Brainiac had been having difficulty locating Lex Luthor, but after hearing about the stunt The Empireth had pulled, he knew the man would turn up at the hospital. It was actually well for Luthor that he'd found him only after being reprogrammed; he and a few other constructs had been searching for him. Now, however, Luthor was safe. Zod no longer needed the armour, since he was beyond even Brainiac's ability to retrieve. That did not negate the threat the other constructs – and of course the ship itself – posed to Earth. With Zod gone, the ship would instead use the constructs to take his place. Zod might have been finished, but his empire would still be built. Cities from across the galaxies would be captured, and one construct would be all that was required to rule each. The only advantage they had was that the ship had lost a lot of power building constructs and capturing cities, and it would need time to recharge.
"Was there anybody she wasn't able to heal?" Lex asked one of the doctors, a bearded male in his mid-thirties. No doubt one that was already under Luthor's thumb, thought Brainiac, observing in silence.
"No, Mr Luthor. She healed everybody. It doesn't matter if it was a broken bone or a cancer or whatever. It's completely impossible to explain."
"Were they changed in any other way?" asked Lex. Brainiac almost smiled. The line of questioning said a great deal about Lex's thinking.
"I'm not sure what you mean," said the doctor.
"You must have run all kinds of tests? Did they reveal anything unusual, or have the patient's behaviours seemed strange in any way?"
"Nothing so far. All I can tell you is it's a miracle."
"I'm paying you to hear rather more than that," hissed Lex. "Take a number of the patients and run every test possible. Talk with their families and see what they make of how they're acting. Examine this from every angle, you understand?"
Brainiac knew that the doctor did, in fact, not understand at all, but nodded anyway. Lex, looking frustrated, joined Brainiac over at the side as the doctor departed.
"What's your take on this then, Mr Luthor?"
"This Lenaria has been in hiding for six years, if your information is correct. And now she appears publicly after her base has been wiped out, talking about how she's mankind's salvation."
"You, of course, beg to differ on that score?" asked Brainiac, sounding disinterested. Lex, who valued his own opinions rather highly, looked suitably irritated.
"For all I know, she's offering a solution to a problem she created in the first place. One thing's for sure: I don't trust her motives. Even if this 'Brainiac' she mentioned is responsible for the missing cities, once she's stopped him, she's not just going to leave us be. She's going to take humanity's destiny out of it's own hands. Now I'm happy for the people she's healed today, I truly am, but the long term consequences are going to be rather less pleasant."
"Cynical words, Mr Luthor, though I fear they do hold at least an element of truth. The solution is that we get this situation under our control ourselves. Let's see what we can do about humanity's destiny, shall we?"
"What do you propose?"
"Well, we still have that armour. That gives us an advantage over her," said Brainiac. He had neglected to inform Lex that even without any powers, Lenaria was still naturally strong enough to tear his bald head from his shoulders. He hadn't told him because he did not really care whether Lex survived or not, and despite his reprogramming, that fact hadn't changed.
"First, let's see about getting the ship back. Regrettably, it is not, strictly speaking, in my hands any more. So the question is, how much of Level 33.1 is still around?"
888
Although a very strong swimmer, Batman couldn't possibly go fast enough to get out of the water before it was frozen solid by Freeze's gun. At least not under his own power. Every part of Batman's outfit had been carefully considered, and underwater propellers had been installed in his heels. Not necessarily for situations EXACTLY like this, of course, but he was glad of them now. As the water began to turn to ice, he sped under the water to the other side, clambering out swiftly and ready to rejoin the battle.
Green Arrow's foot was still trapped, but with Freeze's attention now totally on Batman, he went for a shot rather than to try and free himself. Batman saw that GA was aiming for Freeze's hands now, since they didn't have the suit's protection. If he could hit them, he might get Freeze to drop his weapon.
Freeze swung his hand aside at the last moment, and Batman realised quickly he'd misread Green Arrow's intention. Fortunately, Freeze had as well. The arrow struck the side of Freeze's oversized gun, and instead of bouncing off harmlessly, it exploded. Freeze quickly tossed the useless weapon aside, lumbering towards the trapped Green Arrow. Batman readied his last Batarang.
"That's quite enough, Mr Freeze."
"So you're the one responsible for this," said Batman, holding his weapon ready. He recognised the fat little man with the beak-like nose at once. His name was Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, otherwise known as The Penguin. A self-styled 'gentleman of crime', working with Freeze didn't seem his usual method. Then again, Freeze wasn't one to work with anyone himself, not normally.
"I'm not sure what you're accusing me of," said Oswald, twirling an umbrella he carried with him. Weird though both Green Arrow and he might be considered, Oswald had a love of high-tech umbrella's that Batman couldn't even begin to explain. A legion of men surrounded him. "Placing a glass roof over the city? Hardly my doing. Breaking Mr Freeze out of Arkham? Not me. Asking him to freeze everything in sight? Not at all. I do confess I may have given him that weapon, which thanks to your sidekick is now useless…"
"I'm not a sidekick…" protested Green Arrow, breaking the ice around his foot.
"But I did so purely in the best interests of the city. The lunatics would quite literally have been running this asylum had Mr Freeze not put them on ice. I had not intended him to pursue his… little hobby beyond that. You went too far, Freeze."
"It seems appropriate that the city which abandoned me should share my fate," said Freeze with an appropriately icy calm.
"So you've given up then?"
"The only logical course. The city has gone mad, and we are trapped in it."
"And what about you, Batman?"
"I'm not good at thinking illogically. But I haven't given up. Not a bit."
"Then perhaps there is a deal that can be made…"
888
Clark was outside in an instant, and he saw that Lenaria hadn't gone far. She was lying bleeding over the grass, body huddled. She had managed to take the dagger out of her side, but hadn't had time to heal the wound. He'd done his best not to hit any vital spots, but the amount of blood she was losing would kill her sooner or later. She held a hand over the wound to try and stem the tide. The other was still holding the dagger. Clark tensed in case she threw it at him, but instead Lenaria stretched her arm and placed the dagger on the ground, and held her hand up in a gesture of surrender. She'd apparently reconsidered her outburst mere moments before.
"NowjustthinkaboutitClark," said Lenaria, the words coming out a jumbled mess in her haste. It took Clark a moment to catch what she said. "Brainiac is still out there, and you must know what he's been doing to the cities. You'll never be able to overcome him by yourself. If we work together…"
"You know, I've missed you about as much as I miss having kryptonite in my pocket. We've worked together in the past, and both times you turned on me first chance you had," said Clark, advancing. He did so carefully; he knew at the first sign of an opening Lenaria would strike. Even now he could feel her trying to use her powers to enter his mind, but John's barrier held. He knew John was out here somewhere, but they'd both agreed he should stay out of The Empireth's way unless as a last resort. He could protect himself from her telepathic attacks, but if she touched him, she would still be able to absorb his abilities. Clark wasn't entirely sure what those were, but John had hinted that he was most powerful indeed. Right now, all Clark really knew was that Jor-El had sent him along with the dagger.
He'd been told to use it to kill her, but he hadn't. Even stabbing her had been a sickening act, but the truth was that the number of ways for Lenaria to beat him was very large, and the number of ways he could beat her was very small.
"Clark, please… it hurts," Lenaria whimpered. Bart Allen probably would have enjoyed seeing her like this. He was still a long way from recovering after Lenaria had tortured him in the middle of the street.
"You were prepared to destroy an entire city on a whim. You didn't care how many lives were lost - the only person you've ever cared about is yourself. But when I watched you try to destroy Kandor, I knew that I could never show that kind of disregard for life, not even yours. Empireth… the name sounds derivative of the word empathy. I don't think that's something you know anything about."
"Clark…" sobbed Lenaria, body shaking.
"NO! You will listen! Even you, selfish and hateful as you are, aren't totally undeserving of a little compassion. You grew up in a time of war, and I'm sorry for that. And I only spent a week with Mongul; you spent years, and I can't imagine the things he did to you. I'm not going to let you die… but you are going back to The Phantom Zone."
"No… please…"
Lenaria looked ready to faint, but Clark kept his guard up in case she was trying to deceive him.
"I told you to stay out of this, Clark."
888
Lyla, still controlling Lana's body, stepped between Clark and Lenaria.
"You think you can use Lana as a shield?" asked Clark. He grabbed Lana's shoulders and shifted her to one side. Lyla's heart sped up as she saw the look in Clark's eyes. No-one had ever looked at her like that. He must really love Lana, she thought. Why can't that life be mine? She had taken another's identity before; why not again?
"Clark, it's me, Faye," she said instead. "Though my name's Lyla, really. Please, Clark, I'm an Empireth like she is. Please don't take her away… I know you're really a Kryptonian, that you're not like the people on this planet. You must know what it's like to be alone. She and I are all that's left, Clark."
"What have you done with Lana?"
Lyla recoiled. Clark wasn't looking like he loved her now; he looked the way people always looked at The Empireth, as something to be despised. She was about to explain that Lana was fine when she noticed what was happening behind Clark.
Clark spun to see what she was looking at, but was too late. First fire burst from Lenaria's eyes. Following behind this was a blast of ice from her mouth, and finally from her free hand an intense beam of light emerged. All three attacks struck Clark before he could react, knocking him from his feet. The force of them forced Lyla back, and she ducked down to try and defend herself.
Clark wasn't moving. She wasn't even sure he was alive anymore. And then Lenaria scooped up the dagger from the ground, leaping forwards like a cat, aiming the dagger straight for Clark's heart…