Davison slid across the floor in a heap, his broken ribs shooting pain through his body.
On the other side of the reactor core, Metallo was on his knees, trying to pick up the pieces of his broken heart.
Davison ignored the obvious reference.
There was a moan from a few feet away.
Davison turned, and there, on the floor less than a yard away from him, was Superman. He pushed to his knees and crawled towards the Man of Steel, his every motion sending pain through his body.
"Superman." He said in a hushed voice as he neared him. "Superman! Can you hear me?"
"N-need… to… stop him…" Superman muttered barely conscious, his eyes rolling in his head. "Need… to… save Lois…"
Davison glanced back at Metallo for a moment. He was still occupied with the pieces of his broken heart and had seemingly forgotten about his two foes. Davison took a deep breath, and pushed himself to his feet, the pain intense and immediate.
"Come on, big guy…" he said to Superman, kneeling beside him and grapping him under the arms and around the chest. "We need to get you out of here."
And despite the pain, despite not being able to catch his breath, despite the bulk of the suit and the popping sensation in his side with every step, Davison dragged Superman from the reactor chamber.
"Damn…" he said through gritted teeth. "You're really heavy for a guy that can fly."
They were halfway to the cross section when Superman completed a full sentence.
"Where are you taking me?" he asked.
"We need to get you away from Metallo and the reactor." Davison answered.
"No." Superman protested, struggling slightly. "I have to stop Metallo and save the city."
"Well as soon as you get your strength back and we get a fresh containment suit on you, be my guess."
"There's no time." Superman said, wiggling free and rolling to his hands and knees. Davison knelt beside him. "The chamber is already beginning to melt." He pointed it the large dome.
Davison looked at it through his visor, the HUD flashing bright red numbers that flashed in the ballpark of twenty-four hundred degrees.
Davison looked around at the rest of the space. The heat radiating off the dome was intense, the rest of the plant was over one hundred and fifty degrees.
"Just give me a second to catch my breath." Superman said. "I'll grab another suit from the scrub room and head back in."
"Take mine." Davison said flatly.
Superman looked up at him. Davison's eyes were serious and dark. Superman shook his head. "The heat out here is too high. Your blood will boil and you'll die."
Davison reached up and grabbed his helmet, and with a twist, the air inside hissed free. He pulled the protective gear from his head. "Then you better hurry." He said handing it to Superman.
Metallo's brain was hardwired into his body CPU. His emerald hued robotic eyes offered him four different vision options; telescopic, infrared, night vision, and a full spectrum sensor that allowed him to scan any object and determine its physical composition, size, shape, and density. Sensors in his feet and hands also calculated an objects weight, his current environments exterior temperature, and could be tuned to sense local area vibrations and used as a type of pseudo sonar, relaying the location and movements of everything around him that moved.
His ears were more accurately highly sensitive auditory receptors, able to pick up the faintest whisper from up to a half mile away. His vocal processor could also mimic any voice or sound he had stored on his extensive database, as well as emit ultra high frequency sounds and signals, including wireless and broadband signals, allowing him to communicate and control nearly any wireless electronic device within range.
His exoskeleton was crammed with high powered servo motors, hydraulic pistons, and reinforced joints. He could easily heft more than twenty ton's, sprint in excess of eighty miles and hour, leap vertically over fifteen stories, and punch or kick through a six-inch steel plate.
His CPU also allowed him access to virtually every memory, calculated limitless scenarios, and processed information at an amazing 30tb per second.
Simply put, he was possible the most advanced robotic life form ever created.
And as his power slowly drained away, he realized that none of it made on bit of difference.
Metallo was frantically trying to scoop up the small shards of kryptonite littering the floor and slid them back into the casing. And each time he tried, he failed.
His electronic voice boomed through the chamber, a howl of frustration bellowing out from his metal teeth lined mouth.
His CPU told him his power reserves were down to thirty percent and dropping rapidly. In a less than two minutes, his body would shut down, and as a failsafe, a sedative would be pumped into the casing holding his brain, putting him into a mild coma. And there, he would wait, until power was restored to his body, and a second chemical would revive him.
Metallo wasn't about to let that happen.
We looked around the room frantically searching for anything he could utilize to repower his exoskeleton; power cables, electrical lines; anything.
And then he saw the emerald glow emanating from the reactor core.
If he had lips, he would have smiled like a kid in a toy store.
He scrambled over to the core and reached down, his metal fingers wrapping around the handle on the casing. His hand spun at the wrist, completing several rapid rotations, and he pulled the casing free. The kryptonite rod seemed to pulse with life.
Metallo broke the casing with a squeeze, the super heated metal falling to the floor. He held the rod in his hands. His sensors told him that the rod was close to three thousand degrees and its physical density and composition had lost nearly eighty percent of its integrity. It was like a warm mound of fresh clay.
Metallo's fingers danced over it, his palms finding the ends, and pressed it together, the rod compressing under his strength. He molded the rock expertly, reshaping it into a tight perfect sphere the size of a cantaloupe. It fit the housing in his chest perfectly. The nanites in the housing immediately hardwired his new heart in place, and a surge of power shot through Metallo.
He was back at one hundred percent!
"Congratulations." A familiar voice called from the chamber doorway.
Metallo turned and readied himself for battle.
Superman stood there, a fresh protective suit covering him from head to toe, a wide smile across his face. "You just saved Metropolis!"
Metallo looked at him undaunted. "Well… at least I'll still get to kill you!"
And Superman's face turned then into a visage of grim determination. At his sides, his hands balled into tight fist.
"Metallo… your about to be scrap metal!"
They rushed each other!