Chapter XII: I'll Save You

After busting a hole in the Watchtower to get Superman's attention Lobo landed in Metropolis and waited for him. 

"What are you doing here Lobo?" He landed on the ground.

"This was yer city, right?"

"Yes."

"I was gonna go on a destruction spree ta get yer attention, but it looks like someone beat me to it."

"You have my attention, what do you want?"

He lit his gun lighter, "Someone put a price on yer head."

"Who?"

"Some Apokolips bastich. They say ya punched a God to death," he took a puff and smiled, "That's pretty badass."

Superman walked towards him, "So, you're here to collect the bounty?"

"I'm here to see if it's worth th' trouble."

Superman stared him down for a minute before walking away, "I don't have time for this."

"Hey! No one flies away from th' main man!" He grabbed a piece of a building nearby and slammed it into Superman, "No one."

Superman flew out of the rubble and grabbed him, "You want to know if I'm worth the trouble?" He flew into space and grazed Lobo's body against the sun before coming back to Earth and setting him down, "You can heal from anything. You can regenerate from a single drop of blood. You think there'd be a single drop of blood left if I dropped you into the sun? Am I worth the trouble?"

Lobo started walking away, "Not fer what they're offerin'."

Superman put a hand on his chin in thought, "I have a job for you. You're one of the best manhunters in the galaxy."

"No. I'm THE best manhunter in the galaxy."

"I need you to find someone. Her name is Harley Quinn."

In Gotham City, Itachi was at Batman's hideout looking at Martian Manhunter, who lay on a hospital bed in a severely injured state. Batman finished tending to him and said, "Good work Itachi, had you shielded him a moment later he would have been incinerated completely."

"I had never thought Superman would be willing to kill a friend.... how long will he be out of action?"

"He's strong, but he's in a near death state. He'll be out of action for a long time. Also, Itachi. Will you be able to get us data on the Superpill?"

He shook his head, "No, after saving Manhunter my relationship with the Regime is a little strained. It would more than likely be pinned on me if the data was leaked. I'll have to repair my relationship with them before trying something like that."

Batman put a hand on his chin, "That'll take too long. I'm going to have to come up with a plan for me and the rest of the team to retrieve it then. Thank you, Itachi."

Itachi nodded and left. As he was walking down the streets of Gotham City, he heard crashing from above and saw a flying Motorcycle. He peered his eyes, 'What is that? It looks like a humanoid alien, and..... Harley Quinn? I thought she had died already."

Harley fell off of his Motorbike after eating a Superpill and started running away. 'Great, and now she has a super pill, either way I'm ending her.'

He jumped onto a building to get a better vantage point and saw Lobo get punched out of a building before being hit by a truck that blew up. 'Well if he can get punched out of a building by someone with a Superpill and not bleed then I'm sure that he'll survive a truck explosion.'

Harley started running away, but Itachi trailed behind, 'Should I take her to Superman?.... No, letting him be the one that killed Joker was what started this in the first. I'll kill his sidekick."

Itachi dropped right in front of her and used a genjutsu on her that put her to sleep right away, not interested in anything she had to say. And he swiftly pierced her with the Totsuka Blade, ending things as fast as possible. Just like in his Akatsuki days.

Lobo landed nearby, "Bastich! You stole my bounty!"

Itachi turned around and put his hands up in defense, "I'm assuming that Superman called for the bounty, right? Don't worry, I'm part of his team. I'll take responsibility for this."

Lobo walked forward and snarled, "Ya took my bounty and now I have no way of getting paid, you expect me to just"-Itachi pulled out a Superpill. "Does this work as payment?"

Lobo groaned before taking the pill and getting on his Motorbike, "The crazy nut ate my other pill, so yer lucky this time."

Down in one of Batman's hideouts he called a meeting. Black Canary and Green Lantern just walked in and heard Black Lightning arguing with Batman, "I thought we were stopping Hawkgirl from kidnapping a democratically elected official! Had I known we were taking Hawkgirl and IMPRISONING her, I never would have agreed to be a part of it."

The two of them take a seat and Black Canary speaks up, "Black Lightning makes a good point."

"I've released her, I never would have held her indefinitely. I just needed to put someone on the Watchtower who might talk some sense."

Huntress frowned, "Which you should have told us you were doing. We know about Itachi so there shouldn't be a problem."

Captain Atom agreed, "You should have told us about the Martian."

"Martian Manhunter is in the ICU now, Superman almost burned alive, but Itachi just barely saved him. Although I believe Manhunter got through to someone in the Watchtower, and Itachi has informed me that Lex and Superman have finished their superhuman drug, and It's being manufactured at the Fortress Of Solitude."

Green Arrow's brow tensed, "And.... what? We should just break into Superman's impenetrable Fortress? And let me repeat, SUPERMAN'S IMPENETRABLE FORTRESS, and steal this tech? Why can't Itachi get it for us?"

"Itachi's relations with the Regime are strained after saving Manhunter, and besides we need to accept that Superman has changed. Getting our hands on this drug may be Earth's only hope in the future," his phone rang, "This is it."

Black Lightning asked, "This is what?"

"US warships have just turned towards the Korean Peninsula."

Oliver asked, "Wait... what?"

"A distraction they can't miss. Catwoman, Black Canary, Captain Atom. I'll need the three of you with me. The teleporter will take us just south of"-"Don't think for a second that you're leaving me behind, Bruce."

Batman faced him, "This is a surgical strike. I'm not taking anyone I don't need. I have the greatest Thief in the world, a man that can hold off Superman if it comes to it, and a woman who's voice may be able to shatter Kryptonian crystals."

Ollie pointed at him, "And you have her boyfriend, who can put two arrows in your condescending ass before"-Black Canary interrupted, "An entire Armada is buying us a small window so that we can take steps to possibly save the world. I'm going to go do that. You two feel free to keep bickering though."

Although ultimately the plan nearly failed. Superman figured out about the President's coordination with Batman, and survived Captain Atom's dying attack. And he was pissed. He busted through the wall and saw Ollie along with his parents, "Get away from them."

His mom put a hand on his chest, "Clark. My God. What happened to you?"

He maintained strong eye contact looking down at Ollie, "The US government just ordered my death. Do you know anything about that, Ollie?"

His head lowered but he maintained eye contact, "I know very little about anything. I didn't even know we were coming here. Hell, we came to the North Pole and Black Canary wore fishnets. That shows a distinct lack of planning," he looked at the pill and reached out a hand to it, "Super pills... you know, I always figured Batman would be the one to snap."

Superman blasted the glass container with heat vision, "Don't touch them," Ollie drew his bow, "Arrows won't help you."

"Sure they will. They'll make me feel better."

Superman's blood lust settled for a moment as he thought back to what Itachi said about killing friends. And settled down for a moment, but when the arrow Ollie shot bounced off of his chest and landed in his dad's chest. That all went out the window. His eyes glowed red and he slapped Ollie through a wall.

Ollie scurried on the floor and grabbed his bow, aiming another arrow that shot right past Superman's shoulder. Before being beaten to death.

Itachi sat up in the Watchtower and received an encrypted call from Huntress, "Itachi, we're all going into hiding. Oliver has died, and Batman is synthesizing the pill in the Batcave."

Itachi's eyes narrowed, "Then that must mean Superman knows he took the pill. The cave will be the first place he looks."

"Yeah, we know..... do you think, you could"-"No, I'm sorry. But I'm sure even Batman would agree that my work up here is more important than helping him down there right now."

"...Right. Well be careful."

Itachi hung up and put one hand on his head, and the other on his knee, 'To think that Superman of all people would be the one to kill his own friend,' Itachi wasn't the type to be inspired, but  even he could recognize a beacon of hope when he saw one, 'Just a year ago that amulet said he was incorruptible, but then how could any of this happen?..... maybe it might be too late for him?' He shook his head at his own words, 'As if I'm one to talk considering what I've done. You can still come back, Clark, I'll save you.'

He pulled out his phone and pulled up a camera he had in the Batcave as Superman grabbed Batman, "You're right  I'm not here to kill you, Bruce," he ripped off his cowl revealing Batmans open mouth and wide eyes, "But I can't have you in a position where you can hurt me or the world any more."

He held him above himself. "Clark, don't! CLA"- Superman slammed him down on his knee and broke his back as Bruce let out a shriek of pain.

He dropped him on the ground and Superman started walking away, "I'm sorry. You're just too dangerous, Bruce."

Bruce looked at the computer screen and saw that the Analysis was complete. He tried to push himself up, but to no avail. "Don't try to get up. You can't. Two of your lumbar vertebrae are cracked. I'm surprised you're conscious," Superman looked down at him with low eyelids and a frown, "I'm putting you away with the rest of the monsters from Gotham. Accept it."

Bruce was still trying to stand up but Superman placed a foot on his back, "Stay--down," and pushed him back down with it, "Stay down, Bruce. Stop trying to fight me."

Bruce tried to look up, "Wasn't.... trying to fight you.... was trying to distract you."

"What?" he looked back at the computer and saw the screen say ANALYSIS COMPLETE UPLOADED TO REMOTE SERVER. He looked down at Batman with wide eyes and a tensed face, "What did you do?"

Bruce smiled, "I gave us a chance. We can synthesize it now. We can stand up to you."

Superman got on the ground and grabbed his cape, "Where did it upload to? Who has access to it?" Bruce groaned in pain in response with gritted teeth and clenched fist and Superman pushed down on him more, "TELL ME!"

Bruce shut his eyes aggressively, "No matter what you tell yourself in the future. I want you to remember this moment. When you resorted to torture for the 'greater good'."

Superman released his hand and his eyes went wide, "I... I didn't mean to"-"No. Of course not. It's always someone else's fault, isn't it? It makes it so much easier to justify your own atrocities. You're not a hero. You're just another thug!"

Superman stood up and looked at his hand before a hand grabbed his shoulder, "Clark Kent."

He turned around, "Alfred?"

Alfred headbutted him, breaking his nose instantly. Superman stood dazed before falling to the ground. Alfred clenched his fist, "I am so disappointed in you," he kicked Superman across the face, destroying his own shoe. "No more." He started pounding Superman's head into the floor, "Do you hear me? YOU DON'T GET TO HURT MY FAMILY ANY MORE!"

He finished the beating and wiped the blood off of his hands with a handkerchief. He walked over to Bruce. "Alfred."

"Easy, Master Bruce. I've got you. I'm sorry, this is going to hurt," He picked him up.

"Hnnng. What about"-"We have everything we need, sir. There's nothing worth saving here."

The next day at the U.N. Superman stood in front of world leaders with the rest of the Regime by his side, along with Ragen who has recently joined. "Our way of life is threatened. Bruce Wayne, the terrorist also known as Batman, has stolen a powerful weapon. He intends to use it against us. We are standing here, together, today, to tell you that we will not allow Batman to terrorize the planet. We are standing here today to tell you that we will fight for each and every one of you. We will fight for peace. We will fight against the terror that Batman represents. You do not have to fear this great evil. Because we will be ever watching. Ever vigilant. As a reporter, my wife. Lois Lane, spent her time uncovering evil. She believed that no matter how well Injustice, corruption, and evil hid, it could always be rooted out. It could always be exposed," soldiers wearing the insignia of the Regime walked out on stage, "We are gathering our forces. We will expose Batman and all who seek to aid him. The last thing Lois ever said to me was "Save the world." I intend to. Whatever it takes."

End: Year One