Chapter 11
Earth-21
Bart and Wally-192 sped across the state of Kansas as Superman of Earth-78 pursued them with the ferocity of a bloodthirsty lion hell-bent on catching its preys. As Superman increased his speed, determined to get his hands on the two speedsters, the Flashes did the same. While Bart had no problems avoiding the mind-controlled Man of Steel, Wally-192 was almost caught a few times and had to resort to skillful maneuvers to avoid Superman's clutches, heat vision beams, and freeze breath attacks. The three of them soon circled back around as the chased continued on. When they entered the city limits of Smallville, Superman suddenly stopped flying as he came to his senses. Bart and Wally-192 glanced back, noticing what was going on, and the two slid to a halt in the middle of the cornfield.
"Supes?" Wally-192 called out, eyeing the Man of Steel warily.
Superman looked at the Flashes with remorse. "Oh, I'm so sorry, both of you. I should've been more careful around Luthor."
"We're just glad you suddenly snap out of it," Bart said with relief. "Are you all right?"
Superman nodded. "Yeah, I think so."
"In that case, let's get back to Metropolis," Wally-192 said.
"We already know who's gonna be the first one to make it back there," Bart smirked, before he, Wally-192, and Superman took off in a trio of blurs.
Grabbing Lex around the waist in a similar fashion to how he'd done the same to Doomsday over a decade ago, Clark shot high into the air above the clouds at tremendous speed and descended at the same velocity before slamming his former best friend into a hard, barren ground in the middle of nowhere. The impact was so incredible that, in addition to the massive crater that was formed, Lex's armor instantly shattered into many pieces that went flying everywhere.
Hovering twenty feet in the air, Clark stared down at Lex, who was heavily dazed by the attack before he staggered to his feet a few seconds later. Other than a bloody nose and busted lip, Lex seemed to be otherwise unharmed.
"You wanted me to try harder? Well, I just took your advice," Clark stated.
"Gotta say, Clark, I wasn't expecting that," Lex, genuinely impressed and disappointed at the same time. "My armor was made out of a combination of nano-tech and Nth metal, which you managed to shatter into pieces like glass."
"Did you forget that I'm the same guy who pushed a planet much bigger than Earth out of the solar system without much effort?" Clark reminded the other man.
"No one could forget that, Clark, not even me," Lex pointed out. "But I never thought you of all people would have what it takes to go far beyond your usual self-imposed limits against someone like me."
"That's exactly one of your many problems," Clark said. "You made the mistake of telling me that you gave yourself super-strength and invulnerability. That means I don't have to hold back like I was doing before and could fight you with a lot more of my power. For now, however..." He unleashed his freeze breath, encasing Lex within a solid block of ice. "That should hold you just enough to keep you from immediately following me."
Clark took off across the sky in a red and blue blur, arriving back in the middle of Metropolis within two seconds. With a horrified gasp, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of three terrifying beings whose mere presence made his blood run cold.
A gray-skinned behemoth who was unmistakably a version of Doomsday, a giant dark red robot whose head was a flaming skull, and the powerfully built being with rock-like skin clad in a navy blue uniform with a matching helmet who was none other than...
"Darkseid?" Clark uttered, doing his best to brush aside the feeling of intense dread that washed over him.
However, his horror only increased as he then set eyes on the army of half-Parademon, half-Doomsday creatures hovering behind Doomsday, Darkseid, and the giant robot.
Clark suddenly felt some gusts of wind behind him as his Earth-78 counterpart appeared next to him, while Bart and Wally-192 slid to a halt next to the two Supermen.
"Please tell me that isn't Doomsday, Darkseid, and... the giant robot that attacked Chong-Mai a few years ago in our world," Wally-192 said in utter horror on recognizing all three beings.
"Damn, this really, really, really bad, amigos," Bart remarked, also thoroughly horrified.
"Yeah, and on top of these guys, we still have the Anti-Monitor to worry about," Wally-192 pointed out.
"Looks like the three of us got back here in the nick of time," Superman noted.
"No kidding," Bart agreed.
"We need to stop these beings at all costs," Clark declared with a pair of clenched fists.
I am entropy! I am death! I am darkness! I am... Darkseid! The ruler of Apokolips declared in a deep, powerful, and utterly menacing voice. Doomsday, Brimstone, and Paradooms, exterminate them all!
With a ferocious roar, Doomsday charged at the assembled heroes like a giant attack dog, while the army of Paradooms flew forward with a series of snarls and Darkseid levitated into the air. The giant dark red robot, known as Brimstone, raised one of its massive arms and unleashed a powerful blast of nuclear fire.
John Stewart and Aya wasted no time using their rings to form a green barrier that blocked the fire beam, while Kilowog flew up, formed a massive fist with spike knuckles, and smashed it into Brimstone's torso. The fist construct shattered on impact, doing nothing more than slightly staggering the giant nuclear-powered robot back.
While many of the heroes took on the Paradooms, John Jones and Clark-93 headed straight for Doomsday as the two of them smashed their fists into the behemoth's chest, knocking him roughly thirty feet back.
"This monster is quite a tough one," Clark-93 noted, wincing at the bit of pain he felt in his hand.
"That's an understatement," John Jones pointed out. "Some of us encountered more than one version of this particular beast in the past. A word of advice: do not hold back."
"I'll do my best," Clark-93 nodded as Doomsday charged at them with a mighty roar.
Zod flew up to where Darkseid was hovering and said, "Darkseid. I was wondering if I'd ever see you again."
The Kryptonian general gasped as Darkseid grabbed him by the throat with one hand. You failed to get rid of the son of Jor-El when I granted you lordship over the Phantom Zone! You are as worthless to me as any mere mortal!
He threw Zod on the ground hard, forming a crater on impact. Darkseid then turned and saw that he was approached by not one, but two Supermen, who both hovered before him.
"Are you the same Darkseid that I defeated on this planet eight years ago?" Clark demanded.
Fortunately for you, Superman of this universe, I had not been in my true form and, thus, not at my full power when you 'flew' into me and destroyed my human vessel. Darkseid stated.
"That answers my first question," Clark nodded. "Second question. Why are you here? Are you working with the Anti-Monitor or…"
The so-called 'Anti-Monitor' shall not be allowed to succeed! Darkseid declared. Only the mighty Darkseid shall be the ruler over all, for I am the one true God of Evil!
"No, Darkseid!" Zod snarled as he hovered next to Clark and Superman. "You will perish, along with the rest of the Multiverse, because the Anti-Monitor is more powerful than even you could imagine!"
"Zod," Clark snarled.
"Kal-El," Zod snarled back at his greatest enemy before turning to Earth-78 Superman, who glared at the rogue Kryptonian general. "And Kal-El."
"From what I heard, you're no any better than the Zod I knew," Superman said, angrily.
"And, clearly, you're no less weak and pathetic than this Earth's Kal-El," Zod shot back.
I arrived on this wretched planet because it will be the last in the Multiverse targeted by that damnable anti-matter wave! Darkseid stated. Once the 'Anti-Monitor' appears, I will be the one to annihilate him!
"If you don't want the Anti-Monitor to succeed, then help us instead of attacking us," Clark urged, almost pleadingly. "We can stop the Anti-Monitor together!"
Darkseid does not align himself with the weak. For my plans to succeed, all of you must be destroyed!
Darkseid unleashed his Omega-beams from his eyes, blasting Clark dead on. Clark screamed in pain before he fell to the ground, while Superman smashed two punches into Darkseid's face and once in the chest, staggering the ruler of Apokolips a few feet back. Superman threw another punch, but Darkseid caught his fist and clenched it, making Superman let out a grunt of pain. Zod moved to attack as well, but was suddenly blasted down by Darkseid's Omega-beams, which, unlike Kryptonian heat vision, could travel in any direction. With his free hand, Darkseid knocked Superman hundreds of feet into the air with a powerful uppercut, while a recovered Clark sent Darkseid sailing twenty feet backwards by ramming into the larger being very hard.
Linda Lee (Earth-78 Kara) flew at Brimstone, punching the giant fiery robot in the chest multiple times, while Kilowog smashed a massive sledgehammer construct into its face and C'hp blasted Brimstone in the back with energy beams before flying many feet back, conjuring a house-sized walnut, and smashing it into the robot, which was staggered forward on impact.
Linda delivered a punch to Brimstone's arm and dodged as it tried to swat her away in retaliation. She then flew up to the robot's flaming skull, unleashing her freeze breath on it. As the ice almost immediately melted against the skull, Linda blew harder and harder until Brimstone's entire head was covered in ice. However, the ice melted after a few seconds as the flames reappeared and Brimstone emitted an intense blast of nuclear fire from its face. The fire hit her dead on, Linda wincing as she actually felt some of the heat and was momentarily dazed by the blast. As she fell towards the ground, Linda caught herself and flew back up, maneuvering behind Brimstone as she punched its back multiple times, each blow putting a dent in the robot's body.
Meanwhile, the Paradooms proved to be incredibly, but unsurprisingly, strong – albeit not anywhere near Doomsday's strength level – as the heroes who took them on found that the horrendous creatures were extremely difficult opponents who wouldn't stay down. In fact, those without superpowers realized they were completely useless in the fight, which wasn't helped by the fact that neither Ollie nor Mia had any arrows left, while Bruce, Barbara, and Dick were low on gadgets, so they, as well as Dinah, whose sonic scream did nothing more than momentarily stun the creatures, went to protect the civilians in the area instead.
As the battle against the half-Parademon, half-Doomsday creatures went on, things quickly took a turn for the worse as quite a few heroes ended up brutally killed. Jayna was the first to fall, getting gruesomely impaled with bony protrusions and torn apart by three Paradooms who ganged up on her.
"JAY! NO!" Zan shouted in utter horror and grief, only to scream in agony as a Paradoom blasted him with flames spewed from its mouth as he quickly died too.
"NO!" Jaimie Reyes aka Blue Beetle shouted upon noticing what had happened to Wonder Twins, before he was tackled to the ground by two Paradooms who then pummeled him. "No! No! Get off me!" the horrified young hero cried out in panic as the Paradooms tore through his armor like it was tinfoil. "HELP! HELP!"
"Jaimie!" Booster Gold reacted in alarm to his young friend's predicament.
Nearby, Tess also noticed what was going on and summoned a powerful cyclone that blasted away the Paradooms who were upon Jaime, but it was too late as Jaime had already died from getting impaled through the chest.
"He's dead," Tess told Booster Gold in an apologetic tone.
"No," the latter said with a grief-filled sigh before he was grabbed from behind by two Paradooms.
Tess prepared to save Booster Gold, but she was knocked to the ground by two Paradooms before three more appeared, ganging up on her before Tess blasted them away with a massive tornado. She flew over to Booster Gold, finding him dead with his left arm ripped off and head crushed into a bloody, splattered mess while two Paradooms were devouring his remains.
"No!" Wally-192 cried out as he and Bart appeared next to the horrified Tess.
"Man, these Doomsday things killed some of our teammates and there's like over a hundred of 'em!" Bart exclaimed.
"This is turning out to be a one bad day for us," Wally-192 sighed, right before he and Bart were forced to run out of the way as a group of Paradooms, two of them spewing fire at the speedsters, attempted to surround them, while Tess, knowing there was nothing that could be done about their fallen teammates, generated a massive, very powerful tornado that enveloped a good number of the bloodthirsty creatures.
"Hera, help us!" Diana cried out after seeing what had happened to some of the other heroes. Even for the Earth-21 Wonder Woman, the Paradooms weren't very easy to take down. Despite inflicting multiple gashes on their bodies with her sword, the creatures shrugged off the wounds and kept up their attacks, though she did manage to kill a few Paradooms by impaling one through the chest, cutting another's arms and head off, and bashing one to death with her shield, all of which required Diana to exert herself much more than usual due to the Paradooms' extremely durable skin.
Cyborg Superman flew around, punching and blitzing into the Paradooms at full strength and speed as quite a few of the creatures actually died from getting hit hard enough, while some were merely knocked out. He also blasted some Paradooms with his blue energy beams fired from his hands, managing to kill two more as he increased the intensity of the attacks. As three Paradooms jumped on him, Cyborg Superman descended to the ground, landing very hard as the resulting shockwave threw the creatures off of him.
Zatanna struck a group of Paradooms with violet bolts of magic, while John Stewart, Aya, and Saint Walker blasted them with beams from their rings.
"Is this what the Parallax war was like?" Aya asked Stewart.
"No, Aya, this is much worse," the Earth-based Green Lantern answered as he slashed and impaled some Paradooms with a large sword construct with one hand, while shooting more Paradooms with a machine gun construct in his other hand.
"Orin!" Mera cried out as her husband, A.C., was on the ground, struggling against five Paradooms who were upon him and crying out in pain as they bit into his chest and abdomen.
Mera was about to save A.C. when Bart appeared in a blur, knocking the Paradooms off the King of Atlantis with a powerful vortex of wind. A.C. nodded gratefully to Bart as the latter helped him back up.
"That was a close one," A.C. remarked, rubbing the bleeding wounds on his chest.
"They were about to turn you into an actual fish stick," Bart joked.
A.C. rolled his eyes. "Really, dude?"
Bart smirked. "Hey, I'm just trying to lighten the mood in this extremely terrible situation, okay?"
"Now is not the time for your immature fish jokes, Allen," Mera scolded the speedster.
"You tell 'em, Mera," A.C. grinned at his wife before they resumed fighting, while Bart sped off.
Lois Lane whacked two Paradooms with a metal pole and flip-kicked another one before a Paradoom knockes the weapon out of her hand. The Paradoom then tried to stab her in the shoulder with its arm spike, but Lois ducked instinctively and elbowed the Paradoom a few feet away, only for two more to knock her to the ground as they struck her from behind. Before Lois could fully recover, she was ganged up on by a six Paradooms who were about to devour when, to Lois' relief, several beams of heat vision knocked them off of her. Lois got back up and turned to her rescuer, who was her Earth-64 doppelganger.
"I would've fought them off, you know, but thanks anyway," Lois said.
Lois-64 smirked. "Nothing you wouldn't have done for me."
"Right," Lois nodded in agreement.
Three Paradooms were upon the unsuited Savitar, who was screaming in agony as they tore off his limbs and devoured him alive until there was hardly anything left of him. Due to most of the bones in his body broken from the mind-controlled Earth-78 Superman's powerful blow that shattered his armor, the Barry Allen time remnant had been unable to escape or fight back against the Paradooms, ensuring his very painful death.
As a group of Paradooms seized Zatanna, about to literally tear her apart, Saint Walker noticed this and blasted the creatures away from the magician. However, Saint Walker himself was attacked by another group of Paradooms, who threw him to the ground and brutally pummeled him.
"Walker!" John Stewart exclaimed in alarm, wanting to help his fellow Lantern but was forced to defend himself against other Paradooms that approached him.
Saint Walker tried to fight off the Paradooms, but it was no use as the creatures continued their savage beating on him until the life left the Blue Lantern's thoroughly wounded and broken body.
"No!" Aya cried out on seeing what had happened to Saint Walker. "You leave him the hell alone!" In a bout of anger, the female Green Lantern sent a barrage of missile constructs smashing into the group of Paradooms who had just killed Walker. Due to the intensity of Aya's attack, the creatures were killed on impact.
Stewart approached the grief-stricken Aya and the two embraced each other for comfort over the loss of their friend.
"Search for new candidate initiated," the voice of Saint Walker's Blue Lantern ring announced as it slid off his finger and flew away in search of a potential new bearer.
Barbara and Dick were watching the fight between the super-powered heroes and the Paradooms from where they were standing, horrified by what had happened to some of their fellow fighters.
"This makes me miss the usual street thugs in Gotham," Dick complained.
"Yeah, it's too bad those of us who can't shoot lasers out of our eyes or crack concrete with our pinky stand no chance against these uglies," Barbara said, glumly. "Not to mention what just happened to some of our teammates."
"Do you honestly think we're gonna make it through this, Barb?" Dick asked.
"Part of living this life is believing that, no matter how tough things get, we can always overcome whatever it is we're up against," Barbara pointed out before letting out a sigh. "Even though this is something not even Superman or the Justice League has faced before." She then smiled faintly. "But, hey, there's always that little thing called 'hope' that encourages us to..."
That was when a small bright blue object suddenly collided with Barbara's abdomen, knocking her away as she was enveloped in a bright blue light, while Dick raised a hand to shield his eyes.
"Barbara Gordon of Earth, you have the ability to instill great hope..." the voice from the Blue Lantern ring announced.
"Duh!" Barbara agreed with a grin, hovering several feet off the ground as the bright light faded from around her. Gone was her violet and black Nightwing suit. Instead, she was wearing a bright blue and black Lantern uniform, while her red hair was now a glowing light blue!
"Whoa!" Dick gasped as he stared at his girlfriend in awe.
Earth-50
To protect themselves and the rest of the heroes from the oncoming attack, Hal Jordan formed a massive wall construct from his ring and Dr. Fate conjured an enormous force field as Amazo unleashed a devastating blast of yellow energy from one hand. Both the green wall and force field shattered almost immediately as Hal, Fate, and everyone else were thrown away like ragdolls from the android's blast. Hal, Courtney, Ravager, Cleo Cazo, Harley Quinn of Earth-50, Harleen Quinzel of Earth-222, Black Canary of Earth-222, and Maxine Hunkel aka Cyclone were all knocked unconscious, while Green Arrow of Earth-222 crashed head-first on a chunk of broken concrete, dying on the spot as the impact broke his neck.
In a trio of blurs, Kal, Kent, and Conner flew at Amazo from three different directions. Amazo smacked Kal away with a backhand so powerful that the Earth-50 Superman was sent hurtling into outer space, where he was severely dazed while floating above the Earth.
Amazo grabbed Kent by the throat with his other hand and snapped the Earth-38 Superman's neck before tossing the body aside.
"NO!" Conner cried out, horrified that a version of his brother had just died.
Amazo was about to attack Conner, but suddenly felt someone trying to intrude into his mind. Amazo turned around and saw J'onzz in front of him, the Martian using his telepathic abilities on the android.
J'onzz screamed and clutched his head in great pain as Amazo retaliated with his own telepathic powers.
"My telepathy is far greater than the limits of your Martian mind," Amazo stated before blasting J'onzz with an intense blast of cosmic energy as the Earth-50 Martian Manhunter screamed in pure agony until his body disintegrated into nothingness.
"Hey, ugly, or whatever your name is supposed to be, why don't you suck on this!" Shazam exclaimed, before blasting the Omega-Monitor with lightning.
The Omega-Monitor was staggered back and threw out a punch in retaliation. Shazam caught Omega-Monitor's massive fist with both hands, only to abruptly get hurled through several buildings as the Omega-Monitor flung his arm out.
Freddy Freeman delivered two punches to the Omega-Monitor's glass helmet, finding that his blows didn't even put so much as a small crack in it. He then punched the Omega-Monitor's right shoulder, wincing from the pain he felt in his knuckles.
"So you're a really tough one, got it," Freddy remarked, right before the Omega-Monitor grabbed him and slammed him on the ground hard.
"Hadouken!" Eugene Choi exclaimed as he fired a blast of lightning at the Omega-Monitor.
Pedro Pena smashed several punches into the Omega-Monitor's back, wincing from the painful impact of the blows, while Hawkman struck the giant enemy's left arm with his mace, Prince (Earth-50 Wonder Woman) slashed the Omega-Monitor's right leg with her sword, which failed to cut through his armored body, Darla Dudley threw out a series of speed-kicks to the Omega-Monitor's left leg, and Mary Bromfield smashed two punches and a kick into his abdomen, letting out a cry from the pain she felt in her hands. The Omega-Monitor flung Hawkman and Pedro away and sent Mary flying off with a powerful punch. He then punched the ground as Darla and Prince were thrown away by the resulting shockwave.
Dr. Fate conjured magical chains that firmly wrapped themselves around Amazo's entire body. Amazo unleashed a powerful burst of energy that shattered the chains as Dr. Fate was thrown backwards. Dr. Fate steadied himself, summoning an ankh in an attempt to teleport Amazo away, but the android resisted the ankh and fired another powerful blast at Dr. Fate, who conjured a force field to block the attack and grunted under the effort of maintaining it. Knowing his force field wouldn't hold much longer, Dr. Fate teleported behind Amazo and enased the android within a solid, ice-like cystalline block. As Amazo shattered the cystalline block with another powerful blast, Dr. Fate conjured hundreds of clones of himself and all of them restrained Amazo with magical ropes.
"I am Dr. Fate," the magician telepathically announced to the android. "Sorcerer, agent of the Lords of Order, defender against darkness and chaos."
"I know exactly who you are," Amazo stated as he sent out an omnidirectional burst of energy that destroyed Dr. Fate's clones while the real magician was thrown back.. "Your magic is inconsequential compared to my level of power."
"I know," Dr. Fate admitted telepathically. "But, while I cannot defeat you, I can buy the others valuable time."
Amazo raised a hand, telekinetically pulling Dr. Fate towards him and grabbing the magician around the throat. With his other hand, Amazo grabbed Dr. Fate's helmet and removed it from his head, revealing the face of a man with light gray hair and a matching goatee who appeared to be in his late sixties but still looked quite handsome.
Looking directly into Amazo's unnatural glowing white eyes with zero fear for what he knew was coming, Kent Nelson stated, "Only you have the power to lift the Anti-Monitor's control over your mind. It is also you who will ultimately defeat him and restore the universes that were lost. That is your purpose, Amazo."
"No, Fate, my purpose is to serve the Anti-Monitor," Amazo insisted coldly.
"When the moment comes, you'll know the truth," Dr. Fate promised, before he was consumed by a blast of Amazo's power.
"NOOOOOOOO!" Hawkman yelled in horror and anger as he saw what was happening to his longtime friend.
"Fate!" Prince cried out as she, too, was Fate's friend.
But there was nothing either of them could do as the magician was reduced to nothingness.
In a fit of rage, Hawkman flew at Amazo, whose eyes, at that moment, suddenly returned to their normal red. Hawkman smashed his mace into Amazo's head twice and followed up with multiple strikes to the android's torso. But, instead of fighting back, Amazo abruptly deactivated himself as the red lights in his eyes flickered and went out. He then fell to the ground, forming a crater upon landing.
"That was easy," Hawkman noted as he descended to the ground near the deactivated android while Prince appeared by his side.
"I'm sorry, Carter," Prince apologized in sympathy. "You were a lot closer to him than I was."
Noticing Dr. Fate's helmet sitting on the ground several feet away, Hawkman went to pick it up and stared at it sadly. "See you around, old friend."
Elsewhere, Wally and Jesse had finally taken down Godspeed, who was lying on the ground unconscious. As Barry-Blue and Reverse-Flash suddenly appeared, Wally told Jesse, "You watch over Godspeed. I'll help the other Flash."
As Reverse-Flash grabbed him by the neck and slammed him on the ground, Barry-Blue demanded, "Why are you doing this, Thawne? I know you hate me and everything, but why work with someone who wants to destroy the Multiverse?"
"Because, Flash, once the Multiverse is recreated, I will be Central City's beloved hero while you're going to be the villain despised by every person in the world," Reverse-Flash sneered.
Barry-Blue scoffed in amusement. "Seriously? That's your evil plan? For a guy that's supposed to be, like, my greatest enemy ever, that's pretty lame."
Reverse-Flash slammed Barry-Blue head against the pavement. "You won't be laughing, Flash, when I..."
The evil speedster was suddenly knocked away as Wally rammed into him. Barry-Blue got back up, thankful that another Flash had shown up to help him fight Reverse-Flash, who recovered and sped in front of the other two speedsters.
"Well, this oughta be quite interesting," Reverse-Flash smirked. "Fighting two speedsters."
"It's not gonna be so fun for you since we're about to kick your ass," Wally retorted.
"Such big talk," Reverse-Flash chuckled. "How much of that bravado are you man enough to back up?"
"Let me show you," Wally stated, right before he and Barry-Blue were both knocked away by a flying blur.
Reverse-Flash looked up to see Zod-50, with Zod-38 right behind him, hovering in the air. "With the Quantum Tower reduced to rubble, our task here is done," the former Kryptonian general announced.
"It's time to retreat and wait for the Anti-Monitor and the others before we begin the next phase in our goals," Zod-38 added.
Zod-50 pulled out a device identical to the one Earth-1 Thawne had and used it to open a grayish-black portal.
As Jesse was distracted by what was happening, Godspeed suddenly jumped to his feet and blasted her away with lightning. He then sped over to where the Zods and Reverse-Flash were and the four villains sped into the portal, which closed afterwards.
Barry-Blue, Wally, and Jesse, the former two clutching their torsos in pain, got back to their feet.
"I can't believe we didn't see that coming," Wally groaned.
"Tell me about it," Barry-Blue hissed. "Getting hit by a Kryptonian always sucks."
"They're gone," Jesse said about the villains.
"I'm sure we'll see them again," Wally hissed with another groan.
"Maybe you two should relax for a few minutes," Jesse suggested.
"We'll be fine, Jesse," Wally told her.
"Let's see how the others are doing," Barry-Blue said.
Earth-192
Wonder Woman and Diana-76 were still keeping their restrained Regime counterpart at bay when Regime Superman appeared in a blur, punching the two heroic Wonder Woman away. Regime Superman turned to his Wonder Woman, who was relieved to be free from the lassos.
Wonder Woman groaned as she got back to her feet, rubbing her chin in pain. She went over to her Earth-76 counterpart, who was clutching her chest in pain.
"That blow was unlike anything I've felt before," Diana-76 said.
"That's because your world doesn't have a Superman or any other Kryptonians," Wonder Woman pointed out. "The one that just attacked us doesn't hold back the Supermen on our side."
Meanwhile, the Anti-Monitor was attacked by many heroes simultaneously as Kal-El, Supes, Supergirl-222, Supergirl-192, and Galatea unleashed their heat vision, Captain Marvel sent out a powerful blast of lightning, Green Lantern (Earth-192 John Stewart) and Earth-222 Hal Jordan fired enormous energy lasts from their rings, Dr. Fate and Zatanna fired magical blasts, Red Tornado summoned a massive cyclone that descended upon the Anti-Monitor, Etrigan the Demon sent out a powerful blast of flames from his hands, and Orion fired red energy blasts from his astro-harness. Captain Atom, Booster Gold, Stargirl, S.T.R.I.P.E., Dr. Light, The Ray, Fire, and Ice also attacked the giant blue and silver mechanical being with their respective powers or weaponry.
Unaffected by the various attacks, the Anti-Monitor retaliated with a very powerful shockwave blast that not only sent all the heroes flying like ragdolls but demolished most of the buildings in the vicinity.
Kal-El was the first to recover as he flew up to the Anti-Monitor at full speed. The Anti-Monitor smacked Kal-El away with such strength that the Earth-96 Superman was sent hurtling all the way into outer space, where he floated above the Earth and barely managed to stay conscious from the immensely powerful blow.
"KAL!" Galatea exclaimed in concern for her 'cousin'.
"Dad!" Jason White cried out at the same time. To say that the son of Earth-96 Superman was thoroughly bewildered and panic-stricken by the whole situation didn't even begin to explain his current state of mind. After all, aside from having passively stopped a few muggings here and there, he had absolutely no experience battling supervillains, let alone a giant cosmic being who had just swatted his father of all people away like a fly without any apparent effort.
With a growl, Galatea furiously flew at the Anti-Monitor, smashing a series of punches into his massive torso as she ignored the aching pain in her bruised knuckles from the blows' impacts. Anti-Monitor grabbed Galatea by her cape, flinging her through multiple buildings.
Martian Manhunter phased his hand into the Anti-Monitor's head, only to scream in great pain as the attack backfired and the green-skinned hero fell to the ground.
Supes slammed his double fists into the Anti-Monitor's chest before flying up to smash several blows into the giant enemy's face before unleashing a powerful burst of heat vision. The Anti-Monitor raised a hand, unleashing a powerful anti-matter beam that hit Supes dead on.
"AAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Superman of Earth-192 screamed in pure agony as the deadly white blast ripped clean through his entire body.
"Clark!" Supergirl-192 yelled in utter horror.
"Superman!" Captain Marvel cried out, also in horror.
The Anti-Monitor intensified his anti-matter beam to a much greater degree and the Supes was reduced to nothingness a few seconds later as many of the assembled heroes gasped in utter horror and disbelief while others were downright speechless. With Supes gone, the heroes, especially those from this universe, felt their hopes vanish.
"No!" Supergirl-192 and Captain Marvel cried out in unison. They couldn't believe it! Did the former's cousin and the latter's role model just... die? But it couldn't have been that easy! Not after all the many other world-ending threats the Man of Steel had faced over the years!
"He's gone," Supergirl-222 noted with sadness in her own voice. While she hadn't known the Earth-192 Superman for very long, he was clearly everything she strongly wished her own version of Kal was. Now, he was gone, and the fact that there were still other 'good' Supermen around didn't make it any less painful.
Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Shayera Hol, and Martian Manhunter were terribly reminded of the time when the blast from Toyman's giant robot had consumed their Kryptonian friend and teammate. At that time, Supes hadn't been killed, but was sent to the very distant future. However, this time felt very different. As much as the Earth-192 Justice Leaguers didn't want to admit it or even consider it, they just knew their version of Superman was really gone and he wasn't coming back.
Unseen by any of the heroes, Lex-192, Regime Superman, Regime Wonder Woman, and Vandal Savage (who was now out of his robot armor) stood together on a rooftop.
"Disappointing," Regime Superman said about his Earth-192 counterpart. "I actually thought he'd put up a much better fight."
"It's a pity he allowed himself to be killed so easily, especially after all he's been through," Lex said with disappointment in his voice. "If anyone was gonna eliminate him, it was always supposed to be me."
"There are still other Supermen left to kill," Savage pointed out.
"True, but very few things would've been more satisfying than snuffing out the one who's specifically been a constant thorn in my side for years," Lex pointed out.
"You've fought your Superman twice during this mission, Luthor," Regime Wonder Woman pointed out. "If you really wanted to kill him, why haven't you already succeeded?"
"Why haven't you succeeded in killing any of your counterparts yet?" Lex countered, firmly.
"How dare you speak to me in that tone?" Regime Wonder Woman snarled, stalking towards Lex with a fierce glare, only for Regime Superman to put a hand in front of her, stopping the Amazon.
"Attacking him won't do any good, Diana," Regime Superman stated.
"For once, I agree with a Superman," Lex said, smirking at having clearly hit a nerve in Regime Wonder Woman.
As for Regime Superman, one would be making a mistake in assuming that Lex liked him any more than he did the other Men of Steel. Hero or villain, a Kryptonian was a Kryptonian, and, as soon as the aliens' outlived their usefulness, Lex-192 and his counterparts were going to eliminate Regime Superman, Clark Luthor, and the three General Zods. Regime Wonder Woman was on the list as well, since she was definitely a loose cannon would be too dangerous to be left alive.
In matching fits of rage, Supergirl-192, Supergirl-222, and Captain Marvel flew at the Anti-Monitor, who punched Supergirl-192 to the ground with his large fist as the Girl of Steel nearly fell unconscious from the blow. Captain Marvel blasted the Anti-Monitor in the face with lightning, while Supergirl-222 flew behind the Anti-Monitor, smashing several punches into his back. The Anti-Monitor grabbed Captain Marvel and flung him dozens of miles away.
Hal-222 fired a barrage of large missiles constructs upon the Anti-Monitor, while Green Lantern formed a series of constructs that wrapped themselves around the Anti-Monitor's body and arms in an effort to restrain him. The Anti-Monitor shattered the constructs as the two Lanterns were thrown backwards and he sent out another powerful blast of anti-matter, which struck Hal-222 as he got disintegrated within seconds.
"Hal!" Green Lantern called out, saddened that a fellow hero of the same type had just gotten wiped out before his eyes.
An enraged and grief-stricken Wonder Woman flew towards the Anti-Monitor at full speed, as did the recovered Martian Manhunter. The Anti-Monitor conjured a force field around himself right before Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter were thrown back upon colliding with it. Supergirl-222 punched the force field with all her might, but she was thrown back as well.
As Supergirl-192 furiously blasted the Anti-Monitor with the full intensity of her heat vision, not caring that the giant bastard who had wiped out her cousin was unfazed by it, the Anti-Monitor fired an anti-matter blast at her.
"Kara!" Galatea gasped in concern.
Without hesitation, she threw herself at Supergirl-192, pushing the latter out of the way just as the anti-matter blast struck her instead. Galatea wailed in agony as the Anti-Monitor once again intensified his beam, disintegrating her into nothingness.
"No!" Jason exclaimed in horror. During the time that Galatea, or 'Karen Starr', had lived with him and his father in their world, she had become like an older sister to the teenager. For that reason, watching her sudden death greatly saddened Jason.
"Tea," Supergirl-192 uttered in a grief-stricken tone. Not only was her cousin gone, but, now, her clone, whom she was beginning to genuinely feel a bond with despite their past enmity, had just met the same fate. The very person who was once hell-bent on killing the Earth-192 Girl of Steel had just taken a fatal attack meant for her. Galatea had truly redeemed herself and, in the end, died a hero.
"It was supposed to be me," Supergirl-192 said with a sob, wiping away the tears that rolled down her cheeks. She had no time to grieve right now. She had to keep fighting, especially now that they were all down two Supers and a Green Lantern.
In outer space, Kal-El, aka Earth-96 Superman, flew to the sun as fast as he could. Once he reached the giant yellow-orange star, Kal-El submerged himself inside it and his body absorbed enormous amounts of solar energy.
The process went on for a few minutes before Kal-El, feeling vastly more powerful than he ever had, flew out of the sun. His skin was glowing with solar energy, while his eyes were a bright, burning yellow.
Clenching his fists with sheer confidence and determination, Kal-El flew back to Earth at astronomical speed in a streak of reddish-golden light. Even if he wouldn't be able to outright defeat the Anti-Monitor, being twice as powerful as he normally was would at least help him put up a much better fight than before.
The Darkseid in this story is, indeed, the same one from Smallville, only this time he's in his full form. However, unlike in the Season 11 comics, this Darkseid isn't the only one across the Multiverse, meaning the DCAU Darkseid is a separate version of the character. Anyway, for now, he's fighting both Smallville and Reeve Supermen, as well as Smallville Zod (who hasn't changed sides, he just has a mutual distaste for the Apokolips ruler), which I'm hoping will make up for his underwhelming use in the actual show.
The giant robot Brimstone is based on the version from the Justice League Unlimited episode "Initiation". Also, while the DCAMU film Justice League Dark: Apokolips War isn't exactly one of my favorite animations, I decided to incorporate the Paradooms in this story. While the Paradooms are very strong here, they are still killable by a powerful enough attack and lack Doomsday's adapting ability.
Just like in the comic issue Continuity, Smallville's Barbara Gordon/Nightwing becomes a Blue Lantern, which I thought was a nice development for her.
Unfortunately, we have more deaths in this chapter, with Earth-192 Superman being especially painful to kill off, since he's my favorite animated Superman and third favorite overall after the Smallville and Reeve versions. The death of Galatea means that, technically, at least one version of Supergirl has fallen (as per Crisis On Infinite Earths adaptation) and this one died protecting the very person she used to hate and wanted to kill just for existing.
And, finally, we have sun-dipped Kal-El aka Earth-96 Superman, who is on his way back to Earth to once more confront the Anti-Monitor!