There they were, on the horizon getting closer and closer, bringing with them a storm of sand and death. Standing outside the Apocalypse Knight, Bruce, Lucifer, Stephanie and the rest of the heroes could only watch as the horde of Parademons neared.
Escape was improbable, Bruce had fixed the engine, cleaned the turbines and even replaced the atomic battery but the speed and endurance of the tank was no match for an army of Parademons and their Captain.
"Are we ready?" Stephanie asked, taking position front and centre, she was a natural leader
"Everything's going like clockwork" Bruce assured
"That bastard picked the wrong team to play chicken with"
Bruce smirked and raised his cowl back over his head. Kalibak had made one disastrous mistake before he had even engaged them, he had given them time to prepare. Had the youngest so called New God taken them by surprise, Bruce doubted that they'd be in such a strong position.
Kalibak was a small, heavily built, hairy humanoid with razor sharp teeth in a rotted mouth that Bruce could already see was twisted into a smile.
Before Kalibak could even drop from the sky, the first shot rang out. Drake had rigged the tank's cannons to fire what he called Birdarangs, a highly combustible projectile with red blades at the centre. There were only five experimental prototypes but they put a nice little dent in the army.
Up next was Orpheus, a master of sounds, he made use of a noise that Bruce had once discovered could attract Parademons, exploiting and reengineering it to dish out extreme nausea to the creatures. Sixteen dropped out of the sky as the noise pumped out of the tank's sonic arsenal, the bugs started heaving out whatever they had for guts.
Stephanie activated a small Bat Signal built into the top of the tank, blinding Kalibak. Bunker took that cue and constructed a massive energy shell around them, Kalibak splattering against it. The Parademons that were unaffected by Orpheus's noise came to their master's aid.
Angrily Kalibak wielded a metal club like weapon, firing off a bolt of energy into the shield, collapsing it. Bunker cried out in pain but stayed on his feet as Kalibak landed before him. Lucifer quickly put himself in between the two and with incredible strength, ripped the weapon out of Kalibak's hands, throwing it to the sand. Lucifer gloated for a moment when he really shouldn't have and got a fist to the chest, knocking him backward.
Stephanie and Drake unleashed an impressive combination of bo staff and gymnastic technique. Their staffs were electrified, sending high volts into various parts of Kalibak's body.
Bruce readied himself for his role. When Drake had warned everyone that Kalibak was coming, Stephanie confided something to Bruce. Athena's blade had been given to her for safe keeping. Her Bruce had wanted her to be able to protect both herself and it from Darkseid's forces.
Stephanie gave the blade to Bruce, explaining that her Bruce would probably rest better in his grave knowing that a version of him had just killed Darkseid's son. Personally Bruce would rather spit on his doppelganger's grave but he took the twin sided blade anyway, not wanting Stephanie to get her hands bloodied.
Tim and Stephanie jabbed two electric bolts into Kalibak's head, sending him reeling, while the other's tackled his remaining Parademons.
Bruce leapt on Kalibak, knocking him to the ground. Bruce was about to strike with the blade when a disastrously familiar voice boomed through the air.
"STOP!"
The moment's hesitation gave Kalibak the opportunity to knock Bruce off him. The blade fell from his grasp but Bruce couldn't find it before a pair of red boots landed in front of him.
Clark lifted Bruce from the ground, his grip firm on his neck. Not enough to do serious damage but easily keeping Bruce in place, like a child picking up a spider.
Clark's eyes were filled with rage, an uncharacteristic scowl crossed his face.
"I know why you're here" he said, nothing but contempt in his voice "My Lord is expecting you"
"Good..." Bruce spat back "He can wait a little longer until these people are allowed to leave"
"These... people?" Clark queried, looking from Bruce to Stephanie and her friends "These aren't people, they're criminals, on the run from the rightful owners of this planet"
Clark came closer to Bruce, almost nose to nose, his breath smelt like a mixture of raw sewage and gasoline. It was hard to bear.
"Do you know what happened to the last Bat who defied me?"
Bruce stared Clark down, he didn't blink until Clark did. Clark smiled disgustingly, turning to the tank and destroyed Orpheus's sonic arsenal with one powerful clap. Without it the downed Parademons struggled to their feet. Clark turned to them.
"Bring the humans to conversion, make them your brothers and sisters"
The Parademon who grabbed Drake got a bow staff in the face for his trouble but Clark quickly used his heat vision to settle matters, causing the staff to melt into Drake's gloved hands.
"If you resist me, you'll become just another corpse bleeding out on the sand" Clark warned "but if you come freely you will become the right hand of God himself"
Clark singled out one person, a teen trying her best to peek out at the stand off. Bruce was introduced to Trixie, she was supposed to be watching the screens inside.
Clark offered a hand to Trixie, his face a perversion of hope.
"What do you say, child?"
Trixie spat in his face. Clark took a moment to wipe the spital from his eye and cheek, before tightening his hand into a fist.
"NO!" Lucifer bellowed, tackling the Kryptonian into the air, his wings were out but this time they looked angelic, they were glorious, pale and feathered.
Lucifer's face changed, just for a split second but Bruce caught a glimpse of it, blood red and scarred beyond belief. Bruce didn't know why but deep down the image sent a feeling of dread through him. Clark must've felt something too, a look of horror crossed his face.
"She will be spared" he conceded
"They will ALL be spared!" Lucifer screamed at Clark, his eyes utterly ablaze
Clark was better at hiding his emotions the second time, he carefully removed Lucifer's hands from his suit and regarded the other man as an equal.
"I suppose, as a gift from Darkseid, it could be arranged"
Clark turned to Stephanie and her team, he looked almost bored.
"You live to fight another day"
Kalibak looked like a vein was about to burst on his forehead.
"They are scum! I will send them to the conversion nests myself!"
Clark landed and approached Kalibak, like an advisor approaching a prince.
"Majesty, your father told us to afford the visitors all courtesies, remember what happened to Master DeSaad when he disobeyed the will of the Almighty"
Kalibak flinched and with a single gesture, dismissed his army of Parademons. He retrieved his weapon from the sand and pointed it at Lucifer.
"You come with me" he demanded
Lucifer hovered near the ground for a few moments, giving Trixie one last hug and telling her that her mother would be so proud of her. He then gave Bruce a brief look which read as "Let's hope for the best, shall we?" before finally departing with Kalibak.
Bruce wanted to spend more time with Stephanie, give her advice that her Bruce wouldn't have, to stay kind, to keep saving people but all he could give her was a fleeting look of surprise as Clark grabbed him by the arms and took off.
Clark and Bruce hurtled through the air so fast, too fast, Bruce's stomach lurched and sand cut into the exposed part of his face.
"That friend of yours is something else" Clark told him "When he showed me his face, I felt as though I had known him my entire life, did you feel the same?"
Bruce didn't know what to say, if he lied and agreed, what exactly would he be agreeing to? Would Clark kill Lucifer? Convert him?
"When I was a child..." Clark continued "Jonathan Kent used to warn me about the Devil, his evil ways, his manipulations... I was so scared that he would steal my soul or make me a part of his twisted legacy"
Clark laughed a dry laugh, a bitter laugh as they approached a giant spacecraft that seemed to be venting fire. Bruce had seen this craft before, looking down he saw a large Omega symbol burned into the ground near a shattered city. His city.
"When I saw that face, it hit me, the Devil isn't the cause of the world's problems, he's just an excuse..." Clark sounded solemn "I did this, this is my legacy"
Bruce hoped that Clark was being genuine, maybe he didn't want to be a pawn for Darkseid anymore, had the weight of his actions finally caught up with him?
Clark brought Bruce down into the ruined Gotham, it was a ghost town, not a soul in sight. Cars had been left abandoned, houses long broken into and burned out. Bruce couldn't help but mourn for the people he had vowed to protect, he hoped that Stephanie and her team had helped evacuate as many as they could.
Wayne Tower was nothing but rubble. The Iceberg Lounge had a decent enough facade from the front but overhead revealed a broken building with the ages ago rotted corpse of a small man impaled on a decorative icicle. ACE Chemicals had been turned into what Kalibak had referred to earlier as a conversion nest. Hundreds of humans hung upside down in various stages of becoming Parademons, the sight made Bruce want to vomit.
Clark landed in Crime Alley and threw Bruce to the concrete, only a few feet from where his parents had been killed.
"THIS is your legacy, Bruce" Clark exclaimed "Your existence creates all of this"
"I'm sorry" Bruce replied, not daring to rise to his feet just yet
"You should be, a lot of innocent people died"
Bruce shook his head, he needed to say his peace, even if it was too late to fix anything.
"I didn't kill those people, you and your masters did, that's not why I'm sorry"
Clark scrutinized him, no doubt waiting for him to pull out a shard of Kryptonite or some gadget from his utility belt. All that waited for Clark though was the truth.
"I'm sorry that version of me didn't protect Lois, I'm sorry he didn't let you sleep but most of all I'm sorry he helped kill you in the first place, he was a coward and so was I"
Clark went silent, he clearly didn't expect what just came out of Bruce's mouth. He just stared at Bruce, towering over him and possibly trying to determine if he could trust what he heard. Finally Clark decided.
"You're telling the truth"
Bruce nodded, pushing himself up against a wall and standing unfirmly.
Clark looked like he needed to say something but the words just wouldn't come out. Without any warning, dark flames erupted from his chest, he howled in pain and tried to remain standing. Clark took something out of a compartment on his waist and let it fall to the ground. Athena's blade glinted in the presence of the fire, Clark must've taken it from the sand.
"Kill me, Bruce" Clark begged "Before it takes over again"
Of course, something was forcing Clark to obey Darkseid, preying on the memories of Lois, all the pain Bruce's doppelganger had inflicted. This hopefully meant that Clark could be saved, though right now he was asking Bruce to end him. Maybe Clark knew something that Bruce didn't.
Clark fell to his knees, the flames dying, smoke pouring from his chest. In a split second, Bruce had to make his decision. Bruce made to grab for the blade but before he could, Clark or the thing possessing Clark beat him to it.
"Actually, I think that's safer with me" he said, returning it to its compartment
As the smoke cleared, Bruce could see that the symbol on Clark's suit had been torn apart. Branded onto Clark's chest was the Omega symbol just like the one Bruce had seen outside Gotham.