Chapter 11 – Apocalypse

"Is this what victory is? Is this what it means to be triumphant?" Luthor thought said out loud. Even as he sat there in the new technologically advanced Cyberking, he was surrounded by Cybermen. In part they acted as guards, protecting him from the threats the humans still offered. In part they acted as wardens, confining him to his own version of the electric chair. Ultimately they were empty shells that offered little in the way of companionship. Even though he was constantly surrounded he never felt more alone. None answered his query, not that he had expected them to.

He sat atop his mechanical throne, his mobile cybernetic fortress, and surveyed the carnage and wreckage about him. It was from the corner of his eye that he spotted it. The golden globe of the daily planet was still shining brightly across the remnants of Metropolis. It acted as a single beacon in a sea of debris and bedlam. Luthor eyed the building. Even miles away, amid the rubble of many other fallen buildings, it stood tall and strong. Luthor sighed softly to himself as his thoughts strayed back, back to how he got into this predicament.

His first thought of course went back to the jungles of Borneo. It was there where he saw the Cyberking for the very first time. It was standing like a grim monolith, rising tall above the tree line. The sight of it sent shivers down his spine, even when he didn't completely understand what purpose it was to serve. He knew in the pit of his stomach that it didn't bode well for him or the rest of mankind. The very look of it was menacing. It had sharp defined edges with canons and other armaments protruding this way and that. In essence it looked simply like a larger version of his new companions, just built in mythic proportions.

Even that wasn't the start of it, however. No, his memory stretched even further back to his secret lab in the Lexcorp building. That was where the true catalyst for his current predicament came about. That was when he had made a deal with the current Cyberleader. He ended up trading his own life to become the new face of the Cybermen. He, Lex Luthor, was to be their new Cyberking. The Cyberleader deemed him worthy of the title after he had hacked into the Lexcorp databanks and saw how intelligent Lex Luthor actually was. All of his creations, his patents, and weapon designs placed him in a class all his own. He was intellectually superior to the majority of the human race. So, in lieu of full assimilation they offered him the mantle of leadership.

When it was then made apparent to Lex that his company had been compromised he had very little choice other than to give in. Surrender was not in his nature, not by any means. The very word left a bitter taste in his mouth. However, accepting the alternative fate was simply not an option. At least being left alive he had a chance. Perhaps he could find a weakness, the proverbial chink in the armor. Then he would be able to defeat this alien organism. Organism? Was that an accurate description? He supposed that even a locust was an organism. He found it ironic how he traded one alien menace for another.

These cyber-cockroaches, as he thought of them, swooped in from another planet or dimension and assimilated all human life into their collective being. It wasn't just limited to human beings either; the Cybermen had absorbed all the technology and information that Lexcorp had amassed over the years. Like a mosquito drinking the blood of its host, they gorged themselves with his intellect. They consumed the information he had obtained through the years on weapons, diseases, even his vital information about Superman and his ilk. They absorbed it all, assimilating it into their hive minded consciousness. It was his technological advances that they used to upgrade the Cybermen and make them even more formidable than they were before. Lex wasn't sure if he should be flattered or insulted.

Then like the proverbial Greeks at the gates of Troy they quietly infiltrated the major cities of the United States. They used his face to act as their Trojan horse. He pushed the city heads and the state leaders to adopt his new 'creations', and adopt them they did. In the guise of armed guards, police units, and automated militia they formed terrorist sleeper cells in great cities nationwide. Cities like Metropolis, Gotham, San Diego, Star City, and even Washington DC. No city was exempt from the grip of Lex Luthor and his new brand of security. The Luthormen stood in just about every neighborhood defending and protecting the streets. To say the Cybermen, now retro fitted with Lexcorp technologies, was well received would be quite inaccurate.

The more wary heroes instantly doubted Luthor's intentions and were on their guard from the get go. Ultimately, however, being on guard and filled with a healthy amount of skepticism did not help them in the slightest. The Luthormen were seen as robotic protectors of the everyday man. They were better, stronger, and more vigil than any officer or super hero that ever came before them. The general public ate them up and continuously asked for more, but what they got was too much even for them. When the hour was right, and the serpent that was the Cybermen had a strong enough foothold in all the major cities, they struck out. Swiftly, decisively, and deadly they attacked.

Of course the heroes responded. They wouldn't be heroes if they didn't. They attacked the Cybermen back, attempting some form of retaliation; however it was a fruitless effort. The numbers of the Cybermen had already grown too great and the attacks were too fast and varied. The bedlam was hardly contained to a single area. The attacks came from all across the map. The warriors fought bravely yet in the end, the majority of them faced the same choice as the rest of humanity. Defy and die, or succumb and be 'upgraded'. It really wasn't much of a choice after all.

With the technological advances of Lexcorp mixed with the alien sciences of the Cybermen he was able to monitor all the activities of all the Cybermen through a special cybernetic helmet that he had dubbed 'The Crown'. The crown was wired directly into his makeshift throne and allowed him to ability to command the growing armies of the Cybermen by linking directly into their data stream. Regardless of how advanced Lex's mind was, he needed the crown to safely allow his brain to interpret and use the data stream without frying his brain. Lex would occasionally get snippets of the goings on from his mobile command center.

While the majority of the data stream was relatively unmentionable, there were a few choice bits here and there that he would relish; namely the collective downfall of the Earth's mightiest heroes. He sat back in his chair, his fingers lacing methodically over his lap as he watched the images in his mind. Heroes all over the country were fighting against his armies. Some well-known villains were joining in the fight against him as well. He could only presume they knew the inevitable outcome and were trying to stop it. It made little to no difference.

In Gotham City chaos ran through the streets. The police were outgunned and outnumbered. They were being overrun quickly, captured, and set off for upgrading. Several officers along with the burly Detective Bullock and the steely Commissioner Gordon attempt to hold off the advancing throng of cyborgs upon the rooftop of the Gotham PD. It was a futile effort. The Cybermen would scale the outside of the building, climb the fire escape, or slowly make their way up from the inside. Even as the last of the officers was incapacitated and taken to the local cyber facility, the bat signal illuminated the night sky.

Arkham Asylum was the very first conversion center built in Gotham. It was rife with fresh stock ready to be upgraded. Initially there was some rebellion but it was quelled almost as fast as it had risen. Some of its denizens were seen fit for upgrading. Indeed, most were eager to succumb to the upgrading process believing it to be an upgrade to their own deplorable living conditions. Residents such as the Riddler, Scarecrow, and Penguin were among those first in line to get upgraded. They soon found out that their living conditions would be the last thing that they were going to be worrying about.

Some of Arkham's citizens did not follow that logic. They felt they were plenty powerful enough and was quite eager to prove it. The strengths of those like Killer Croc, Bane, and Mr. Freeze were rather formidable on their own, but when teamed together and cornered like an animal they reached a new level of ferocity. While their prowess and strength was high, even the strongest rock will eventually crumble against the ocean tide. The Cybermen came after them in relentless waves until finally they were overcome and left a pile of ash.

There were a few citizens that were not seen as candidates worthy for upgrade. Their mental facilities were rather fragile. They did not offer any benefit to the Cybermen and in fact could infect their consciousness like a virus. Of course the primary un-candidate for mental instability was the Joker. It went without saying. However he was joined by the likes of Jervis Tetch also known as the Mad Hatter as well as Gotham's resident with multiple personalities Two Face. While Tetch's technological mind slaving almost allowed him to be upgraded it just wasn't enough to risk infecting the Cybermen.

The Cybermen swarmed all across Gotham, and Wayne Manor was not exempt. It did make for an interesting endeavor indeed. Imagine Lex's surprise when he found that Bruce Wayne's fancy palace-like home was being protected by a whole slew of fancy weapons and gadgetry. Booby traps and secrets riddled the palatial estates. When the Cybermen finally took the home they found just a single frail old man, the Butler. But he wasn't the only thing they found. In fact, it was what Lex found next that was the most interesting. Lex had discovered a secret that was so deep and so dark and at the same time so blatantly obvious. For beneath the mansion of one Bruce Wayne the Cybermen located a vast cavern filled with gadgets, suits, and various trinkets from past adventures no doubt. Lex had found the precious Batcave.

It certainly went a long way to explaining why Batman and his cohorts were doing such an adamant job of defending Wayne Tower, home of Luthorcorps strongest competitor Wayne-Tech Enterprises. Batman was quite the defiant one. With Batgirl, the current incarnation of Robin, and the opportunistic Catwoman by his side he fought tooth and nail against the Cybermen. He fought down to his very last gadget. Despite Batman's best efforts he couldn't stop the surging tide of alien technology. His comrades fell beside him one by one. All the while he was able to elude the privilege of being upgraded once again leaving him to work alone.

Other cities across the nation did not fare any better. Central City, home to the Flash, and Star City, which was Green Arrow's domain, each fell to the Cybermen. Of course resistance was expected, met, and promptly overcome. The Cybermen were able to add such JLA alums to their rosters as Hawkman, the Flash, Huntress, and Green Arrow. The hero Plastic Man was considered to be an inconsequential anomaly and therefor eradicated from existence. On the plus side for the heroes of earth, Shazam's mystical nature had proved to be too much for the Cybermen. Even the greatly enhanced ones found him difficult to deal with. He was unable to be apprehended or even destroyed. However he soon found himself fighting the good fight all alone. His friends and loved ones had fallen to the rampage of the Cybermen.

There were other mystical beings that, like Shazam, proved to be quite a challenge. Such beings as Raven, Zatanna, and the enigmatic Dr. Fate were a force to be reckoned with. Their mystical energies were deemed too threatening to the cybernetics of the Cybermen and they were to be destroyed. However, destroying a mystic is a task that is much easier said than done. It was a bitter battle that was waged on many fronts. Ultimately it came down to devastating technology against mystic might, pure and simple. In the end, it was the bodies of the mystics that finally gave way. Once the dust settled on the battlefield, and the smoke had cleared, it was very much apparent who the victor was. The unyielding tenacity of the mechanized man had won out, vaporizing their most dangerous enemies to date. The only thing left behind in the pile of dirt and debris was the tarnished and slightly battered golden helm of one Dr. Fate.

This war of the Cybermen was raged on many a front. Many cities and many defenders fell to the wrath of the Cybermen. Men and women, adult and child, hero and villain… there was no difference when it came to being upgraded. The more people stood in defiance, the more people fell to their steely grip. Occasionally the Cybermen came across those that were already upgraded and it became a whole new kind of battle. There were those that were already part human and part machinelike the heroic Cyborg, and villainous Metallo. Still others were highly advanced forms of cybernetic organisms such as Braniac or Hank Henshaw, the cyborg superman.

Ultimately, in all their cases, they were seen as being inferior and not worthy of being upgraded. It was decreed that their collective fate was complete and total deletion. To the Cybermen that meant laying waste to whatever parts of them that remained human and then releasing viral components into their inorganic portions that would render them as useless. They robotic collective fought well against their cyber attackers but failed to halt them. It was the injection of Luthorcorp technology mixed with the alien schema that undid the bionic resistance. It proved to be far too much. For every defensive program that they ran the Luthormen developed a countermeasure until there were no defenses left.

Finally there was the small little hamlet of Metropolis. It once stood a glowing city known for its nightlife, museums, and as the well-known area where the red and blue Boy Scout was frequently seen. Right this very moment, however, it was a wasteland. It was a veritable war zone created by none other than Lex Luthor himself. He had once called the city home, and now it was his Magnum Opus. As the new Cyberking, Lex Luthor now stood where the old Luthorcorp tower used to be. His eyes roamed over the carnage that was spread before him. The mighty Justice League tried to stop him here. They tried and they failed.

Even now, the citizens of Metropolis resisted Luthor's tyranny. They screamed out for their heroes to come save them. They cried out for Superman. It was something that he too wished for. The heroes that did come, that fought for the man of steel's city were a poor substitution to say the least. The mighty Amazon Wonder Woman was a slight challenge but was eventually overcome. Superman's sibling Super Girl, just wasn't as satisfying. He took great relish in killing her, but it was not the same as killing Superman himself. No, she just whetted his appetite. He wanted more. He needed more.

Heroes continued to come at him: Hawk Girl, Steel, and the Teen Titans. They threw themselves at him relentlessly, yet they continued to fall. Some were lucky enough to be converted, others were not. The great Martian Manhunter was one of these, as was the Green Lantern. They were too much of a threat. They had to be eliminated. But it continued to leave Lex unfulfilled. It was all empty and fruitless. What was the point? He was now the puppet of some extra-terrestrial leeches and he couldn't even kill the one person whom he had hunted for so long. Finally the power to ultimately destroy his foe was his and he cared for it not.

He watched the globe of the Daily Planet off in the distance. It no longer spun. He felt sick to his stomach. He wasn't sure if it was because of the hardware that was currently wired into him or because of his hatred. Not his hatred for these beings that came from beyond the stars and brought him the victory he had craved for so long, but his hatred for the one person who even now continued to elude him. Where was he? Why was he allowing this all to happen? How could he ever turn his back on the city, nay the planet he held so dear? Lex could feel his anger growing, his hatred boiled within him. Where was Superman? This was no victory. There was no challenge in it.

"SUPERMAN!" He screamed aloud, his own voice magnified and echoed across the desolate landscape.

xXxXx

The doctor felt something he didn't often feel, and even less admitted to feeling. Fear. Pure, primal, and unadulterated fear gripped his spine and sent shivers through his entire body. He heard the metallic scream of Superman's name reverberate across the city and into the very core of his being. He wasn't sure what had happened here, but he knew it wasn't good. What eluded him even more was any possible way to stop this. He had fought Cybermen before, but never on a scale of this magnitude. The city was in shambles, Cybermen roamed everywhere, a Cyberking stood in their midst and he felt helpless. He took in a deep breath of the hot dust filled air and let it out slowly. Truth of the matter was that he wasn't helpless. He did have someone that he could turn to; someone that could help him find a resolution, and right now that person was on Krypton. With an extreme haste that he had never felt before in any of his lives he rushed to the Tardis, plotted the course, and made the jump.