The bat plane moved closer to the giant skull ship that was Brainiac's home. Bruce knew that time was running thin. They'd destroyed all of the Society and their troops on the ground, at the cost of countless lives, which would mean that Brainiac would step up his offensive unless they did something about it. He had arranged things to fire at the left side of the ship, he had suspected that that was the weakest link within the entire things armoury. Over the comms he said. "Katar, Clark you're going to have to hit the right hand side. There's a lot of heat coming this way."
"Copy." They both replied, he saw them move off to deal with the right side. Briefly he wondered how Katar was holding up, Shaera had been killed fighting the robots and the other monsters, their son Horus would ascend the throne of Egypt when all was said and done. That was something Bruce suspected. He moved the fire onto the left side, watching as the beams came out and hit the left side, hitting it with force, the metal was crumbling under such force.
"Bruce, to the right." Selina said. She'd insisted on coming with him, even though he'd wanted her far away and safe. Bruce looked up and followed her fingers, there were drones heading toward him at great speed. He locked on target, prepared and then fired off the blasts of energy. The drones fell, but more came. "To the left."
He fired off the energy blasts, hitting the drones again and again, until they fell down, broken and beaten. Over the comms he heard Clark. "Katar's down, he's been hit quite badly. But I've managed to break an opening in."
"I'm coming." Bruce said. He turned around and looked at Selina. "This is where we part."
Selina didn't protest, she knew what was expected. "Bruce…I…"
He took her hand and kissed it. "I know. I feel the same." He entered in the code and the plane separated, he watched as she took the command of her ship and directed it back to the ground. Once he was sure she was gone, he drove his own plane toward the right wing of the ship. Katar's body was simply hovering there. He closed his eyes and prayed briefly, for the soul of a God, then moved onward. He stopped near the hull and got out of the ship. Landing just in time to here Brainiac threaten Clark. This was going to be one hell of a fight. He spoke then. "You're going to have to deal with more than just him."
Brainiac looked at him and laughed. "You are nothing to me, human." The monster whipped out one of his tentacles, Bruce dodged it, and then moved with speed, throwing a batarang at the beast, hitting its tentacle and removing it with an explosion. He threw another one, and watched as the thing hit the back, it exploded, causing the thing to stagger. "You will suffer for that." Four tentacles came out and grabbed him. Choking him, suffocating him. he heard Clark calling out, but he said nothing. Suddenly the pressure was relieved and he fell down.
"Selina." He whispered, but the air was leaving him.
Clark saw Bruce fall, he heard his murmured words, and he roared. He flew straight into Brainiac; he didn't give the beast a chance. He hit him and hit him again, and then a third time. He punched and punched, he used every ounce of anger that was in him to destroy the monster that had taken his friend, that was responsible for Lois's death. He kept moving, he flew and ripped out three of Brainiac's tentacles, he destroyed some of the machine's tech as well when he got the chance. Brainiac laughed. "Such primitive emotions. I am disappointed Kal El, your cousin displays much more sophistication."
Kal ignored him and he hit the monster again, breaking one of the beast's hands. The beast snarled then and the tentacles came out, he took the hit, and then another hit, and another. He thought of Lois, and her memory gave him strength. He stopped another swing of a tentacle, he blocked and then ducked, dodged and then smashed into Brainiac again. The monster groaned, but kept going. "You will not stop me." The monster snarled, hitting Kal right in the chest, he was careful to avoid allowing too long a contact.
He ducked and weaved, taking his time to assess the situation. Brainiac was favouring his right side, it seemed that there was a lot there that might prevent other solutions from occurring. He decided to act. He smashed into Brainiac and kept up a flurry of blows, the monster hit him as well, sending him sprawling back into the ground. He felt his pressure weakening. He would need to act quickly. He moved out and hit the monster again, and again. He used his heat vision, his ice breath, he used every trick that he knew of, to get the monster to slow down.
Brainiac laughed. "You are dying Kal El of Krypton. Just as your cousin is. You are dying and you will not survive to see anything worthwhile."
Kal looked at the monster and said. "If I am dying, then you too shall die. And Krypton will die with us." He moved into the monster again and this time he knew that he would not get up. He kept throwing everything he had into the monster, blow after blow, destruction after destruction. Brainiac's strength was waning, but so to was his own. He could feel his energy depleting. He would go and he would die, but he would not die without bringing Brainiac with him.
He ripped Brainiac's tentacles off him, and he destroyed them, he used his heat vision to get into the machine's core, heating it to the point where it burst and exploded. Brainiac screamed, roaring his rage at being defeated and not getting anything more from this life. Kal smiled as Brainiac fell and began to cripple himself. When Brainiac stopped moving, Kal slumped down on his knees, he felt his wounds. A breach opened, and there was his son and everyone else. "Dad! Dad, no please don't go!"
Kal looked at his son and said. "I love you Jonathan, make good on what we have started."
"Dad! No! Don't go!" Jonathan begged.
Clark sighed, Lois was there before him. "Come on honey, let's get some sleep. You've earned it." his wife said, he took her hand and closed his eyes.
Jonathan blinked, the sun was blaring, but it didn't matter, for his father would not wake up. His father, the man who was Rao incarnate would never walk the Earth again. Along with the Batman and countless other heroes who had fought against Brainiac to save the Earth from a fate worse than death. Jonathan wore the imperial crown atop his head, he listened as people droned on about his father, and about the heroes who'd given so much. People who didn't know, who couldn't know them. Their coffins had been laid to rest in the ground mere moments before. They'd tried the Life Equation but it seemed that Kal El would not be coming back, nor would Batman, or any of the others. Diana said it might be because they'd decided their time was done on Earth. That didn't make it any easier.
Jonathan took a breath then got up to speak. He had written everything out before hand, with Caitlin's help. He would propose to her when he was ready, in due time, she'd been there for him through everything. They'd talked about Louise Lincoln, about his mother, about his father, about her mother and father, about the life equation about everything. He was Emperor of Earth and Sky now, and things seemed so very strange. He took a breath. "My father, and the men and women who fought alongside him, made the ultimate sacrifice. They came together at a time when the world was moving toward peace, but threatened by a being who sought to damage all of that. They put aside their differences to work together for the greater good." He exhaled, shakily. Shit this was harder than he had thought it would be. He looked at Caitlin and she smiled encouragingly at him. "My father and mother always told me that there was more that joined us together than divided us. We are all people of this planet, we are all sons and daughters of someone. We must work together to remove the wars, the poverty, the things that make this world so harmful. We must make the world a better place. That does not mean censoring speech or threatening those who disagree with us. It means working together to understand different points of view, and encouraging debate and discussion. For only when all points of view have been heard can we then make a decision for all."
He took another breath. "My father was a great man, the men and women who fought alongside him were equally great. Let us not make their sacrifice be in vain. Together we can achieve great things, let us work together so that we never again have to experience the horrors of something such as that." He straightened his shoulders and fought the tears. He looked at Dick, Damian had died fighting Brainiac's soldiers. "I invite the bat's son up on stage now, for us to put an end to this fighting." Dick got up they shook hands and hugged, then Dick sat back down, and Jonathan did the same thing. He sat back down next to Caitlin and took her hand. "I love you." He whispered.
"And I, you." She replied. They listened to the Bishop speak, and he swore an oath there and then. I won't let you down, I will make this a world worth living in, I'll make you proud mum and dad.