The battle was more than he had expected. Superman hadn't faced an opponent so daunting since his brutal fight with General Zod. Every attempt to hit the man in the green armor wasn't connecting with enough speed and power to do any damage. Something was wrong but Superman was unable to figure it out. The man's face was even distorted by the helmet that was for some reason protecting its occupant surprisingly well. He had never felt so weak and yet the man in the green armor was tossing him around like a rag doll. Every time Superman thought his powers had recharged enough to make another attack, they would fade away when he got closer to his opponent when trying to strike back. Superman, unaware of what was going on, attempted to fly away. He needed to regroup and think but was never given the chance. The man in the green armor followed him and without warning, cut Superman out of the sky with a green laser that scalded him with sheer pain. Superman came crashing down onto the rooftop of a large building, teeth clenched as he was surprised by how much that green laser hurt. Pain he hadn't felt in a very long time.
"Had enough, Man of Steel?" a voice called out from the green armor as he landed on the roof.
Superman staggered back to his feet. "You'll have to try a lot harder than that."
The man in the green armor raised his arm and the green laser fired out and it hit Superman on the chest, knocking him off his feet. "How's that?"
The beam was twice as shocking as the first shot, and it left superman on his knees and gasping for breath. Smoke was slowly rising from his chest plate as he looked back up to notice that the helmet of the armored suit had opened. He looked into the eyes of his opponent and had a look of complete surprise. "Luthor?"
"The one and only." Lex Luthor confirmed as he had a grin on his face that rivaled even the Joker. "I hope you're enjoying the value of today's lesson."
"And what might that be?" Superman called out, still staggering to his feet.
To his surprise, the armor opened further and allowed Lex to step out. "The very same lesson that everyone eventually learns; there is only on real superpower on earth."
"And what is that?" Superman said as he walked up to take a swing at Luthor now that he was no longer in his armor.
Lex caught the punch with his hand and from this and from this angle, it was clear to see the green rock that was attached to the ring on Luthor's right pinky finger. "Wealth."
Without warning Lex delivered a hard left to Superman, cracking the man of steel on the chin and knocking him off his feet.
Superman had never felt this much pain, even when Zod was hitting him months ago. Despite the power that Zod had to hit him with, his skin had protected him and he never felt this kind of pain when being struck by the kryptonian.
"I'm not a big fan of jewelry." Lex said as he walked over and kicked Superman in the ribs. "But in this case I was more than willing to make an exception."
Superman tried to get back to his feet, but couldn't. Whatever was in that ring, it was sucking his powers away and also making him very weak. Lex pushed him over as he tried to get up, knocking him around with ease. He didn't even need the armor anymore.
"This is the end of you Superman." Lex said as he walked closer. "No one can stop..."
About halfway through that statement, an arrow whizzed past the billionaire, landing about halfway between him and his open suit of mechanical armor.
Lex turned around to look for the origin of the arrow. When he turned to look back at where the arrow had come from, he was face to face with someone he had only heard of.
"Lex Luthor!" the man called out to him. "You have failed this city!"
Standing about thirty feet behind Superman, also dressed in green was a man Lex had only read about in newspapers. Those reports referred to him as the Hood, the vigilante from Starling City, now known as the Arrow.
"Do you honestly think your arrows are strong enough to defeat my warsuit?" Lex called out.
The Arrow held up his hand which had some sort of detonator in it. "You mean that warsuit?"
Lex looked back at the arrow that was fired just seconds ago, there was something attached to it. Before Luthor could do anything, the arrow let off a charge that blanketed half the roof in white light. The EMP blast that came out of the devise attached to his arrow fried everything on the roof that had an electrical circuit, including Luthor's Warsuit, which was just turned into a very large paper weight.
Lex turned back to face the arrow, with a scowl on his face that showed his clear frustration. "Do you have any idea how much that cost to build?"
The Arrow grinned back at the bald man. "Do I look like I give a damn?"
Superman was still struggling to get to his feet but Lex kicked him over as he made a quick paced walk up to the Arrow to confront him. Arrow was not afraid of Luthor as he walked up to meet the billionaire halfway and the two men immediately began to exchange punches and kicks, with very few of them landing as each man was showing off their fighting skills which were both very advanced.
Arrow was surprised by how well Luthor was holding his own, clearly the best martial arts that his money could buy. It didn't take long but the billionaire was starting to get the occasional shot in on the vigilante. A few shots later, the Arrow wasable to knock Lex back a few steps with a kick to the gut that pushed him back a bit and left the billionaire winded.
Arrow used that moment to unsheathe an arrow and fire it at Luthor since he had enough space to take a shot. The arrow missed as Luthor as he rolled out of the way. Rather than attempt to flee, he closed the gap so Arrow didn't have enough range to fire again and returned with another barrage of punches and kicks. The Arrow did his best to defend himself, but Lex's skills were advance and surprised him as this offensive ended with Luthor kicking the bow out of Arrow's hands. Arrow responded by bringing the fight back to him, coming in with his own attack but Luthor was ready. He managed to land a few more shots and even knock the vigilante off his feet and onto the ground.
Luthor, who had been wearing a suit underneath that warsuit, was seen taking his tie off and grinning as he hadn't had a fight that good in years. "Don't feel so bad. I don't know who trained you, but he's good. He's nowhere near as good as the grandmasters that trained me, but impressive none the less."
The Arrow wasn't eager to hear anymore as he jumped back into the fight, trying even harder to get the best of Luthor. Not only did Arrow managed to land a few blows to the body but almost managed to toss the billionaire to the ground. The move didn't work as Luthor reversed the toss, which resulted in the Arrow being thrown back onto the ground.
"You've got talent, kid." Luthor said as he fixed his collar. "But you're not going to defeat me."
"I'm not trying to defeat you." The Arrow finally replied. He gave a small grin as he held up his left hand to show Luthor his true intentions. He had possession of the ring with the flowing green rock.
Luthor looked back at his hand to confirm it was the same ring, and his hand was now empty. "You'll pay for that, Arrow!"
"I think he might have something to say about that." Arrow replied.
By the time Lex realized what the vigilante was referring too, Superman was already back on his feet. Despite the fact that Superman wanted to rip the billionaire limb from limb for what just happened, all the Man Of Steel did was slap Luthor in the head with a shot that was only strong enough to knock the bald man out cold. With the Warsuit disabled and the ring no longer in his possession, Luthor was no longer a threat.
The Arrow hopped back to his feet and walked over to retrieve his bow. He looked back at Superman who was still looking a little worn down. "Are you all right?"
"Keep that thing away from me and I'll be fine." He replied.
"Do you know if he has anymore of these lying around?" Arrow asked as he help up the ring.
"I'm not sure." Superman honestly admitted, "I don't even know what it is."
Arrow walked over and searched his person. "He doesn't have any other rings on him. He might have another in his office."
"And what do you plan to do about that?" Superman asked.
"I'm going to break in and steal them." Arrow answered, "This is one weapon he shouldn't be allowed to possess."
"That's not right." Superman said as he stepped as close as he could.
"This man will use his lawyers to be out on the street in hours." Arrow replied, "Make sure he stays on this roof as long as possible. Buy me time to clear him out of these glowing rocks."
Superman paused for a moment and sighed. "Check anywhere that's lined with lead. I can't see things that are covered in lead."
"All right." Arrow said as he walked over to the ledge of the roof. "Give me an hour and then hand him into the police."
"And what exactly am I going to do here while babysitting?" Superman asked.
Arrow smiled as he gestured to the warsuit. "Target practice?"
Superman looked back at the suit and smiled. "Thanks Oliver."
The Arrow stood up and gave the Man of Steel a half salute. "It was my pleasure... Clark."
Superman watched as Arrow jumped off the roof of the building. He pulled out an arrow that let out a rope that he used to swing to an adjacent building and began his trip to visit the Lexcorp building and loot of any alien rocks. The Kryptonian had never thought he would need anyone's help to defend the city, but the Arrow had proved him wrong. For the first time since establishing himself as Metropolis' guardian, Superman was glad to have a friend that had his back. He truly wasn't alone.