Disclaimer: I don't own Justice League or any of its characters. Sadly.

This chapter is dedicated to the people patiently waiting for it, and especially to those who commented or showed interest in the story, even when it had been so long without an update. Thank you so much, and I'm deeply sorry for the long, long wait.

...

Clark stood still, all senses on alert as he saw Superman appear. His double's eyes blazed crimson as they zeroed in on Bruce right away, red cape billowing behind him as he descended slowly, not even sparing a glance in Clark's direction.

He didn't give much thought to the way humans watched at him, at least not anymore. He knew that no matter his good intentions, his powers were a good enough reason for people to be afraid or, at least, intimidated by him. It was something Bruce wouldn't ever let him forget, and now, watching the other Superman descend from the sky, all power and strength laced dangerously together and looking like an avenging god ready to take on anyone who stood in his way, Clark could understand it a lot better.

Without looking away from the imposing figure, Clark shifted slightly to stand between his friend and his double, receiving a low growl from Bruce in protest. And just like that, the red tint in Superman's eyes was gone, and the harsh lines around his mouth and eyes relaxed. Clark blinked at the sudden change.

"I should have known you wouldn't stay locked up for long," Superman said, tone sounding exasperated and fond.

"You should have," Bruce growled. And it was Batman's low growl, regardless of the fact the other two men in the cave knew who he was behind the mask. Clark didn't miss the stiffness of his double's shoulders at the reply, and could even feel bad for him because it was yet another harsh and cold reminder that in spite of the appearances, this was not the man he knew. The man he fought countless battles with, side by side. The man he called his friend.

Superman's face hardened one more time, but he didn't look away from Bruce. The Bat held his gaze, muscles tense under the dark suit.

It was uneasy, the way Superman changed moods at the smallest and most random provocations, but Clark couldn't find it in himself to blame him. He couldn't even begin to imagine how confusing it must be to have someone you watched die alive and well before you, even if you knew it wasn't the same person.

Still, Clark cared more about returning home with Bruce than worry too much about this Superman and pain and grief, no matter how much he empathized.

"It's over. You need to let us go now," He called, drawing his double's attention to him for the first time since he entered the cave. He didn't look away under the weight of Superman's glare, even as he towered over them.

"Nobody is stopping you. You can leave right now, I don't care."

Clark shook his head, fists clenched at his sides as he looked up at him. "I'm not leaving without him."

"That's too bad because he isn't going anywhere," Superman sneered.

"I'm not asking for your permission," Bruce growled in reply, breaking the glaring contest between both Supermen and making them turn to him.

"That's good because I'm not going to give it to you," Superman replied with narrowed eyes. "You have proven time and time again your inability to stay out of harm's way, so I will take matters into my own hands and I will keep you alive, at any cost."

The gauntlets covering Bruce's hands creaked slightly as he curled them into fists. How dare he! "I can take care of myself. I don't need you or anyone else to look after me."

"I disagree. And the tombstone outside with your name on it only proves I'm right."

"Enough!" Clark shouted. He swallowed hard before turning to address his double. "I know you want to protect him. I know you only want him to be safe and that's why you're doing this, but we can't stay here. Bruce can't stay here," Clark stressed since it was clear Superman couldn't care less about him. "You have to know how sensitive the matter of dimensional travel is. There could be serious consequences for both our universes if we altered the space-time continuum.

"We also have families that expect us back."

Bruce watched Superman with eyes narrowed behind the lenses of the cowl. The growing uncertainty in the turquoise eyes made him believe, just for a second that Superman would understand and do the right thing. That would have been too easy, though.

"No. I'm not going to let you take him."

Clark glared back at his double, but before he could say anything Bruce spoke again, deep voice solemn.

"Do you remember the first time you and Batman met? The moment you found out who was the man behind the mask?"

Superman watched him with furrowed brows. "Of course I remember! What does that-?"

"I don't," Bruce replied, not unkindly. "I don't remember any of it because it didn't happen to me. That was not my life. The man you met, the man you knew is gone now and he's not coming back.

"I'm not him and I wouldn't become him."

A myriad of emotions flashed across Superman's face while Bruce spoke, gone before Clark could identify them, but the anger flared hot and dark. "How dare you!" He snarled. "I know you aren't him, that's not what this is about! I'm not trying to replace him! I'm trying to keep you safe, damn it!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Clark saw the tense clench of Bruce's jaw and tight fists. In that second, the Kryptonian knew whatever he was about to say wasn't going to be pretty, but he didn't even attempt to stop him.

"Stop acting like a self-centered child," Bruce growled sharply. "You have no right to dictate what I can or can't do. I'm old enough to take my own decisions, and I have. I don't need nor want your protection.

"I'm sorry he's dead. I'm sorry you're alone now, but I'm not staying here just to make you feel better."

Silence settled in the cave once Bruce put an end to his tirade. Clark didn't dare move as Bruce kept glaring openly at Superman while his double stared back, dark eyes fixed on Bruce's face hidden behind the cowl.

"Let's go, Clark."

The words snapped Superman back to the present and before they could move, he was hovering only a foot away from where they stood, blocking their path. His eyes were flaring an even darker shade of red this time and his mouth was twisted into a snarl.

"No, you're not," Superman said with deadly calm. "I'm sure you already noticed there's something missing from the belt you took."

Bruce clenched his jaw. He reached for the special compartment for the Kryptonite in the belt after reading about the League's separation, only to find it empty. Superman arrived before he could say anything to Clark.

"You can keep it. We don't need it."

Clark saw the second Superman started to raise his hand -to strike or grab Bruce, he had no idea- but he acted before he could do either. Using his double's distraction he lunged forward, sending him crashing into the wall. Superman recovered quickly, responding with a punch that sent Clark reeling back.

Bruce wasted no time disappearing as the battle started, not wanting to risk being caught in the middle of a shot of heat vision or ice breath. He was under no illusion to believe the two Kryptonians couldn't see him, but he wasn't trying to hide anyway, much less stay out of the fight. Clark was going to need help if he kept fighting like that.

There was another resounding crash as Clark was thrown at the floor, leaving a small crater.

From where he was now perched on the cave's rafters, Bruce prepared to start throwing batarangs and smoke pellets from the belt. Whatever he did would be nothing more than a distraction, but it was better than nothing. He was trusting Clark to stop his double from attacking him directly, even if he was also changing positions after throwing each one.

With Clark down there, he had to be careful and time his attacks just right to hit the correct Superman.

Shards of glass went flying all around after Clark was thrown against the lab area in the cave, the microscope that had been on the work table dropping with a loud thud only a couple of feet away from his head. He rolled out of the way and the shot of heat vision hit the ground instead. He got up and countered the attack with one of his own only to see an explosive batarang hitting Superman's back a second later.

Superman was glaring upward now to where Bruce was hiding, so Clark hit his double again, effectively reclaiming the Kryptonian's attention back and getting punched in the gut.

With a batarang held between his fingers, Bruce watched the wreckage below him. As he hit his target, he couldn't help but feel relieved this wasn't actually his cave, as selfish and ill-timed as the thought was.

Superman was fighting sloppy; letting anger direct his movements instead of fighting with purpose. He was lashing out blindly, which was making only a handful of his attacks connect with his opponent. Between that and Bruce's distractions, Clark should have no problem to subdue him fairly quickly, at least if he weren't holding back.

They were scuffling on the ground when Clark managed to pin Superman with minimal damage, struggling to keep the thrashing man down without using his full strength.

"Stop," Clark whispered. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Shut up and fight!" Superman snarled before head-butting Clark with enough force to daze him momentarily, giving his double time to free himself. He was breathing heavily, more so than Clark himself, but he wasn't going to give up, Clark knew that.

Bruce saw the moment Clark stopped pulling his punches; he still wasn't fighting at one hundred percent, but he was attacking now instead of mostly deflecting and blocking attacks. Even so, he was confident they could take care of Superman without much trouble now. Bruce held a pellet between his thumb and index finger, watching and waiting.

It didn't take much longer for Clark to get the upper hand, but that didn't mean the fight was over. Superman kept fighting with all his might while Clark adjusted his hold to keep him on the ground.

Even after he saw Clark pin Superman down for more than a couple of seconds, Bruce didn't move. He waited. Waited until Clark's breath was even. Until his grip stopped shaking and Superman stopped actively struggling in his hold. Only then he moved, leaving both Supermen behind.

Clark drew in a breath, tightening his grip slightly when he heard Bruce move away.

"You're a fool," The man on the floor whispered, a trickle of blood streaming down from the corner of his mouth and pure hate in his turquoise eyes. "You're a damned fool."

"I'm sorry for doing this, but you left us no choice."

"You don't understand, but you will. You will understand and you will regret doing this. Every single day."

Clark said nothing.

"You will regret it when you have to pick up his broken body from the concrete and your hands are soaked in his blood. When they have to pry his lifeless body from your arms, and you have to stand aside as they lower his body to the ground." Superman swallowed before continuing in a low, thick voice. "You will regret it every time you search for a heartbeat that is not there anymore."

The tremors that started running over his body shortly after Superman began speaking were worse now, and he was even having trouble breathing. Feeling physically sick, weak, Clark drew back from where he had been pinning his double, sitting on the floor as he tried to fight nausea. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Superman. He was still lying on the floor, curling up on himself, a grimace of pain on his face.

It- it made no sense.

There was a flash of black, and when Clark blinked again Superman was lying unconscious on the ground and Bruce was standing at his side. Still lightheaded, he caught a flash of green on Bruce's closed fist before the hand moved to the belt around his waist. The gloved palm was open when it came back to view.

The pain was already ebbing away with the Kryptonite safely shielded in the lead-lined compartment of the utility belt, but his powers were going to need some time to return. Clark shook his head, trying to focus.

He wet his lips. "I thought he had the Kryptonite."

"You didn't think the Kryptonite in the belt is the only one I own, did you," Bruce replied.

Clark watched him without a word. Maybe he should be angry to find out Bruce had more Kryptonite in his power than the Kryptonite ring he gave him, but he wasn't. Every piece of the green rock that was in Bruce's hands was Kryptonite that wouldn't end in the hands of criminals. Besides, he was glad to know Bruce had the means to protect himself and others if he ever needed it.

"We need to get to work," Bruce said, drawing his attention back as the billionaire held out a hand to help him up.

He swallowed, and with one last look at Superman, Clark took it.

...

a/n: Wow. You would not believe how damn sorry I'm for taking years to post this chapter. As some of you may already know, I had some troubles back then and lost my daft of this chapter. I got so mad that I stayed away from writing, and even longer from this story. Once I got past my tantrum, I discovered it wasn't as easy as I thought to go back to this, and I was getting other ideas as well, so I decided to give it time and come back to this fic later. It obviously took me a lot longer than I would have imagined and for that, I apologize.

I'd like to think it ended up better than my lost first draft, but that may just be wishful thinking on my part. All this time as well as writing this has inspired yet another chapter, contrary to what I had planned for making this a three-shot. I haven't started working on it since I'm posting this chapter as soon as it was written, but I will be working on it.