Earth 33

"Dear reader, did you know there's a special alternate world called Earth-Prime? Don't confuse it with Prime Earth though, where the Chosen One lives. Those are two different Earths. Oh, wait, do you want numbers? Yeah, that's probably easier isn't it? Prime Earth is also Earth 0. Earth-Prime, on the other hand, is Earth 33. Earth 33, see, is where DC Comics operates as a publisher and all superheroes are fictional. During Crisis on Infinite Earths, however, it was destroyed. Tragic, right? Don't worry though, Earth 33 came back at some point like many, many other Earths. So what's so special about it besides the fact that DC editorial lives here? Well, it's not what was on it but rather what came out. Do you know what it is? Eh, eh? Guess. Guess what it is. I'm sure you've heard of it. Think tragedy. Think rage. Think…Superman."

Earth 33, a ball of dirt of water outwardly no different than those that came before or after it. Invading alternate Earths would typically be a chore. There was no point to it. Gentrification would serve to waste time and energy and then alert the Justice League Incarnate. No hero on those Earths was worth that effort. None of them possessed abilities that would help in his effort to topple the infallible Chosen One.

"Oh, of course, you must be wondering where the Chosen One is. Well, guess what? I'M the main character now."

"Who in the actual fucking fuck are you talking to?"

Empty Hand crossed his legs over the other, relaxing. Sitting across from him a black haired male whose expression could rightfully be described as furious. He was muscular, blue-eyed, and youthful.

He was Superboy Prime.

"A long, long time ago, you fought Amazo and were able to prevent him from copying your abilities. Not to mention you're immune to magic, kryptonite, the Speed Force…" Empty Hand listed his invulnerability with a widening smile. "In other words, you're a perfect counter to the Chosen One, my nemesis. So what do you say? Do you want to join me?"

Superboy Prime scoffed and crossed his arms. "You really think I'm gonna join you? You're the one who's running here with your tail between your legs. Go and face the Chosen One yourself, pussy, and get out of my house."

"Ah, yes. Your house." Superboy Prime, for all his power, lived in quite the ordinary suburban house. Empty Hand didn't understand it. His powers had manifested even on this Earth that did not possess the crucial element of superheroes, aliens, and the supernatural. "Why do you live here? You have the power of the god. You fought the Darkest Knight at his peak. I don't get it. Why do you still live with your parents?"

Jerry Kent and Naomi Kent. Normal humans. Pathetic humans. Even so, this Kal-El, this Clark Kent lived with them.

"Oooh. You didn't tell them, did you? You didn't tell them you became a mass murdering piece of garbage who later tried to redeem himself? Wow, I see." Empty Hand laughed, a hand stifling his mouth. "I didn't expect something so pathetic from you, Prime."

"Pfft." Superboy Prime didn't look slightly fazed. "Multiversal pieces of shits like you never get it, do you? You just destroy and destroy without a care in the world. No family, no friends–I bet you haven't even gone to school."

"Don't need to, brother."

Another scoff from Prime. "Seriously, what's your motive then? If it's at least more compelling than the Anti-Monitor, then I won't bash your skull in."

"Why?" Empty Hand stroked his chin. "Hm. Well, let me first explain how I got here; or rather, why my minions aren't here with me. First, you'd kill them. Second, Earth 33 is protected by a Fictive Membrane, which only ideas can penetrate. In other words, the humans of this Earth can influence the rest of reality with their thoughts and unless you're as powerful as me or you, then you'd die upon entry to this place or lose your powers."

Darkseid, Kalel, and Maya Chamara experienced this very phenomenon. In fact, by writing comics on this Earth, they were capable of making change to the multiverse at large but without their powers. During his stay, even Darkseid had to adapt, naming himself Ulrich Saxman and manipulating Maya Chamara (otherwise known as Doctor Multiverse) to later challenge him and The Great Darkness.

To an extent, he had to thank this world. Without it, Empty Hand's thoughts wouldn't have been so clear on his future.

"Don't know, don't care." Prime sneered. "Just out with it."

"I am Empty Hand–the representation of the reader's never ending desire for comics."

Prime leaned forward, hands locked and brows furrowed. "Go on."

"I'm the greedy hand of the reader that flips the page. I'm the representation for the thirst of a never ending story. I'm the hand that met with the Light in order to create the universe. And guess what? I'm sick of it. I'm sick of DC editorial constantly shitting out shitty comic after shitty comic. Reboot after reboot. I'm done with this crap. I could destroy this Earth or Gentrify it but it wouldn't do anything. Another Earth 33 would immediately prop up in its place. The Fictive Membrane is annoyingly flexible that way. My desire is for my job to finally fucking stop and to that end I will–no, I am the Empty Hand of the reader when he puts the comic down and ends everything. I WILL make everything end. And maybe remake the multiverse and release better comics along the way. Maybe a porno this time around. I can create a world of pure sex for you. You can have a harem of bitches and whores at your disposal. You can have all the Laurie Lemmons in the multiverse. People will for sure read it. You're Superman, after all."

"Hrn." Prime tilted his head and urged him to continue.

"My next goal is Heaven. I will kill Elaine Belloc, the false Presence, and steal her powers so that my victory over the Chosen One will be all but guaranteed. With you, of course, it won't even be much of a battle."

Superboy Prime was quiet. Then he snickered. "So that's your offer and reasoning? Talk about idiotic. Whatever. Let's just get this show on the road."

"So…what? You want to help me?"

"No. I refuse."

Prime stood up and rolled his shoulders. He flexed and his red t-shirt and blue jeans tore into a bulky grey armour. Across the chest was a large, stylized S-shield emblem in bright red.

"Ha!" Empty Hand threw a hand over his own face. "We're really fighting? Seriously? You know, there was once a hero on this Earth. An anomaly known as Ultra Comics, powered by the collective imagination of its readers. Do you know who killed him? My Gentry. My people. The same way I'm about to kill you."

"Ohhh, so you killed Ultra Comics? Whatever. You think I give a shit about some one-off comic book hero? I'm Superman."

His eyes raged red.

With the power of Speed Force, black lightning ignited Empty Hand's motions.

In an infinitely tiny instant, Superboy crossed the distance between them and struck him in the face. Empty Hand was sent crashing out of the house.

Superboy lingered. He let out a sigh. "Sorry, Ma, Pa. I promise I'll come back and fix this place up."

He flew after Empty Hand.

Through his X-ray vision, he found him in the Arctic. Past the seas and lands, he flew after him. His speed was beyond that of light and entered the domain of the fastest speedsters. The sound and light barriers were broken like glass.

The Arctic soon came into view. His ears twitched as the subtle cold touched his body. The white-blue polar region was practically formed out of ice and snow. However, despite its whiteness, he could not find the darkness. He could not smell, see, or hear Empty Hand.

His ears twitched again. No, there was something here. His boots settled onto the icy surface. Time slowed.

He was fast. Faster and stronger than anyone. He had once defeated three of the Flashes at the same time–Jay Gerrick, Bart Allen, and Wally West. It took all three of them to shove into the Speed Force then another four speedsters to seal him there. He was THAT fast.

So catching Empty Hand by the throat and slamming into the ice was no issue. The cataclysmic destruction was also not a problem as less than 0.000000000000001 seconds had passed. There was time to repair it and kill the multiversal shit stain.

"You damn worm." Without wasting time, Prime blasted Empty Hand's arrogant expression with his heat vision. He burned him till he was–

Unfazed?

His heat vision dissipated. Prime growled as he saw Empty Hand's terrifying grin.

"Sorry, I heal fast."

A hard pain struck his jaw and hurled Prime into the stratosphere.

Prime rolled and rolled but eventually recovered. His center of gravity returned, he touched the cut on his lip. "Ha? That's it?"

A burning blast pushed from behind. Superboy grunted and turned to intercept the attack but it was gone.

Another came.

"You little shit–"

Then another.

Blasts of unknown, concentrated energy continued to burn his back as he swept the area and turned. His head and his eyes searched. His eyes sensed. He couldn't find a whiff of his enemy, however.

No lightning, no Speed Force…

"Where are you!?" Superboy screamed. Nothing, merely a laser beam to his back once again. "Empty Hand!!!"

"Yes, yes, you fought the Batman Who Laughs and died. Impressive. But…did you know? I'm stronger than the Darkest Knight. Him, Perpetua, the Endless…they are merely stones for me to crush."

Superboy felt a hand on the back of his head.

"As are you," came a deep, spine-chilling mutter.

Prime couldn't turn in time. Redness filled his vision and he blasted away. Boom, boom, boom! Asteroids, comets, and moons, he was sent crashing through them all. He shattered through the physics of the universe as he travelled to the edge of the solar system and caved into the centre of Pluto.

"Shitty fucking planet or dwarf planet or whatever the fuck it is," Prime muttered. The tips of his hair were scorched with heat and otherworldly energy.

"Man, oh man, look at you! Do you know what it was that I hit you with?"

Empty Hand. His body camouflages against the vacuum of space. The stars, the blackness, he fit with the starry background like a predator. Prime's vision zoomed in on him, angered.

"Those were Omega Beams I hit you with," Empty Hand explained. "I stole it from Darkseid, and you took that shit like it was nothing. Seriously, you should join me. I could use someone like you."

"Fuck off."

His eyes went red and he blasted him with his heat vision. Empty Hand countered with his Omega Beams. The dwarf planet Superboy had been laying shattered as the energies came closer and closer–as he was slowly but surely overpowered by the Omega Beams.

His mouth opened and screamed. He screamed till his voice created shock waves.

Empty Hand winced.

"Rah!" Superboy grinned as his heat vision began to amplify and overpower the Omega Beams. He clapped his hands.

BOOM!

Once…

BOOM!

Twice…

BOOM!

Three times. The shock waves struck Empty Hand again and again. His body felt disembodied.

Prime's heat vision gained the upper hand and rapidly defeated the Omega Beams. BOOM! Another sonic wave. Blzzzt!

Superboy Prime's heat vision engulfed Empty Hand, mixing with the Omega Beams and damaging him twice as hard. A massive explosion erupted that shook the solar system. The gas giant planets behind them trembled and shifted.

"Hahaha! That's it, motherfucker!" Superboy Prime didn't waste time. He could see Empty Hand had survived the two-pronged blast. Arms forward, he flew at him and bashed into his abdomen.

Punch, punch, punch. Bam, bam, bam!

While carrying him, Superboy Prime delivered monstrous punches to the face of the evil creature. A single punch had once broken space and time and now multiple stronger punches were beating down on Empty Hand. Ordinarily, the universe would have been wiped out but with pristine control and carefully focused rage he was able to concentrate the energy into the face of his enemy.

Cracks started to appear on Empty Hand. Cracks similar to when he shattered the multiverse.

Empty Hand attempted to blast Prime with the Omega Beams. The blackness that were his eyes became fiery with the Omega Effect and flamed him with the disintegrative force of evil.

Superboy grinned through it.

Empty Hand blasted him with the powerful optic rays again.

This time, Superboy laughed.

"Weak, weak, weak!" A light shone upon his face. A yellow-ish orange light that seemed to widen the smile on his face. Before Empty Hand could turn to see what it was, he was interrupted by a brutal fist to the jaw.

Two, three, ten, a hundred–

"You really thought you could convince me! I'm a hero now! I sacrificed my life for the world! I'm Superman!"

–ten thousand punches, a hundred thousand, a million.

Punches after punches inflicted pain on Empty Hand. One hand gripping him by the throat and the other pummelling him, there was no escape from Superboy Prime. He was strong and fast. He was angry and unrelenting. Until his body broke, Prime wouldn't stop.

And he was growing stronger too.

Superboy had learned during his fight against the Batman Who Laughs. He learned to control his ability to shatter reality. He could change stories and Hypertime itself. The Retcon Punch, he dubbed it, and it managed to put the Perpetua-powered Darkest Knight on the backfoot.

Now, it was destroying Empty Hand, the next big threat. For once in his life, Superboy felt like a true, honest-to-god hero. And he wasn't going to stop either.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Superboy had been carrying Empty Hand through space. As he did, the light on his face became brighter and brighter, till Empty Hand understood where they were heading.

The sun.

Superboy drove him into the center of the sun while punishing him with vicious punches. The flames coated their worlds. The white core of the star was astonishing to witness, as was Superboy's ascent in power.

He was a Kryptonian, after all. Although he did not rely on it, he drew his power from the sun. While inside its core, Superboy Prime would theoretically be at his strongest.

Indeed, Empty Hand doubted there was a single Krpytonian in the omniverse stronger than Prime right now.

The fiery red heat vision incinerated into Empty Hand until it was the stripes transformed into an ugly, shapeless blast. Prime watched as Empty Hand started to melt, the horns on top breaking.

A cool, blue calming effect suddenly washed over Empty Hand. He was beginning to heal. His horns regenerated and the darkness composing his body started to reform.

Superboy Prime roared and amplified his heat vision. He grew stronger. Double, triple, quadruple…

"Die!!!!!"

The Empty hand blocked his vision. Laughters pierced Prime's ears. His heat vision kept blasting and blasting into the palm, managing to make it struggle as it shielded Empty Hand, but it wasn't enough. The tint of blue maintained its integrity.

"Hahaha, good thing I stole Orion's Astro Force before coming here," Empty Hand declared. "Because otherwise…" His large hand gripped Superboy's head, struggling slightly as the heat vision persisted. The burn was there but he pushed through. Empty Hand, through a combination of Orion's Astro Force and the Highfather's Alpha Force, was overpowering him. "...I wouldn't have been able to do this."

Splat!

His fingers came together into a fist and crushed his head.