superman, or Clark Kent, whichever you prefer, you and I aren't as different as I thought." "Lex, get the shard out of me. Now. I'll leave town forever if you do."

"Only if the world knows who you are." "Shard first, then anything you want. Anything", he says, almost whimpering from the pain of the shard. "He, he was Superman all along. I was right back at the press conference", Jimmy stammers to himself in utter awe."From one egotist to another, certainly", Lex replies, shoving it deeper into Clark's arm.

"Hey, baby, the hell are ya doing?!", Mercy asks in confusion. "He doesn't lie, just let him leave already!" "Your assistant is correct, let Big Blue leave!", Cheetah growls. "Never. He's done too much to not die today", Lex snarls, digging the rock even deeper into Clark. "What the fuck, man, let him fly outta here! That's good business for any one of us, you bald idiot!", Wilson adds. "He's only good dead." "Clark, you can stop him, you can do it again!", Lois begs, almost crying. "If you don't let him fly off into the sunset, I'll quit and go independent!", Manta demands, holding back Wilson from shooting Lex. "There's the door", Lex replies, finally breaking alien bone with his rock and kneeling to see his greatest achievement with glee.

"Well, at least you're close enough for me to finally do this", Clark groans in pain, grabbing in between the seams of Lex's chest armor with both hands. "WHAT?", Lex bellows in confusion as his armor is split cleanly into two pieces, revealing his business suit and tie. "Clark, what are you doing?!", Lois shouts.

"That green stuff hurts like hell, but I'm not going to give up", Superman claims, slowly but surely ripping apart the armor off of Lex. "Not now, not ever. Not when people like you will take every possible chance to step on top of the little guy for your sick kicks." "B-but, you were about to quit! How could you possibly—" "Say one thing and do the opposite, right when I'm in your hands?" "…You bastard. You double crossed ME!" "That was the one thing I could never do right, until someone taught me how they do it to everyone. Lois, call the League!", Superman exclaims, still in agonizing pain.

END OF CHAPTER 15