Now we play?

Someone had a high opinion of themselves.

"If it's a fight you want, I'll give you more than you can handle," Superman warned, lifting himself into the air, his toes inches off the ground. "This is your only chance to surrender."

The silver man only copied him, rising off the destroyed asphalt and pavement to hover as well. If it weren't for the differences in their physical features, they would have looked like a mirror image of each other.

So a fight it was.

With a combination of enhanced speed and flight, Superman went on the offensive. An arm drew back, a fist clenched, muscles bunched with tension, and then he swung. His blow landed right in the center of the mimicked S, and the silver man was forced back, feet digging small trenches into the ruined street.

The Man of Steel did not let up. Onward he pressed, swinging and landing hit after hit against his latest threat. The silver man took the blows, whether they were against its torso or its head. So, it could take a hit, eh? Well, how about—

He had gotten tunnel vision, a nasty habit he found himself developing. A silver fist suddenly slammed against his check, his head starting to turn, and there was the beginning of pain. His neck snapped to a side, spit flew out of his mouth, and his guard was down long enough for the second blow to hit, snapping his head in the opposite direction.

The third hit was what knocked him back, the wind buffeting against his back as he sailed through the air. Through flight he was able to catch himself. Rubbing at his face, Superman glared over his hand at the enemy; if there had been any good humor, it was long gone. A lot of things were long gone and that included restraint.

If whoever, or whatever this was opposed him, then there would be no quarter given.

The silver man went on the offensive, blurring from the superspeed it was using. Without a thought, Superman launched himself into the air, simultaneously taking in a long deep breath. The silver man came to an abrupt stop, craning its neck back to watch the Kryptonian's ascent. It was that hesitation he took advantage of as he unleashed his Arctic Breath, the freezing gale slamming down onto the man and the area immediately around it.

He kept blowing, his lips pursed as air slowly slipped out of his lungs. Finally, the exhale ended and below he could see twinkling, light reflecting off of ice. There in the middle of it was the silver man, a thin covering of ice encasing it with small icicles hanging off of anything they could. Clenching both fists, the Kryptonian readied to descent with as much speed as he could gain.

Right now, his opponent was frozen solid and it would easy enough to shatter the thing, ending this once and for all.

Before he could take advantage, silver was replaced by red and green, and then the detonation of flames tore open the icy shell. Even from as high up as he was, Superman could feel the heat, and he remained in flight, waiting.

Flames died quickly, and from their remains the silver man lifted off the ground, flying. In one hand, a mace formed, one identical to Hawkgirl's. Superman found his eyes focused on the weapon, watching as it swung and he moved to catch it. His hand slipped between the spikes and then the attack stopped right there.

He raised a dark eyebrow, mocking the silver man, but learned the error of his hubris when the mace electrified. His eyes widened and it was an effort of will to keep his mouth shut, teeth clenched together so that they didn't chatter. His vision was blinded in green as a construct rammed into him, throwing him away.

Now that the current was no longer running through his body, Superman stopped his flight. It was just in time as the mace swung at him again, the silver man having chased after him. The first was dodged, and so was the second, electricity crackling through the air. Not waiting for a third swing, the dark-haired hero's eyes flared red, and his Heat Vision went to work blasting at the mace.

The silver man stopped and eyed the mace that was starting to melt. That didn't seem right as his Heat Vision hadn't been absorbed enough into the replica weapon; Nth metal had a high tolerance for heat and Thanagar kept what was the necessary temperature to manipulate the metal a secret. Regardless, it gave him an opening, and Superman landed a hit against the silver man's head.

He landed a second blow after that, then pressed both hands together, fingers intertwined, and raised them over his head. Down they went, a powerful jackhammer blow colliding with the oblong head and sending the aggressor down to the ruined streets below. There was a mighty boom, a large cloud of dirt and debris rising up from the impact sight.

Rearing back, Superman threw himself downward, using gravity to augment his speed as he raced down to land another devastating hit. The dust was barely settling when the silver man launched out of the small crater its body had created.

Two bodies were hurdling at one another. Impact could not be avoided. A shockwave was the result of the collision, air rushing away, propelled by force alone. Two bodies separated, as if ricocheting off one another.

Superman's eyes snapped opened, air buffeting him, and it was a struggle to both stop and right himself. Slowly, he touched his jaw, feeling the soreness and ache that seemed to go straight to the bone. Fingers pulled away, the index and middle fingers stained red. He was bleeding.

When had been the last time he had bled? Not including…not including his death, when he had last shed any of his blood? What foe had been that powerful enough to accomplish such a feat? His head hurt, not just in his jaw, but…all over and deep. There had been one…maybe two who had managed to cause him to bleed before, but why was it so hard remembering?

No, now was not the time for recalling something inane. It was meaningless and didn't answer how he was going to crush this…thing over there. It was hovering, watching him, waiting…

Anger welled from within him and it helped to push aside the pain. This fight was far from over and he was going to show whatever this thing was just how powerful he was.

He was Superman, Earth's true savior, and the one who would deliver it from chaos into order once again.

No one and nothing would take that from him.


It was with a groan that Flash stirred. Shifting stiffly, he pushed himself up, finding himself in…well, this place had certainly seen better days, that's for certain.

All around him, he saw various Justice League members and the Bat Faction—hey, that wasn't a half-bad name—gingerly getting up themselves. There were groans, moans, and grunts, but they were all still in one piece.

"Everyone alright?" the speedster called out. There were a few grumbled responses, but nothing that sounded too encouraging. Straightening out his posture, Flash tried to figure out where to start helping. He could help check the others out, or try and restrain the Legion, or even restrain GL and Hawkgirl. That last one might be a hard sell with the other League members and whatever mood they were in, he doubted it was one that wanted to listen to reason.

A loud crash caused the red-clad man to spin around. Down the street, he saw that giant tin can man going toe to toe with Big Blue himself and it looked as if Supes wasn't holding back.

"Anyone have any idea what that thing is?" Green Arrow asked as he came to stand next to Flash. He held his bow at his side, but didn't look all that interested in helping out the Man of Steel.

"Whatever it is, it's strong," Vixen replied. "I'm pretty certain I found out what it's like to be a ragdoll."

Superman landed a punch to the metal man, causing it to stagger back, but then just as quickly throw its own punch back. The dark-haired man flinched back from the blow, but didn't let it stop him as he continued his assault.

"Anyone got any idea what it is?" Manhunter asked. When Flash glanced at her, he realized that she looked a lot better than a lot of the League. Looking to the other Bat-Faction guys and gals, they didn't look worse for wear. Black Canary was down, Huntress and Katana kneeling next to her as they checked her out. It was almost as if the worst off people were the ones that had powers.

And speaking of powers, J'onn reappeared, rising up from the ground like a see-through ghost, filling in with color the moment he stood on solid ground. "Hey, J'onn," Flash greeted the Martian. "I hope you have some idea of what's going on."

Unfortunately, J'onn answered, "I do not." Well, that was disappointing. "I do feel that for the safety of all, we remain out of this battle."

"No arguments here," Green Arrow agreed.

"Are you kidding me?" Steel demanded. "Superman could use some help, you know. You're the best support he could ask for right now."

"Right now, we do not understand the threat, so it would be ill-advised to go charging in," J'onn responded.

"Besides, that didn't work for any of us," Flash added, backing up his friend. "Everyone here went toe-to-toe with it and it handled us like a postal worker with a fragile box."

"It would be a better use of our energies to apprehend the various Legion members while we still have the opportunity," J'onn then said. "Take who you can and remove them from the battlefield. Restrain them in whatever way you can."

"We can put them in the cells on the Watchtower," Black Lightning said after a moment.

"Excellent idea. I leave it to you to coordinate the transportation." All the while, J'onn never stopped watching the fight in progress, his orange eyes probing the entire time.

Normally, J'onn was more polite than that. "What are you thinking, J'onn?" Flash asked him, chancing a look at his green friend.

"I feel that this latest turn of events is not coincidental," the Martian responded. "You have no doubt noticed the ones in worse shape are those who have powers, yes?"

"Yeah, I had noticed that." A pause. "What does it mean?"

"I'm not certain, but I fear it is nothing good."


Some distance away from the battle that had everyone watching, Killer Frost's body laid against a cement barrier, a fence that was in no way a white picket one. She was unconscious, still breathing, but for the time being harmless.

Helpless too when the shadows fell over her.

"Ay, the Sheila got one over here real good," Boomerang reported, crouching next to the unconscious criminal, but not touching her. She looked like she would chill you to the bone if you did.

A loud boom drew the Central City rogue's attention away and he grimaced. Coming up beside him, Vertigo watched the battle from afar with interest. "I have not seen this level of destruction before. I find myself in awe and horrified."

Stepping before all of them, Major Force punched a fist into a palm. "I'll put an end to this. I don't care who they are, no one hurts America."

"You will stand down, soldier," Deadshot ordered. For his command, he got a look of rage from Major Force. Not in the least bit intimidated, the sniper retorted, "What do you expect to accomplish? We all saw what that robot's doing. Every single person it came across, it started using their powers. What are the odds it'll do the same to you? Do you honestly think you stand a chance?"

Because they were doing exactly as Waller wanted, well, almost exactly. They were watching, observing, and what they saw started off as a superhuman brawl and became a warzone as soon as the robot showed up. Where did it come from? Who dropped it off? Literally, who did? The thing fell out of the sky, and the sniper was only just able to spot the helicopter, but not who owned it.

This was a straight up massacre, though not everyone was dead. Still, it wasn't every day you saw the Justice League getting ripped a new one. Now it was the heavyweight match itself as Superman took the robot on head on. No matter what happened, this place was never going to be the same.

"I don't know 'bout you blokes, but I'm thinkin' we might want to skedaddle outta 'ere," Boomerang said, standing up from his crouch. "I think we've seen 'nough. We stick 'round long 'nough, someone'll see us, and then we're in trouble."

A very good point. You could only hide so much when most everything around you was in the process of being leveled. However, there was still one thing they needed to do, because going back empty-handed was not an option.

"Who cares? They're destroying one of America's greatest cities. We need to stop this—I need to stop this," Force argued.

Sometimes Deadshot wondered why the Major here was assigned to this task—no, this suicidal squad. If there was anything major about this guy, it was that he was a major pain in the ass at the best of times.

"We are going to stand down unless you want Waller using her insurance policy on you. I'd like to keep my head in every sense of the phrase," the sniper ordered.

"I very much agree," Vertigo added.

Force growled, his whole muscular body tense, but he hadn't gone anywhere yet. Fucking hair trigger temper; someone was going to have to do something about it, but it wasn't going to be him. Now, in the meantime…

Looking down at Killer Frost, "Someone grab her. Remember, we were told to do some recruiting while we were out here. She looks like a good recruit as any. Now we can leave and say we did everything we could."

"Aye, Major, if you would," Vertigo continued with his brown nosing, though it wasn't a half-bad idea to have Force move the body. Boomerang had already been moving away in an attempt to not get stuck moving her. Force, though had the best chance of not having the woman here do her thing on him. That suit that covered Force's body was capable to taking a lot; Deadshot doubted he knew everything it could do.

Naturally, Force looked like he wanted to cave Vertigo's face in, but at the last second was able to hold his so very short temper in. Stomping over to Frost, he bent down to pick her up, and at that point, Deadshot was turning away, though he did look over his shoulder at the raging battle.

Someone needed to keep an eye on it until they got safely away. You never knew how a fight would pan out, or where it would go, so taking your eyes off of it was a bad idea. This was especially true since Superman of all people was involved. Everywhere was a possibility now.

So they needed to pick the possibility where they got the hell out of dodge here without anyone finding out they were here the whole time. It was freaking suicide, but Waller wouldn't have it any other way.


Their battle had returned to the streets. Nothing was more important than defeating this menace, and so anything that got in his way was ignored. Damaged cars, walls, even buildings were not spared. His opponent had the same disregard, its only focus on him and him alone.

Their speed made both of them virtual blurs, and the strength behind their blows only increased with each passing moment, the force involved pushing away the air itself. Then there were the various powers involved. Strength, speed, and flight were expected; the silver man brought some abilities of its own.

Electricity had been a nasty surprise. It had managed to stop the Man of Steel in his tracks for several seconds. His answer was to begin spinning around in place, creating a whirlwind that masked his drilling into the earth where he continued until he emerged underneath the enemy. Erupting out of the asphalt, he slammed an uppercut that snapped the silver man's head back. Before he could land another blow, it snapped its head back down and unleashed an ear-shattering scream. Feeling his ear drums burst as blood began to trickle out of his ears, Superman gritted his teeth before he countered with his Arctic Breath. That thankfully silenced the scream, but fire of both red and green varieties interrupted the ice growing across the silver man's body. Changing tactics in an instant, the Arctic Breath became a powerful gale, which pushed the man back.

The fires didn't get a chance to really catch and grow, extinguishing as the wind battered at the flames. Lunging forward, Superman threw punch after punch, each blow hitting with enough force to shove the very air away, until for a vacuum to suck it back in moments later. The silver man began responding in kind, landing his own earth-shattering blows against the Kryptonian's body. Any other flames were deprived of needed oxygen, vanishing into the pulling and pushing of wind.

Speaking of need, Superman was looking for a much quicker victory and found himself constantly being denied. It was frustrating, headachingly so. No matter what he did, this silver man always had a response, and whenever he was able to land a hit, the silver man took it. It was tough, much too durable than what Superman was used to.

Drawing away, he found himself reaching out with his hand and grabbing onto a totaled car. Hefted it up, he threw the damaged vehicle. In an instant, the silver man reformed his mace and swung it, knocking the car away. A red-booted foot slammed down onto one side of a nearby manhole covered, dislodging it while flipping it into the air. Snatching the lid, it was thrown like a discus and was stopped by a green barrier, a Green Lantern make.

Then the silver man went in for the charge, and superspeed had it already in Superman's face. The Kryptonian barely caught a large fist with his own, but the mace that followed up sent him flying away. Through a house, or what was left of it, he went through it until exiting out the other side, momentum carrying him until he lost enough for gravity to pull him back down.

His body bounced off of ruined pavement, the second landing ending in a skid. Blinking dazed eyes, Superman stared straight up at the night sky, unable to see any of the stars. With effort, he slowly pushed himself up until he was sitting up. This was…this was taking too much effort. This couldn't keep going on.

But how? How could he bring this battle to an end? How could he prevent…

Prevent.

Blue eyes sharpened as a plan formed in the Kryptonian's mind. He knew now what he needed to do. The hard part would be getting back on his feet, and as it turned out, balancing on them too.

He didn't need to look around. Floating above was the silver man, stalking in its approach, but not yet going on the attack. Superman glared back up, waiting as he gained his second wind, then went on the attack. Up he went, one armed pulled back and muscles bunching from the tension in them.

It was a headshot he punched for, the silver man pulling back enough to dodge. That was expected, and he wanted to put this enemy off kilter no matter how he had to do so. A second punch missed as well, harmlessly slicing through the air

Behind the silver man, two wings grew out of the broad back, then both flapped forward, catching the Man of Steel and entrapping him in their embrace. He cried out in surprise, but manage to retain his composure.

Now that he was closer, Superman glared into those small eyes, anger growing when he saw no life behind the,. It was more than enough to have his eyes glowing red.

Twin beams of concentrated energy, or lasers, fired from his eyes, aimed directly at the silver man's forehead. Memories of doing such a thing flashed before his eyes and he ignored all of it. The intensity of his Heat Vision increased, all the while he did not move his eyes so as to keep focused on that brow.

How many people had gone through this process before? His memory offered up vague recollections, some strong enough to make his head throb with a headache. Regardless, he knew this was a sure fire way to end the threat this silver man represented to himself and his order.

The intensity of the red beams of energy intensified, grew stronger. Oddly, there was no smell of burning flesh, but that was of no consequence. He kept his Heat Vision going, the silver man taking no action.

Eventually, he ended it, feeling satisfaction at another victory. Much of the silver man's forehead was red, glowing red, and slowly that glow faded away as it cooled until…

Nothing.

Normally, there would have been two dots on the forehead, the telltale sign of a Heat Vision lobotomy. Not this time, and if baffled the Man of Steel. Had…it not worked?

The silver man's eyes began to glow red, and then Superman was on the receiving end of his own Heat Vision. He cried out in pain, unable to move as the two wings continued to hold him in place. The stinging and burning assault ended, then came the punches.

The first struck the left cheek, snapping his head to the right. The second reversed that, snapping his head to the left. The wing on his left pulled back and then slammed into him, the right wing repeating the action in reverse. Then the following blow was in his stomach, bending him over. The uppercut sent his head up and back along with arching his spine. Finally, two silver hands clasped together and came down hard.

Down he fell, whistling through the air until impact. Concrete gave away and so did rock and soil. Pieces of pavement and earth rose and fell, landing all over. Slowly, Superman cracked open his eyes and then bulged them further as two feet rammed into his stomach. Head, shoulders, calves, and feet jerked up, and a single fist came down and crashed the back of his skull into the ground once more.

His vision was blurry and he could almost see stars. Everything was so light…overexposed…hard to see, but slowly, too slowly, the details returned. Everything was darkening, yet coming into focus. The night sky, starless, the ruined city around, the silver man standing on him…

"I am programmed not to kill humans."

A…voice? What? Did…did it speak?

A mace rose up into the air, electricity crackling about its spiky head.

"You are not human."

Violent pain blossomed in his face, his head sinking further into the earth. Then another blow, and another. Vision was compromised, all was pain, all was agony, and he…could…not…move…any…long…

The sounds were slow to process, but there was crashing and booming, and that was the sound of Nth metal…bashing into a nigh unbreakable skull.

Then finally, everything went dark.

Exactly as it had before…

…when he had died.


Superman was considered to be the most powerful man on Earth. That he was lying at the feet of this metal man was shocking, horrifying, and alarming all at once.

It did not go unnoticed by Batman how this man had fought. When fighting Hawkgirl, it had fought like her. After encountering Superman, it began fighting like the Kryptonian. It even began using Heat Vision and flight.

And its strength! When it had fought Hawkgirl, it didn't appear as if it had been using too much strength, but that had changed after it met Superman. Suddenly it was performing great feats of strength akin to the Man of Steel.

It was like it had all of the same powers as Superman…

Now though, the Kryptonian laid in a heap at the metal man's feet, the man looking ready to land the last, final blow with its mace. That simply would not do.

So the Dark Knight leaped from his vantage point, using the glider mode of his cape to soar down to the two men. He landed a short distance away, his cape going slack once the electrical current from his gauntlets stopped. The metal man had heard his landing if its head turning to face him was any indication.

And then Batman saw something that he had only seen a time or two prior. The metal man's eyes glowed as it looked at him. It stopped just as suddenly as it started, but its posture relaxed, unconcerned.

Then it spoke.

"You are normal," it intoned, turning its head back to regard the fallen Superman. "You have nothing to offer me."

Offer me? That was an interesting phrase. Casually, Batman moved a hand beneath his cape to a pouch on his belt. "I wouldn't say that," he replied.

"Bats! Get out of there!" he heard Flash shout.

This caused the dark-clad man to raise his other hand up, gesturing for the Scarlet Speedster to stay where he was. "I've got this," he called out. "You stay where you are."

That got the metal man's attention. Again, it looked back at him, this time turning to face him. "And what does someone like you have that may interest me?" it asked.

It had been a last resort, to use only if everything else failed. Everything now had changed and it wasn't the same situation anymore. Batman pulled out his hand, tossing his cape to one side with the movement, and revealed a glowing green rock. Its sickly glow washed over the surrounding area, coloring it green. Superman whimpered from the exposure, though it was unknown if he was awake or unconscious.

As for the Metal Man, its eyes widened before it staggered backwards. "Ugghh!" it moaned as it took a step or two back before dropping backwards. It managed to catch itself, but it landed on its butt, using one arm to prop itself up.

Batman walked towards the man. "I couldn't help but notice how you seemed to fight exactly like the last person you fought," he spoke, holding out the kryptonite in front of him. "It got me thinking, if you fought like them, used their powers like them, did you not also have their weaknesses?

"As we can see, you certainly do."

"Stay…stay away!" the metal man gasped as it began awkwardly crawling away, dragging its body across the ground while it kept its head trained on the vigilante.

"Surrender yourself and this all stops," Batman responded.

Almost panicked, the man looked to its left and its right before down to the ground it laid on. Raising a fist up, it then slammed it on the cracked pavement.

Much to Batman's surprise, the ground gave away. A hole appeared beneath the metal man and it dropped into it. The hole wasn't all that large, obviously big enough to allow the metal man passage, but not as big as some of the other craters that had formed in the last hour. Staring at the hole, the vigilante slowly lowered the kryptonite before returning it to the lead lined pouch on his belt.

There was a gust of wind and Flash was at his side. "Do we go after him?" the red-clad man asked, looking into the hole.

"No," Batman replied with a shake of his head. "We don't know what that thing is and what it was trying to do. Aside from the kryptonite exposure, it was clearly the more powerful person out of everyone here. Anyone that goes after it won't have a pleasant time."

"A wise course of action," J'onn agreed as he joined them. "We have another matter to attend to as well."

With a turn of his head, the Martian indicated just what he meant. Superman, Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl were all out of commission for the moment, an unexpected silver lining. If there was ever an opportunity to stop them, this was it. There was the matter of the new League members, but considering the state they were in, whatever resistance they could put up would be minimal at best.

"We know what needs to be done," Batman then said. "Let's not waste this opportunity."