Chapter 28

Supporting some of her weight she and Batman staggered out into the hall. They walked a few steps and Barbara took a few deep breaths. They were going to reach Clark in time. He was going to be fine. They were all going to be fine. Within seconds three guards lined each end.

"Hey!" one of them yelled. "If you surrender we won't hurt you." They both shared a look.

"Yeah, I'm not fighting," she said sarcastically as she pulled away from him into a fighting stance.

"Just don't overdo it," he said as he also stood ready to fight.

"Fine," she said quietly.

Simultaneously, they turned to opposite sides and shot out with their grappling guns connecting to the far walls. Stunned the guards were too late to react as she pulled herself forward and swipe the legs of the nearest one, which fell over like a bowling pin. Jumping up, she kicked the other guard in the head and immediately turned to the other one. A moment of shock stilled her when she realized that this was the same guard who had tortured her. He smirked as he raised his weapon. Furious she bent his gun away and twisted just a little more until he cried out in pain. He shot at the ceiling uselessly. Then she placed pressure around his wrist and finally he released his gun. She struck him in the chest and cuffed him in the face. He staggered back, but then charged at her with a shout going for a roundhouse she caught his arm and flipped him over. Landing hard on his back, she got on top of him and punched him fiercely in the face.

"Barbara!" Bruce cried his voice seemed far away as she stared at the face of her torturer. Then there was a piercing, stinging, deep rip into her flesh and Barbara cried out in pain. Turning she saw the guard she had kicked and he had stabbed with a knife sunk deep into her calf. Unnoticed by her Bruce had run over and punched the guard in the face crumpling him to the floor.

"Are you alright?" he asked placing a hand on her shoulder. She looked down at the bloodied face of the guard underneath her miserably.

"I'm fine," she said as she tried to stand.

"Wait," he said stopping her, "you can't walk on that leg like that." Pulling what looked like a small caulk gun out of his utility belt. "Synthetic protein. It should help." Slowly he removed the knife from her leg and she hissed in pain. They both shared a look and Barbara nodded. Bracing herself refusing to look, he injected the applicator into her wound, and she groaned loudly. Thankfully it lasted only a few seconds. Gingerly she placed weight on her leg, but she was amazed that she stood with stability.

"Thanks," she said and he nodded while he placed his hand to his ear. "Batman to Superman. Do you copy?"

"Do you copy?" he said again. "Kal?" He shook his head and cold dread filled Barbara.

"He still has his comm device, but he's not answering. Something's wrong. We need to track the device."

Through some gift of fate they didn't run into any more guards, but as the Clark's comm signal grew stronger and stronger, so did the feeling of unease in Barbara. Bruce was emanating heightened awareness. His muscles were tense as he moved, but he moved with purpose until they reached a spacious room. Robots stood like ancient guardians along the walls. Tall and lifeless, but ominous. They looked humanoid, except larger than the average human perhaps 7 ft. The forearms were a little wider in diameter than the upper arms. It was as though the robots were wearing meaty gauntlets. They were broad with expansive chests that displayed a clear glass circular center about the size of a grapefruit. There was nothing inside it. The 'face' of the robot wasn't a face at all. It was a dome with a metal back and a translucent front.

"What are these things?" Barbara asked out loud.

"Plan B," said a voice that sent involuntary chills up her spine. Stepping out of the shadows was a dark-haired woman with steel-cutting eyes.

"Hello, Batman, Batgirl," she said monotonously.

"So I presume this is Project Titan," Bruce said his eyes never leaving Mercy. "In case he can't recruit a powerful army with the Meta-Human Registration Act."

If Mercy was surprised she didn't show it. "Very good, Batman. Lex has big plans and he won't let something like politics get in the way," she replied.

"Oh politics aren't going to get in his way," Barbara practically growled.

She chuckled. "I'm begrudgingly impressed that you have come so far. But this is where your journey ends."

"You really think that," he said with a sneer at her, but he turned slightly to Barbara with a look that clearly said 'stay out of this.' She ignored him. She was injured, but she wouldn't let her friend fight alone.

"I know. You see where you draw the line at killing, I," she lifted up her right hand which splayed into robotic segments, revealing an unmistakably barrel shaped hole in the center of her 'hand', "do not."

A blast of energy exploded out of her palm, Batman and Barbara barely had time to dodge as they both jumped to separate sides of the room. Barbara smelled burnt fabric and was chilled at how close the laser had come to hitting them. Batman was undeterred; as soon as he was in a standing position he had thrown a batarang which Mercy shot with precision and disintegrated it. Batman threw down a smoke pellet.

"Your usual tricks won't work on me." She was scanning the area for Bruce allowing Barbara to sneak up from behind and climb a robot. Bracing her back against the wall, she pushed with all her strength against the giant until it started to fall. Unfortunately Mercy was fast and she was able to jump out of the way firing her hand laser repeatedly in Barbara's direction. Barbara did a back flip away grimacing with the pain from her leg and shot her grappling gun to the ceiling and landed away from the fray. Meanwhile Batman came up behind Mercy and tried to bring her down, but instead she flipped him over her back. He landed and started sending her a barrage of blows. She dodged and parried, until he sent a powerful kick to her stomach which caused her to stumble away. She came back with her cybernetic arm pushed him violently away, causing him to ram into the far wall.

"I thought you were supposed to be a master of hand-to-hand combat?" she said with a small sneer.

"I am," his lips quirked, "But sometimes it's nice to have friends."

Barbara had jumped from one of the robots and did a handstand on top of Mercy then spun away before Mercy could strike her, but not without leaving something behind.

"Do you really think that would defeat me?" she said her cold veneer never cracking as she walked menacingly toward Barbara, who looked with utter loathing at her.

"No," she said darkly as she reached for her utility belt. In surprise Mercy looked at her back. "But this will." And she pressed a button on her belt activating the charges. Mercy howled in pain as the electropads on her back sent streams of electricity throughout her body. Her back arched, her eyes grew wide. But after a few seconds, Barbara released the button and Mercy collapsed on the floor.

With an inscrutable gaze, Bruce looked up at Barbara who stared at him numbly as she walked over to the unconscious woman and checked her pulse.

Suddenly there was a thunderous rumble that made them both jump, thinking the robots were activating, but they remained motionless and lifeless.

"What the hell was that?" Barbara asked Bruce who got up quickly and said, "Superman."

The weight of the radiation sat on him like gravity and Luthor drawled on.

"Do you like it?" he asked as he pressed another button which opened the suit forward like it would press him in. There was a padded outline of a man's body that looked remarkably like Luthor's.

Clark groaned and panted through the pain that was eating away at him. Luthor smiled malevolently.

"I thought you would. I decided to protect myself from other super-powered people. For a while I was hoping that I wouldn't have to use this on you, but we both know I can't do that any more. If you had joined me, you would've been spared all of this. But no. You're far too good for my kind of help. But I'm a reasonable man."

He smiled easily as he stepped into the suit. It closed around him. Stepping down from the pedestal, his footsteps were amazingly light. The stomps were obviously heavier, but not as one would expect from a metal suit. For a moment Clark thought that Luthor was just going to kill him, but instead he pressed something on the wall causing them to turn white again and Clark could breathe. His muscles still burning he very slowly got up, all the while his brain was screaming at him to fly. Luthor walked casually up to him as he painfully and finally returned to his feet. Clark quickly assessed his body. His strength hadn't fully returned yet, but he refused to relent and braced himself for whatever Luthor was going to send him.

"I'm going to offer you one last chance." Luthor stopped a foot in front of him. "Will you join me in protecting the world? In creating a perfect world?"

As firmly as he could, he said, "No."

He looked thoughtful. "Perhaps you need more persuasion."

There was a beat then his suit glowed in the core of it and shot out an energy blast that sent Superman careening back into the far wall. Coughing, Superman tried to stand, but Lex was already on to of him. The power of the suit allowed Lex to pin him to the ground.

"You need to understand something: no one turns me down. Not even a god."

Clark groaned and he spit up blood. Wiping his mouth, he said, "I'll never be what you want me to be."

With all of his might, Superman pushed himself off of the ground and flew straight threw the ceiling, through the concrete and glass of the building and up into the air. There were cries of surprise from the public below.

Clark spinned around and backhanded Luthor. He landed hard with a puff of dust and crumbling of brick in the alley next to the LexCorp building. Using his heat vision he tried to fry the mechanism, but Luthor dodged the beams from his eyes. Barely Clark grazed his leg. Luthor cried out in anger and jumped up to Clark with propulsion from his jet pack. Both grappling in the air, it was a whirl of flesh and robotic limbs until Luthor barreled him into the ground with a mighty double-footed kick.

"I offered you everything. I offered you a chance to make a real difference. A chance to save this planet from itself and you spat in my face! I offered you power!" He punched him in the face.

"I offered you freedom!" He punched again, harder. Hard enough to make Clark taste blood.

"I offered you friendship!" He punched him a third time this time leaving a gash on his face. "Do you realize what we could have been together?!"

"I don't care!" he went for another strike, but Clark caught his fist and crushed the robotic hand twisted his arm and threw him into the side of the LexCorp plaza. He let the robotic hand fall limply to the ground as he landed away from Luthor.

"I will never ally myself with someone as despicable as you!"

Luthor stumbled out of the crater of the wall.

"If you won't join with me," he growled, "then I'll have to take the protection of this world into my own hands. And I will not let some romantic idealist stand in my way! You're too good to do all that is necessary for the sake of true security! Of true justice!"

With a cry and propelled by his suit Lex jumped with a surge of power and rammed into Superman trying to push him back, but he remained firm. Growling and yelling Clark activated his heat vision and landing a direct hit to the center of the suit.

All the while ignored by the two combatants, people started slowly peeking out of the shadows. It was late. They were murmuring and taking pictures.

His suit was sputtering and he could hardly stand. Superman was in no hurry as he walked menacingly toward the man whose only protection was slowly losing power. Luthor tried to blast him with another energy beam, but all it did was flash and die. He squirmed nervously in Superman's grasp.

"Now Superman. You wouldn't-" he gasped.

Ignoring him, Superman lifted him and posed to strike. This blow would end it. Luthor would no longer threaten the world. All the pain and suffering he had caused would be avenged. All of the travesties he was yet to induce would be prevented. All the sycophantic power mongering of his would end. If only he would do it.

The sun's rays glazed over the horizon and landed on Luthor and Superman, blinding him momentarily. When he opened his eyes, Luthor's face was replaced by Zod's.

"You decided whom you are going to be. Be that person. In your heart, you know what true justice is."

He blinked and Zod was gone replaced by Lex who was staring at him in abject fear. What was he doing? Gently Clark set him down. He wrapped a steel beam from the building's structure around his arm and welded it to the wall. Sirens wailed in the distance. The police would take care of Lex. Probably exhausted and dazed, Lex leaned on the wall looking at Clark. But his stare was utter disbelief.

"You're letting me live. Why?"

Clark could hear the sirens moving closer.

"Because I know what true justice is," he said calmly before he turned his back to him.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Batman and Barbara limping a short distance away as the police cars were within sight. They were both looking at him for an explanation, but he had none and didn't want to speak anyway. Lex was still conscious, but completely immobilized by both the steel beam and what could only be described as confusion.

"No." He heard Lex say.

A lot of things happened all at once.

He heard a gunshot. There was a searing pain that ripped clean through his arm. Losing his footing he fell on his knees and cried out in surprise and pain.

"Kal!" He heard Barbara strangled cry.

There was another gunshot and he prepared his body for the pain. But then it never came. When he opened his eyes Barbara lain on the ground; she was barely breathing and disturbingly still. In horror he stared at her as he could feel the warm stickiness of her blood on his hands.

"Barbara?" he whispered as he caressed her hair. An overwhelming rage filled him and he directed it at Lex Luthor with his heat vision. With a scream he dropped the searing gun and sat there whimpering, cradling his hand.

"Barbara?" he whispered again. She was alive, but barely. He scanned her body and what he saw...Clark choked back a sob.

He could hear Bruce walk over to Luthor. He heard a thump and a groan. When he looked up he barely registered Luthor's unconscious form and instead focused on Bruce.

"I need to -," Clark started despairingly, but Bruce only nodded looking just as aghast and angry.

Picking her up gently, Clark carefully flew away.