Sorry the update took a bit longer than normal, I've been having computer problems but it's all fixed now. I think the ending of this chapter is a bit rushed, but overall I think it's a pretty good chapter and I hope you enjoy! My version of the Justice Lords is kind of a combination of them and the Crime Syndicate of America, I take traits from both groups and combine them into this story. I know with the way this chapter ends, it seems like there is no point in having them in the story, but you'll later when everything comes together and the Justice Lords play a bigger role than it seems at first. There will only be two or three more chapters, and then Corruption will come to an end, so until then keep on reading and reveiwing everyone!
Chapter Sixteen: Vengeance and Betrayal
"Mr. Luthor, reports tell us that Superman is on his way." A guard reported.
"It's about time." Lex smiled, his arms folded behind his back.
"Should we prep the V.O.P. agents?" The guard asked.
"No, let Superman in. At this point he's no threat to me."
"Yes sir." The guard said nervously, questioning the President's judgment. Then he turned and left.
Luthor was smiling widely. He would soon be meeting his greatest creation.
Meanwhile, in Central Metropolis…
"What do we have here?" The Justice Lord Superman smiled. "Batman and a rag-tag group of nobodies."
"Can I please kill them now?" The Lord's Wonder Woman asked eagerly.
"Not quite yet. First, I simply must know… what the hell happened here?" The Lord's Superman asked, scanning the destroyed, ruined area.
"Our Superman happened. He's become a lot like you, you know that?" Batman called.
"Me?" The evil man of steel raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, he's become another soulless killer. In fact, he's on his way to kill Luthor right now."
"Interesting." He grinned widely.
"I'm not gonna wait around all day. Can we kill them or not?" The Lord's Hawkgirl demanded, readying her sword.
"Go ahead." The other-worldly Superman nodded. And at that moment, the Justice Lords attacked.
Batman immediately noticed something was wrong. Before, the Lords had consisted of an alternate Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern and J'onn. But their Flash had been killed years ago. And in their last encounter, the League had inadvertently killed their J'onn, so there should only have been five of them left. But there were six… somehow, the Justice Lords had obtained a new Flash!
This new evil Flash wore a bright yellow and red costume, and murder gleamed in his eyes. "Where did he come from?" The good Flash asked, noticing this too.
"I don't know, but let's send him back!" Batman announced drawing a pair of baterangs.
Galatea began to move in for an attack, when the Lord's Wonder Woman swooped in and struck her in the face. She then kicked Galatea in the stomach, but Galatea quickly retaliated with a roundhouse kick to the face, sending the evil woman spiraling.
Both Flash's immediately engaged in super-speeding combat. Batman soon recognized this new evil Flash as the Crime Syndicate member Johnny Quick! He had faded himself out of existence almost a whole year before, how had he wound up with the Justice Lords?
Before Batman could think about this any longer, he was attacked by the Lord's Batman, and the two engaged in martial arts combat. Hawkgirl battled the villainous Hawkgirl, while the evil Green Lantern attacked Green Arrow, Dick, Black Canary, and Question. Metallo and J'onn battled the Lord's Superman, and the conflict was quickly becoming an all out war!
Metallo punched the Lord's Superman in the jaw, causing him to sail back a few feet. "Good, I get a warm-up before I kill the real thing!" Metallo exclaimed excitedly.
"You… hmm… Metallo right? There used to be one of you on my world, you know. I killed you in about twenty seconds." The Lord Superman smiled. Metallo grimaced and opened up his chest plate, bombarding the Superman with kryptonite radiation. But strangely, it seemed to have no effect! The Lord's Superman burst out laughing. "On my world, things work a little bit differently, metal head!" The Superman screamed, punching Metallo with a thundering blow to the jaw. "On my world, it's prolonged exposure to direct sunlight that weakens me! But kryptonite… it fuels me! The stuff makes me stronger!"
"Oh… damn it." Metallo groaned. Suddenly, the Justice Lord's version of Batman went sailing through a brick wall behind them! The Superman turned to see the normal Batman glaring him down, armed with bat grenades!
"Johnny Quick. Where'd he come from?" Batman demanded.
"You mean our new Flash? We found him drifting around the Phantom Zone! He didn't even know how he got there, he said ran faster than ever before and then suddenly he like, phased between dimensions and ended up trapped in there with us!" The Superman explained. The wicked man of steel stepped forward. "He told us all about the CSA, and we kind of liked the idea. And considering there should only be one Superman in one dimension, we decided to change things up a bit. From now on, I go by the name… Ultraman!"
"Ultraman? That's the best you could come up with?" Metallo called from behind. "A bit cliché, don't you think?"
"Listen… Ultraman." Batman said reluctantly. "I wasn't kidding before. Our Superman really has gone off the deep end, and he's really on his way to kill Luthor."
"Good. That's how it all started for me, you know."
"I know." Batman nodded.
"That was when we became the Justice Lords. When we started killing, started taking control, started ruling."
"Yeah." Batman agreed. "But there's just one problem, isn't there?"
"What do you mean?"
"You conquered your world. But you're trapped in this world now." As soon as Batman said this, Ultraman's eyes grew wide at the realization. "You don't want to live in a world where you're not in charge, do you?" Batman continued.
"I'll ally myself with him. After all, he is ME!"
"But would have you have allied with a parallel you? Really?" Batman coaxed further. Ultraman seemed to think it over for a moment.
"Fine. What do you propose?" He asked.
"He's weakened right now. Join up with us, and we can take him down for sure. Sounds like a much better alternative, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. But what about after Superman is dead, then what?"
"Then you're free to do as you please."
"Alright then. For the time being… the Justice Lords and the Justice League… are allies." Ultraman turned and called out to his team. "Lords! Stand down!" And once the fighting had stopped, he explained the situation. Soon everyone was gathered, and in agreement.
"That jeep won't transport all of us. We'll need a bigger vehicle." Black Canary pointed out.
"Not a problem!" A feminine voice called down from above. The group looked up to see the Birds of Prey aircraft descending towards them. The doors opened up, revealing Huntress, Dove, and the pilot, Lady Blackhawk.
"You guys coming or what?" Huntress called.
"That's my woman." Question said, moving toward the aircraft.
"Shut up Vic." Green Arrow rolled his eyes, following the faceless detective.
"Hey… we aren't really going to be friendly with them, are we?" The Lord's Wonder Woman whispered to Ultraman.
"Of course not." Ultraman whispered back. "I have my own plans. But for right now, let's just play along and go with them. And when the time is right… we'll crush them all."
"You don't really trust them, do you Bruce?" Dick whispered, nodding back toward the Justice Lords.
"No. Not at all. But Ultraman is just as powerful as Superman, and his reversed weaknesses should give him an advantage, as long as we get there before the sun comes up. So for now, just keep a close eye on them. And if anything seems suspicious… I have countermeasures ready." Batman replied.
Meanwhile, Outside the LexCorp Towers…
Superman sailed down LexCorp Towers, located on the coast of Metropolis, where he knew he would find Lex Luthor. He didn't even bother searching with his x-ray vision, he already knew the building was reinforced with lead. But hat seemed strange to him where that there seemed to be absolutely no security. Superman decided to ignore it, and pressed on. He saw Luthor staring out an office window, watching him approach. Superman smiled, realizing that Lex had been waiting for him. "No need to disappoint him!" Superman cried, speeding up.
Lex cracked his knuckles behind his back, which were currently covered by kryptonite brass knuckles. Aside from that, he had also been injecting himself with kryptonite steroids for the past year and a half, and now felt that he was on par with Superman in one on one combat. But that wouldn't be enough for him. Luthor couldn't just kill Superman… that would be too easy. He had to destroy him. And he already had the plan in action. He pulled out a communicator and signaled someone in a different area of the building. "He's here. Start transmitting the signal."
"Yes, Mr. Luthor." The person on the other end responded. Lex smiled.
"Ok Superman, get ready to show the world what you've become."
Superman was just seconds away from his destination when the loud sound of an engine roared behind him. He looked to see the Birds of Prey aircraft flying toward him. "Damn you Bruce… will you ever just die?" Superman shouted angrily.
Inside the ship, the team sat eagerly, awaiting their final confrontation with the man of steel. Dick noticed for the first time that his hand was warmly touching Galatea's. He looked over to her and saw that she seemed pale. In fact, she was white as a ghost, and trembling horribly. The look of anxiety in her eyes was maddening.
"Galatea? Are you ok?" He asked.
"Oh… yeah, it's fine." She said distantly.
"Are you feeling sick or something?"
"No. I'm fine, really. Just… just nervous I guess."
"Don't be. We're going to put an end to all of this, right here, and right now. And then…"
"And then what?"
"And then we'll start your new life."
"What?"
"I've been thinking Galatea and… you deserve more. As soon as this is all over, I'm going to help you get a fresh, new start on life. One without Cadmus, without fear and anger and fighting, the kind of life that you've always deserved"
"Why do you care so much?" Galatea laughed uncomfortably.
"Because I want to see you happy." Dick shrugged. They were silent for a moment. "Because… well, I think I'm kind of in love with you."
Galatea suddenly looked full of fear again. And then a look of anguish filled her eyes. She began to cry.
"Galatea? Oh man… I'm sorry, I uh… I meant, as a friend, you know?" Dick stuttered, trying to dig himself out the metaphorical hole he had dug.
"No… it's not that." She sobbed.
"Then- then what's wrong?"
"I'm sorry Dick." She muttered, moving away from him into a private section of the aircraft.
"What the hell just happened?" Dick put his hand on the back of his head, confused.
"Don't think about it now. We have work to do, with or without Galatea!" Batman barked, leaping out toward Superman with a jet pack ready. The rest of the group began leaving the aircraft too.
"Stupid kid." Huntress laughed, looking at the now red faced Dick. Huntress then left the aircraft.
"What did I say?" Dick shouted.
"Don't worry Dick, you'll figure women out someday." Black Canary said, leaping out of the aircraft.
"I still don't have a clue." Question said, looking at Dick. Then the two of them grabbed jetpacks and jumped out as well.
Superman picked up his pace, speeding up toward Luthor. Then, to his shock, he saw that the Justice Lords were following him as well! "Of-freaking-course." Superman groaned, realizing that Ultraman was quickly gaining on him. Superman was just moments away from the building now, when suddenly, a bright portal opened up in front of him. Then another portal. Then another. Soon the sky was filled with hundreds of portals!
"What is that?" Green Arrow called.
"No idea." Batman yelled back.
Then, people began to appear out of the portals. No, not just people… but heroes! Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Firestorm, Red Tornado, Doctor Fate, Captain Marvel, The Atom, the list was endless! More and more of these heroes were billowing out of the portals, forming a defensive wall between LexCorp Towers and Superman.
"What is all this?" Question wondered out loud. Then, out of the largest portal, Zatanna stepped out.
"Didn't I tell you I was getting reinforcements?" She asked, clearly proud of herself.
"I knew she was getting backup… I didn't know she was building an army!" Black Canary exclaimed.
"Good. Looks like we're going to need it!" Batman shouted, pointing toward the sky. Raining downward were millions of Superman Drones! There were at least half a billion of them, all ready to attack!
"Oh my God…" Flash grumbled.
"We couldn't beat two of those things!" Hawkgirl screamed.
"And now there's a whole army." Dick nodded.
"This sucks." Green Arrow sighed.
"What the hell are those things?" Johnny Quick demanded.
"Superman Drones. They have all of Superman's powers, they're built of an organic metal that can repair itself, and they evolve and grow stronger during battle." Batman explained.
"You kind of left that part out while explaining the situation!" Ultraman shouted.
"Would you have come with us if you knew we would be going against that?"
"No."
"Exactly."
Then, as the army of Superman Drones began to attack, a half of thousands of arrows flew out and took hundreds of the drones down! Everyone looked out onto the coast, to see a series of large wooden warships. The Amazon's had arrived! The Amazon's immediately stormed onto the battlefield, and flurries of arrows began striking Superman Drones. Then, none other than Wonder Woman herself flew up and kicked the head off of a drone!
"Diana…" Bruce said in amazement. He desperately wanted to talk to her. She had not noticed him yet. He was tempted to fly over to her, but shook the thought from his head. There were more important matters at hand right now. Gunshots began ringing out. Cadmus, The Human Defense Corps, and the U.S. Military had arrived on the scene!
This was becoming the scene of an epic war, a war that could quite potentially level all of Metropolis! In the midst of all the chaos, Batman lead his team through the storage garages into LexCorp Towers. The Justice Lords stayed behind to fight, Ultraman going to find Superman. Metallo also left to go after the man of steel. Batman, Question, Dick, Huntress, Black Canary, Dove, and Green Arrow charged into the building, which was strangely void of any security. But as they approached Luthor's office, they were attacked by a large group of agents from the V.O.P., including Parasite, Livewire, Bane, Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, and a lot of other people who Batman paid no attention to. He left the group behind to fight the V.O.P. while he broke into Lex's office.
Lex was still standing idly by his window, watching the war take place outside. "Beautiful isn't it? This whole picture that I've painted… I like to call it, Corruption." Luthor said eerily.
"How? That's all I want to know. "How did you turn Superman into this monster?" Batman demanded, narrowing his eyes.
"I actually did very little, Batman. We bombarded the Hall of Justice with low level black kryptonite radiation for a while, just to weaken his will, you know. We didn't even use enough radiation to control his mind or anything, just weaken his will. That was all it took. After that, we just had to manipulate a few little events, like, for example, having him witness the death of a little girl whom he was too slow to save." Luthor said, turning around with a smile. "That was all it took, Batman. A weakened will and a little motivation. That was all it took to corrupt Earth's favorite son, to turn the picture of perfection, into an insane killing machine! This evil, cruel, murderous Superman that you've come to know… I did not create him, Batman. He was already there. I simply helped him get out."
"Why? What's the point in it Luthor… what meaning could there possibly be?"
"What meaning? Hah! What else Batman… it's the only meaning you can understand. The same meaning behind you dressing up as a bat every night! Hatred, vengeance, anger, the whole damn package!"
"Why not just kill him then? An army of these Superman Drones would have certainly have the power to."
"Ever heard of poetic justice, Batman? Just sending a robot to slaughter him would have no meaning. Think about what I've done to him. I'm not just killing him now, no, I'm far beyond that. I'm destroying him! Destroying everything he stands for, has ever stood for! I've destroyed all of his principles, all of his stupid dreams of morality! He was always the perfect, incorruptible golden boy. And look what I've done to him! I've taken him, and turned him into the very type of enemy that he opposes!"
"And what about the Superman Drones? What purpose do they serve?"
"Notice the drones are not harming Superman, or even attempting to, and yet they'll destroying everything else? It's to cast the illusion that they serve Superman, you see. And you may not have realized it yet, but I'm broadcasting this battle all around the world! Everyone with a computer, television or cell phone knows about this! Everyone knows that Superman is the brutal, cold blooded killer! And then these drones… even after I kill Superman and become the hero to the world, the drones will live on and continue to terrorize humanity for eons to come! It will never end, the drones will always plague humanity, and I, Lex Luthor, will always be the savior! I will always be the hero there to destroy them! For all of eternity, Superman will be known as the worst, most wicked and vile being to ever live! His reputation will forever be that of a monster! And me… I will forever be the hero!" Luthor cried.
"So that's it? That's your whole master plan? A publicity stunt?" Batman criticized.
"It's the ultimate revenge, Batman. I, Lex Luthor, have achieved the absolute vengeance!" He proclaimed.
"Good enough then." Batman smiled.
"What?"
"You see Luthor; I did realize that you were broadcasting to the entire world. So I took the liberty of hacking your broadcast system before we even got off the aircraft." Batman held up a speaker device. "Everyone in the world heard what you just said. Everyone with a TV, Computer or cell phone, heard you confess!"
"What… no!"
"Sorry Luthor, I don't think you'll go down as anyone's hero." Batman shut the device off. Police helicopters could already be heard, coming to arrest Luthor.
"No… you dare! You dare!" Luthor roared, punching Batman with surprising strength, sending him flying across the room. "I'll rip you apart!" He lifted his desk and smashed it over Batman's back, then kicked the dark knight in the stomach. "I've been taking kryptonite steroids… and congratulations bat, you're the first to feel my new strength!" He lifted the wounded dark knight by the back of the cowl and punched him in the stomach. Batman sprayed numbing-gas into Luthor's face, causing him to drop the hero. Batman then kicked the madman away, but found that he struggled to stand.
The rest of the team barged into the room, having defeated the V.O.P. agents. They were just in time to see Luthor pulling an RPG from his closet! The rocket propelled grenade was fired, and the heroes all leapt in different directions, but the explosion caved in the floor. The heroes fell downward and landed on a floor with some sort of white pod, and from it more Superman drones were emerging! The drones were billowing out of the machine two at a time, four per minute! They then went through a teleporter device and moved out onto the battlefield.
"What is this?" Dick asked.
"Each Superman Drone is based off the same nanite encryption, this machine is designed to replicated that encryption and produce more drones, kind of like a super fast assembly line!" Question realized.
"Then we'd better destroy it." Huntress started to move in, but Batman stopped her.
"Hold on… something isn't right. This device… its Kryptonian technology!" He said.
"Yes, it is." Luthor's voice said, as he crawled into the room aggressively, his shirt now stripped off. "It was not easy to acquire, but when you know the right people, anything is possible." He laughed. "Just try to destroy, it's built of the same organic metal compound, it will just recover!"
"Damn!" Batman punched the machine.
Luthor stepped into a strange pod of some sort, and then there was a loud noise for several minutes, and when he came out, he was clad in a large green war suit, powered by kryptonite!
"Time to complete phase three… kill Superman!" He shouted, blasting through the roof. Batman began tampering with the teleporter.
"What are you doing?" Dick asked.
"I have a plan. Just not sure it's a good one."
Meanwhile, outside LexCorp Towers…
Metallo lay in a smoldering scrap heap, decimated by the Superman Drones. The heroes' numbers were quickly dwindling, overtaken by the Superman Drones. Even the help of the Amazon's and the Military didn't help the situation much. Now Superman was locked in combat with Ultraman, beating each other with a flurry of crushing punches.
Then the Lord's version of Green Lantern blasted Superman in the back with a ray of green light. Superman turned around angrily. "I already took care of the one on this Earth… now I have to deal with the alternate one too!" Superman screamed, zooming in and snapping the evil Green Lantern's neck! He dropped the dead villain down to the ground, and then turned back to his fight with Ultraman.
John, this Earth's Green Lantern, stared at the carnage around him. He desperately wanted to help in the struggle, but his ring had been destroyed. Then, out of nowhere, a body dropped down in front of him. The body of the evil Justice Lord's Green Lantern!
"Oh no way…" John chuckled, reaching down. Slowly and carefully, he took this Lantern's ring, and placed it on his finger. "Sweet." There was a bright green flash, and suddenly he was suited up as the Green Lantern! He flew in, but did not go directly into battle. He knew that if they were going to defeat these Superman Drones, they needed more than one Green Lantern. They needed the whole Corps.
Superman spun around at super speed, firing off shots of heat vision, but Wonder Woman deflected them all with her bracelets, determined to kill Superman! Then, she accidentally deflected a beam of heat vision into the face of Ultraman! Superman took advantage of the moment and drove Ultraman down into the ground, beating him to a pulp. Once Ultraman was lying unconscious in a crater, Superman fired a continuous ray of heat vision into the pit, frying Ultraman, burning him to a crisp! After several minutes, he stopped, and saw that Ultraman's body was almost nonexistent!
Now to focus on Diana. But when he turned around, his view was obstructed by Lex Luthor wearing a kryptonite war suit!
"Get ready to die!" Luthor screamed, attacking.
Meanwhile, back inside…
"What exactly are you going to do?" Dick asked, but Batman did not respond. He simply continued to tamper with the teleporter. Then there were footsteps behind them. Dick turned and smiled, because standing there, was Galatea.
"Hi!" He shouted. "Glad to see you're ok."
But something was wrong. Galatea did not speak. She simply held up a gun.
"Galatea? What are you doing?" Dick asked. Behind her, Huntress and Black Canary, who had been assigned to keep watch, fell to the ground bleeding.
"She's a traitor! She's working with Luthor!" Huntress screamed.
"What? No, come on guys, this isn't funny." Dick laughed, but no one else did. "G- Galatea?" He looked into her eyes.
"I'm so sorry Dick." She said.
"But… but why?"
"This is why." She raised her arm and pulled down her sleeve, revealing an area where her flesh had been completely decayed away!
"What… what happened to you?" Dick was completely confused.
"Clone degeneration happened to her. It's happens to most clones, they just don't stay stable long enough. She's literally being reduced to dust. Clone degeneration is killing her!" Question explained.
"Galatea… is that true?" Dick asked.
"Luthor has a cure. When he came to me, almost all of my left side had been eaten away! He gave me a small dose of the cure, and it all regenerated! He said that if I helped him out, he would give me more. Enough to keep me alive." She was crying now. "I was supposed to follow you guys around, gain your trust, and then kill you when he said to. But… but I wasn't supposed to make attachments. That wasn't part of the plan."
"So this whole time… you've just been using me?" Dick shouted, furious.
"No, Dick! It's not like that! I… I swear, everything between us was real! I really do love you." She sobbed.
"Prove it then. Drop the gun, Galatea." There was a long silence.
"I wish it were that simple." She sighed. Then, she shot a large pipe toward the ceiling, and it released a poisonous gas! Everyone in the room instantly dropped to the floor when they were exposed to the gas. "Bye Dick." She dropped the gun and flew away.
When the smoke cleared, only three figures stood. Batman, Dick, and Green Arrow had quickly utilized gas masks, but everyone else… they hadn't been so lucky. Batman quickly gave each of them powerful antibiotics. "This should fight the poison, I think they'll all live." Batman said.
Dick fell to his hands and knees, tears streaming. "I can't believe it… I can't believe I never saw it coming…"
"It happens to all of us sooner or later, Dick. Emotions get in the way of the job." Green Arrow sighed. "It sucks, but it's the way things are."
"I told you to forget about her. You should have listened." Batman lectured.
"Shut up Bruce! I'm not like you ok! I'm not afraid to make attachments, and if that makes me any less than you, then I guess I don't want to be more!" Dick argued.
"Stay calm. Galatea thinks we're all dead, you can freak her out and have your revenge later." Green Arrow said.
"I don't want revenge. I just want this all to be over with. I want to go and forget this ever happened." Dick said sadly.
"Come on. The three of us will complete the plan." Batman went back to the computer.
"What exactly is the plan, Bruce?" Green Arrow asked.
"This machine is Kryptonian technology, right? And the Eradicator happens to know absolutely everything there is to know about Kryptonian technology. We find the Eradicator, we can learn how to shut this thing down."
"And where is he?" Green Arrow asked.
"Currently, in the fortress of solitude."
"Wonderful."
Outside, a helicopter arrived. A helicopter containing Supergirl, and Lois Lane. "Clark!" Lois called. Superman looked up from his battle with Lex to look at her.
"Lois. You shouldn't have come here!" He shouted, emotionlessly. Lois was crying.
"Clark, please stop Please. What you've become… this monster… it can still turn around!" She pleaded.
"Maybe I don't want to turn it around! And if you cant understand that, then you deserve to die with the rest!" Superman shouted, grabbing Luthor and throwing him into the helicopter! It immediately tipped. Supergirl grabbed Lois and flew her down to Earth, hiding her in an alley.
"I don't think you can help him. Which means…" Supergirl said sadly.
"Which means you have to kill him." Lois nodded. "I understand… good luck Kara."
"Kara!" Wonder Woman called from above. "We need you!" She said, grabbing Supergirl.
Wonder Woman and Supergirl quickly flew to Batman, Green Arrow and Dick.
"If you're going to the fortress of solitude, take Kara. Only a Kryptonian can interface with the Eradicator!" Wonder Woman explained.
"Right, I nearly forgot. Are you onboard Kara?"
"Yeah. I'll do whatever I have to."
"Good."
"Bruce, I'm coming too." Diana said.
"No. It's too dangerous, you'll-"
"Bruce, would you really rather have me out on that battlefield?"
"Good point." Batman turned and continued his work on the teleporter.
"It takes you that long to put in coordinates for the Fortress of Solitude?" Green Arrow asked.
"No, that'll only take a second. First, I have to get something else…"
"What?" Dick asked.
"This." Bruce activated the device, and then everyone realized exactly what he was planning. From the portal, there was a monstrous growl. A growl that everyone recognized. The group backed up, and from the portal rose a hulking beast… Doomsday!
"Doomsday! What the hell Bruce?" Dick screamed.
"Doomsday is powerful, and hates Superman. There are a whole lot of drones out there that look like Superman. Right now, I think Doomsday will do a lot more good than he will harm." Batman said.
Doomsday completely ignored these heroes, and leapt out, immediately beginning to destroy the Superman Drones!
"Now, let's go to the fortress of solitude…"
Outside, Galatea found Luthor, currently in a punch-brawl with Superman! "I killed them, Luthor!" Galatea shouted. "Now I want the cure. What about our deal?"
Luthor turned angrily and blasted Galatea with a wave of kryptonite radiation! "There's your damn antidote!" He shouted, returning to his fight. Galatea dropped the ground, unconscious. And this time, her dreams involved Supergirl and the Eradicator, inside the fortress of solitude…