Action Comics Annual #2: Doomsdays, Finale

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(For the full story, check out Action Comics #13 to 19!)

Superman had been missing for weeks, and in his stead, new heroes emerged:

James Harper, a.k.a the Guardian, the ultimate soldier, supposed DEO attaché to the Metropolis Police Department's Major Crimes Unit.

Caesar, last name unknown to all but himself, the magician, a man with a mysterious past and a sister dying from a mysterious illness.

Sollis, Lightray, the New God, master of the Sun, his purpose on Earth to warn of a coming 'Doomsday'.

John Henry Irons, a.k.a Steel, technological master, supposedly unable to wear his armor again, but able to operate it from remote control.

But over the weeks when these heroes protected the city, things changed and events unraveled…

James Harper and Captain Maggie Sawyer, returning to active duty after the death of her unit at the hands of Doomsday and the Parademons during the Apocalypse Invasion, defeated the psychic villain known as Mind-Eater on the streets of Krypton Square!

Kru-El, Superman's mutated half brother, arrived on Earth, and took up residence in the Fortress of Solitude, and then began to plan the ultimate end of the world.

Maggie Sawyer's depression reached an all time low when she was possessed by the Silver Banshee!

Superman returned, depowered, his DNA unraveling, but as Clark Kent, he saved Lois Lane's life, only to be shot numerous times for his troubles.

Rip Hunter, the time traveling hero, arrived on the scene, after Batman sent out a dimensional beacon hoping for someone with a possible cure for Superman's condition to present them to the League, but even his expertise could not help… And before he could meet the League, he was torn from reality, and arrived in the future, a desolate world where only two heroes remain…

The Justice League traveled to Antarctica to secure the cure to Superman's failing health, and faced Doomsday, only to be defeated, but they were able to get the cure out at the last moment!

James Harper was revealed to be a fugitive, hiding in plain sight, and was at last captured by DEO agents acting under order from the rogue agency, Cadmus!

Lightray gave nearly all his life force to return Superman to health!

The control unit in the back of Steel's spine malfunctioned, sending him into a vegetative state!

And with Superman heading to the Fortress of Solitude to rescue his friends and face his half brother, Doomsday revealed his master plan… Stryker's Island, the metahuman prison, was broken open, and the hordes of super villains inside escaped!

Now, with only Caesar active on the street's of Metropolis, it's up to the MCU and him to send the villains packing… But will that be enough?

And in the final battle with Doomsday, the Kryptonian who defeated the Justice League, and Superman, still weak from his revival, who will win?

Find out now, in:

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“Sedate him,” ordered the suit.

James Harper, a.k.a the Guardian, fought against the bindings that held him down on the small gurney, struggling to see what had just happened below in the city. “What's going on?” He could still hear the echo of the explosion in the back of his mind, the bricks and mortar pelting the soft ocean shore. He could hear the screams of pain, of death, and as he thrashed against the bindings, he knew he had to escape.

The pilot turned and answered him. “Explosions near the harbor--”

The man holding the needle turned around and spat at the pilot, his eyes hidden by thick black sunglasses. “Do not engage the prisoner in casual conversation, pilot!”

The pilot frowned, and then turned back to the front of the cockpit, concentrating on his flying. “Sorry, Sir.” His reply was short. Terse.

The Guardian flexed his muscles. Harbor. Explosion. Stryker's Island? Cause and effect. It all made sense. He cocked his head to the side, and could see the smoke billowing out of the large penitentiary. Damn. He hated being right like this. “Get us down there!”

“You're in no position to make requests, Harper,” replied the beret wearing Agent who had masterminded the whole operation to take the Guardian down. He didn't recognize him. This wasn't a grudge. Strictly business. Cadmus had tracked him down at long last. Hiding in plain sight only worked if your enemies weren't fearless. Seems they found some courage.

The needle bore down on him, and the Guardian began to reply. “And you're in no position--” He pulled up his leg, kicking free of the restraints, and then smiled. “--To stop me!”

He tore his forearm out of the restraints, and grabbed his shield, and then kicked back, propelling himself out of the side of the helicopter, still tied down to the gurney. “MY GOD!” shouted the agent as he watched Harper topple down.

The pilot span around, and his eyes opened wide. “What… Sir!”

“He's a dead man!”

Well, thought Jim Harper, hurtling towards the smoking city below, that was a mistake.

Superman hit hard, dust rising up from the crater he had created. His jaw ached, and in the distance, he saw his enemy approaching. “That actually hurt…” groaned the hero, as he squatted down low, and then shot out of the hole, more dust rising up and funneling around him as he attacked his brother. He collided with the midriff of the villain, and the two flew upwards, higher and higher until they reached the edge of the atmosphere. Superman took a sharp breath, filling his lungs, and Doomsday roared in silence.

Blow upon blow was unleashed, Doomsday's grey skin cracking underneath the attack, and blood freezing from Superman's lips as it spilt out. Superman threw his elbow down into Kru's face, smashing the bony protrusions protecting his features, and then kneeing him in the chin, causing the villain to gag in surprise.

The surprise didn't last long. Doomsday, as always, adapted quickly.

He grabbed Kal's hand and squeezed, but Superman simply unleashed a burst of heat vision against his brother's fist, causing the vice like grip to be lost. Doomsday swung wildly, colliding with Superman's face, more blood dribbling from his lips. It was like an eerie ballet, silent above the Earth, no one below knowing what was occurring above their heads. But the people below… Had problems of their own!

“I am so dead,” he whispered, as the hordes of villains rushed toward him. They were like a menagerie of freaks, each with a distinct look, but as they all came toward him, sneering and snarling, they seemed to merge together into a force of nature. Glass shattered as sonic skin sang outwards, concrete melted as molten flesh stormed onward. And teeth scratched together and made promises of pain to those they reached. “I'm going to die today.” He felt his wand in his hand. It felt heavy. He looked at himself in a window that had yet to be shattered, and nodded slowly. “But I'm not going down easy.” He removed his cape, folded it, and placed it on the sidewalk, just beside a building. He undid his cuffs, and loosened his black tie. He breathed in deeply, and cleared his mind. Next off came his jacket, and he placed that atop his cape. He undid the top button of his dress shirt, and then picked up the pile of discarded clothing. With a wave of his wand they vanished and returned to his hotel room. “And no need to ruin good clothes.” He turned back to the villains, storming onward. They were getting closer. Slowly. They'd reach him. Eventually. “Oh, for the love of God!” He leapt into the air, his body glowing red as his magic imbued him with power. He catapulted toward the hordes, and grinned. “Today is a good day to die.” He laughed to himself. Why'd he say that?

“He's so pale!” shouted Niles Caulder as Ray Palmer and Charles McNider hurriedly examined Lightray, who lay on the gurney before them. “He's totally drained of power!”

Ray removed a strange machine from Lightray's chest, and checked the readings. “His reserves are empty, true, but we can charge him up… Superman has sun lamps in one of the rooms in case he needs a quick recharge after an intense battle. Maybe one of them--”

“Go,” ordered McNider, as he glanced through special lenses around the room, we'll try to stabilize him and--”



“--What was that?”

“Someone's trying to breach the Hall…” stated the Atom, as he headed for a console in the room. “Activating outer defenses. And… Oh my God.” The Atom turned back to the others. “Stryker's Island has burst. The major threat wing is empty. The Justice League is MIA…”

“Get the sun lamps. NOW!” shouted McNider.

Superman growled beneath his breath, and slammed both his fists into Doomsday's face. His eyes tingled, like something was forcing it's way through, and with a yelp of surprise, beams of intense white light burst outwards, sending Doomsday's Earthward with a scream. Power tingled inside him. He thought back to how this could have happened. Lightray! Had Sollis' recharge imbued him with more than just a solar charge? Had the New God's physiology… Enhanced him? It was like his heat vision had been turned up to eleven!

“How is that…” grumbled Doomsday, climbing up, “So powerful…”

“Hhh.” Superman followed his brother down and arrived in the middle of a rainforest.. “Seems like I've got the power of New Genesis on my side, brother!” He forced his brother down onto his knees with the nova-like heat beams, and then Kru punched him hard in the jaw.

The villain chuckled. “You said that like you were hoping the New God's themselves would turn up to lend a hand, didn't you?”

Superman blinked and chuckled, his eyes clearing after that last punch. “Maybe.” The Man of Steel retaliated with another punch, the mud and foliage below his brother liquefying as Doomsday ducked. Shockwaves splintered outward.

“Stupid…” Doomsday grabbed Superman's head and drove it down into the ground, “idiot..” He laughed, and kicked Clark in the ribs. “If you have the power of NEW GENESIS, then do you remember where I spent so many months of my life? BEING TORTURED? BEING CHANGED INTO THIS CREATURE BEFORE YOU?”

“Ah,” nodded Superman, unleashing another burst of heat vision, and then a gust of Arctic Breathe that formed ice as it left his lips, a pillar of sub zero frost sending Doomsday into the sky. “Apocalypse.” He followed his brother up, and slammed his fists once more into his face, dislodging a shard of bone from his face, and keeping the pressure on. “At least… You're a bit more… Eloquent…”

“HRAH!” Doomsday kicked Superman in the ribs, causing the hero to jerk forward, and then he followed through with a bony elbow to the back of the neck, causing Kal to cough. “Will you shut up as I'm killing you?”

Superman let rip with another burst of heat vision. “Make me.”

“TRYING!”

Magic swirled and hissed as Caesar silently spun spells, even as the escaped villains tore at him, fired energy blasts and assorted other attacks him. Few of them could penetrate his magical shield, but even he was feeling the pressure as some got through and clawed at his flesh, blood dripping from gouges and cuts all over his body. He had to concentrate. He could feel pain overpowering his over senses. Blood poured from more and more wounds, but he was winning, wasn't he? Pushing against the hordes? Thinning them? He could see no sunlight now, only orange jump suit covered bodies.



“Huh?” groaned Caesar, as the villains fell to the ground around him, “what… Oh.” He pushed the villains still standing back, and then contained them in a blue band of energy, crushing them. They coughed and gagged, and Caesar nodded slowly. “Took your time there, Captain?”

Captain Maggie Sawyer and her Major Crimes Unit lowered their weapons. Nemo Jones, her second in command, hurried over to the escaped convicts with a large group of officers all armed with inhibitor collars. “We had to get some special arms from STAR, but we're ok now.”

“The city is being torn apart by the escaped inmates, they're an army, and we're just… Nothing.” Grunted Caesar, as he examined his wounds. He was messed up, bloody chunks torn out of his flesh like he had been attacked by a rabid animal. As his eyes wandered to the ground around him, where the inmates were twitching after the attack at the hands of the MCU. They were animals. Dozens of them, tooth and claw, wild in the eye. He groaned. “We're going to lose. There are hundreds of them.”

“Captain.” A voice came from the alleys. Dozens of high tech weapons were trained on the speaker in an instant, but then dropped suddenly as the bearers saw who it was. “They have their army…” The Guardian, clad in his old costume, raised his shield, and motioned for dozens of bodies behind him to come forward. “…And we have ours. Krypton Square is at your disposal.” Metahumans, none in costume save a few, filed out toward the police officers. “What are your orders?”

“What is this?” stammered Sawyer, as she looked at the rag-tag band of super humans behind her old friend, James Harper. “What are all these people doing here?”

“We're here to help,” shouted one.

“We have to fight for our homes!” came another.

Maggie looked at her own men, and then back to the others, “You can't do this. You're civilians.”

The Guardian paced toward Sawyer, and put his hands on her arms. “This is a war. I know about war, I've fought in enough to be sure of that. We have to stand now. We have to win. And we can.”

There was a roar behind the group of gathered civilians and police officers, and they span around. Villains. Criminals. Murderers. Rapists.

And in front of them, a massive silver machine, with weapons mounted to every part of its alloyed body. A man was visible in the upper most section of the device, a man with a large cranium, thinning brown hair on either side of his head and large goggles over his eyes that made his pupils appear to be as big as his hands that frantically moved over the controls.

“Thaddeus Killgrave,” grumbled Jim Harper, raising his shield.

“PREPARE TO MEET THY DOOM!” screamed the mad scientist.

“Oh, brother,” sighed Caesar, almost embarrassed.

Maggie Sawyer checked the settings on her ray gun, and then turned to Jim Harper. “We're outnumbered. Outgunned.”

Jim Harper put up his hand up to her, and put his fingers to his ear. “Wait.”

“Wait?” scoffed Sawyer, “yeah, we can wait, sure Jim!” She shrugged her shoulders, and looked to her officers. “We need a frontline. Take defensive positions.” She turned to the citizens of Krypton Square, “You will be the second wave. I don't want to put you in danger, but you're insisting on being here, so hey, wait till either me, Lieutenant Smith over there, or the Guardian give you orders to move. Eyes open! Keep your eyes open!”



A massive blast of black energy erupted next to Maggie Sawyer, who dove out of the way a moment before impact, “Sonofa--”

“YOU WILL DIE.” Howled Thaddeus. “PAINFULLY.”

Harper grinned. “Says you.”



A massive metallic foot slammed down on the back of Killgrave's machine, pummeling the chassis into the ground. “AHH! WHAT'S HAPPENING?!”



Another foot, rupturing power cells and destroying weapon systems.

“we're not outnumbered, Maggie,” grinned Jim Harper, as he rubbed his gold shield with his glove. The massive crowd looked up at the massive machine high in the sky, and then to the other machines that suddenly began to appear one after the over from nowhere. “We're a team.”

“Who is that?”

“Steel,” smiled Caesar.

“Howdy, partners,” buzzed a voice into the radio on Maggie Sawyer, “seems you need a hand.”

“Where the hell are you coming from, Irons?”

“Where do you think I spent my time after the Apocalypse Invasion, Captain? I helped rebuild the city, but I also built some stuff for myself.” There was a hint of laughter in Henry's voice that confused Sawyer, but she continued listening, as did Smith, Caesar, Harper and the others. “Seven months in the Phantom Zone, building new machines in case of another attack by otherworldly powers. That attack never came. But I found a use for them anyway.”

“Good to have you back on the field, Irons,” grinned Harper, “save us some.” He turned to everyone behind him. “WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?! LET'S GO!”

“Sonofagun,” grunted Thaddeus Killgrave as he crawled out of the wrecked chassis of his killing machine. “What a waste…” He scrambled to his feet, and was surrounded by rampaging heroes and villains, strange criminals clashing with armored police, strange heroes clashing with armored scoundrels. He giggled. He loved a riot. A bit of bloodshed. “Well, there's always tomorrow for the apocalypse.”

“Not for you.” Killgrave span around and was met by a taser baton to the face, smashing his large glasses off his face. Nemo Smith raised the baton again, but then was surrounded by baying criminals. “Damn.” He was engulfed, claws and hands and teeth thrashing down on him. His armor was torn off, but he didn't cry out.

He deflected blows with his baton, but it was swatted from his grip, and then…

And then…

“AWAY, GODAMMIT!” The villains flew back, faceless hordes flying into the faceless hordes, and Caesar came to Smith's side, his face bloodied and bleeding, claw marks jutting down his torso. “Nemo, are you alright?”

“Get me… My... Arrhh... Get me my weapon… And help me up…” grunted the officer.

“Come on, come on,” muttered Rip Hunter, as his Time Sphere phased into existence inside the large factory. He had to act fast, and pulled a long, flashing metallic device from his belt. It sparked light, and he approached the comatose body of John Henry Irons, blood and saliva dribbling down his face. He aimed it at the mechanical devices on the back of Irons' back, and went to work. The metal structure slid out of his flesh, Rip Hunter phasing it out of synch with reality for a mere second. Then he was done. He sealed up the hero's back, amped up his body's natural healing, and then there were no scars. No nothing. He injected Steel with a tranquilizer from the 34th Century, headed back into his Time Sphere, and went back on his way. Phase one, complete. Phase two… To the furthest reaches of space.

“Hello, Caesar,” whispered a voice. The hero span around, carnage surrounding him. He hadn't signed up for this! He was a performer, not a hero! Sure he stuck around for… His friends. Damn. That was enough of that line of thought.

“Who do I have the pleasure of addressing?” he replied, smiling.

“You can call me Jinx.” The ground below the magician suddenly transmuted into water, and he nearly fell downwards, but a quick silent spell made him hover.

“Well that's just mean.” He waved his wand. “Show yourself.”

A tanned, bald woman suddenly appeared in front of him, clad in a white loin cloth and bikini. She had many jeweled necklace wrapped around her neck, and she wore a smile that disarmed Caesar immediately. Without a moment's hesitation, she grabbed his arm, the sleeve transforming into concrete with that touch and causing him to topple over into the water pit below him. She smiled, and watched as he struggled to escape her trap. With a movement of her arm, the ground sealed up over him, his arm still visible, his wand easily kicked away. He was trapped, drowning. She kicked his arm, breaking the bone at the elbow, and then turned around, and continued to fight the police.

“Ow,” mumbled Superman, as his body began to slough off the effects of his solar supercharging. He wavered where he stood, moving backwards and forward, concussed. He looked at his hands, bruised as they were, and clenched them into fists. He looked up, and saw Doomsday charge toward him. He swung with his left. WHAM. Doomsday's jaw visibly quaked. He followed through this a right. WHAM. Doomsday's face morphed out of shape for a moment, before returning to normal. He raised both fists, and slammed them down on Doomsday's head. WHAM! Doomsday buckled to the floor. “Stay. Down.”

Superman was so focused on Doomsday he didn't hear time praise open. He didn't notice the gold sphere form out of nothingness and then vanish behind it's stealth cloak. He had so focused his hearing and vision on finding a chink in Doomsday's physiology that he didn't hear the crunch of snow as a booted foot landed on the snow. The sound of punches being thrown on unrelenting flesh drowned out the sound of a weapon charging, a shard of green isotope being moved into a compartment so a beam of power could be directed through it. Blow after blow landed on Superman's face, and blow after blow landed on Doomsday's. Rip pressed a button on his uniform that phased him out of reality, so he could watch invisibly. He bit his bottom lip. “Not… Yet…”

Batman groaned as he pulled himself from the mound of snow he'd fallen into. He pressed a button on his belt and two things leapt into his hand. He put a finger to his ear, and whispered into it. <<J'onn?>>

<<I am here.>>

<<Where?>>

<<I have momentarily left my body, my mind is free of the pain my physical form is experiencing. What is it you require?>>

<<Link me to Clark.>> There was a buzz as Superman's mind linked to Batman's.

<<Bit… Busy… Right… Now… Please… Try again… Later…>> Bruce Wayne heard the strain in Superman's thoughts, his concentration lapsing and quivering every time he took a punch, or threw one.

<<I need you to move.>>

<<GAH! Easier said… Than… DONE!>>

<<Stop procrastinating, Clark.>> replied Bruce sharply. <<Remember Magpie?>>

Superman's thoughts wandered back to an event nearly half a decade ago. <<Of course. Why… Ah. Ok.>>

<<NOW MOVE!>>

A grenade with a black bat insignia hurtled toward the combatants. Superman dove for it, confusing Doomsday, and allowed himself to take the brunt of the blast, whatever it was inside of it engulfing him completely. Black smoke covered his flesh, and then Batman attached the second device in his hand to his grapnel. He aimed it, and fired. Doomsday laughed and grabbed it, the device suddenly detonating and green light swarming over the villain. Kryptonite grenade.

Superman, engulfed in a cloud of lead particles, threw all his strength into the punch.

Batman glanced up from where he squatted, his eyes wide.

The snow flew every which way around the two battling Kryptonians as it connected.

Doomsday's eye rolled into the back of his head. Black ooze fell from between his lips. Superman nearly cried out, his knuckles burning in pain, but held it in, and watched as his bastard-brother fell.

Superman exhaled. He was light headed. His solar storage cells in his body were burnt out, having gone from dying to overcharged within less than an hour. Less than an hour. God damn, it felt like he'd been fighting for days. He wavered and nearly fell over himself, but no. He couldn't fall now. His friends needed him.

“KAAAAL!” Doomsday jerked up, like some unkillable thing, and reached out to his brother.

Rip Hunter saw his chance.

He, the time traveler, the dimensional guardian, the unknown soldier, Rip Hunter, shifted into active reality and raised his ray gun at the last minute. Superman didn't notice, and if he did, didn't or couldn't act. He was running on fumes. Barely able to stand. He grit his teeth, and prepared to fight once more. Damn.



But Rip fired. Red light pierced the creature's hide, and he let out a cry, even as the Kryptonite radiation from Batman's grenade attack began to lose effect on him. Hunter took a lead container from his red utility belt and slid it into the barrel of the ray gun he wielded. “Red and green isn't the only kind of Kryptonite.”

The time traveling hero approached the villain, and pulled the trigger, hitting the disfigured Kryptonian again and again, weakening him with pure red sun radiation. And then the hero changed his ammunition. A whine filled the air as another type of crystal slipped into Rip's weapon. He aimed it at Doomsday's head. “Say goodbye.”

“GOODBYE!” Doomsday backhanded Rip, sending him flying into his time-sphere, the weapon skittering across the snow. He again clambered back up, an unstoppable juggernaut, an engine of destruction running on rage. “My brother can wait, you little gnat, you're going to die first.”

“No,” Superman shook his head. He held the ray gun in his hand. He knew that Rip had armed himself with something that could end this fight. And now that weapon was in his hands. His brother. His race. His responsibility. He pulled the trigger.

Golden energy lashed out over Doomsday's body. He screamed in agony as his body was engulfed in the maelstrom. Superman's couldn't see through the blast, he squinted and covered his eyes with his forearm as the energy didn't dissipate. What had he done!?

“D-don't move, Superman,” groaned Rip, as he hobbled over to the hero, “you don't want to touch that stuff.” The light intensified. “This is all window dressing, the damage has been done… But I don't know what even a slight exposure to the isotope will do to you.”

“What is it?” whispered Superman, his eyes never leaving the chaotic storm in front of him.

The light exploded upward, out of the atmosphere and into space, where Superman could see it evaporate. It had been like a shining, gold Aurora Borealis. “Something you'll luckily never see again. Gold Kryptonite.” Superman gasped as he saw his brother, naked and human, lying in the middle of a melted circle of snow.

Batman dragged himself over to the two men, his leg injured and his armor dented everywhere. “What…?”

“It removes a Kryptonian's powers permanently.” Rip holstered the weapon. “And it reversed the bioengineering Kru-El experienced at the hands of Darkseid. He can no longer absorb solar energy. He's completely human.”

Superman looked on, confused. “You can't have, that's impossible!”

Rip pulled his gun and Superman put up his hand to grab it. “Do you want to see?”

“Why are you threatening me?” growled Superman, holding the weapon tightly, but not crushing it, as he easily could.

“Because there's something going on right now that's bigger than a brotherly feud! Something is happening beyond this world and I need to find out what before it crumbles down around us!” His hands were shaking. Superman nodded slowly. Batman stared at the weapon uneasily. “I can't… I can't do this, you know? I've tried so hard, for years, and it's just… Like constantly being kicked in the face. No one knows what I do, it's a God damn thankless task, and I just… I've had enough. But just then? You were empty Superman. Doomsday would have hit you so hard your brain would have liquefied inside your skull. You know where I've been since Batman called on me? I was in the future. A world where everyone is dead and the only hero is a brain in a computer. You are the focus point, Superman.” Superman didn't know what to say. “And you're needed alive.” Superman released his grip and Rip holstered his weapon.

“Rip, I don't know what to say…” Superman looked to his brother, shivering in the snow, and then to Batman, who undid his cape and wrapped it around the villain. He didn't do it gently, but the material protected him from the cold regardless.

“You will,” laughed Hunter, as he wiped his eyes, “at the right time, you'll know.”

“What about… What about Kru?”

“I can fix that,” Rip pulled up the fallen Kryptonian, and slung him over his shoulder. “I can fix him.”

“You're not going to--”

“Kill him?” interrupted Rip, “oh, no. I don't kill defenseless human beings. But I know a place where he'll never hurt anyone ever again.”

“I can't...” Superman hesitated. “I don't know if I can let you do this.”

“Don't care,” nodded Rip. “He had access to your computers, Superman. Don't you think he would have spent all his time before attempting to murder the world trawling through them, remembering leverage? This is the only way everyone is safe. He's off the board. I'll take him to someplace he'll never hurt anyone, and no one will hurt him. Trust me. It's all I ask.”

Superman grimaced with indecision. And then took a deep breath. “I trust you.”

“Good,” Rip climbed into his time sphere, and pointed over to where the Fortress of Solitude rested, “Oh, and if I was you? I would do something about that.”

And with that he sealed the door and vanished once more, leaving Superman puzzled at Rip's cryptic last words… But not for long.

Jim Harper swung his fists wildly, his attackers howling pain as their bones broke upon impact. He was in a frenzy, caught up in a rage that had been brewing inside him for months. He had been on the defensive for so long. Again and again, being forced back, losing ground literally and metaphorically for an age. No more. “NO MORE.”

“More.” He was suddenly grabbed by the knee and hurled into the kitchenette, awnings and installations torn to shreds by the impact. “More. Hurt you.” Harper looked up at his attacker, an ugly looking creep with too much hair. He spat as he drawled, and raised his large boulder like fists ready for attack.

“Damn,” whispered Harper, as his vision blurred. Everything shuddered and shivered. His head ached. The mass that attacked him came into stark view. “Blockbuster.” Super strong. Invulnerable. A challenge. Harper knew he had to operate on instinct. He let his mind roll back. Tactical analysis came to the forefront. His hand wandered. He found a weapon. And then he pounced. Blockbuster was an animal. Pure and simple. He was muscle and more muscle. So much muscle that even his brain could break your arm if you let it. But the thing with being a creature of strength meant that you risk being an idiot. Some overcome it. Some don't. Blockbuster hadn't. He roared as his own fist arched toward Harper's face. Jim grunted. He swung the kitchen sink at Blockbuster's neck. It collided hard, and caused Blockbuster to howl in pain as he gripped his larynx. Harper didn't stop. The kitchen sink he gripped between bleeding fingers swung down onto the back of Blockbuster's head, then pulled back, only to be swung into the villain's face. Harper breathed in deeply. Blockbuster was down. He was exhausted. He looked outside. Chaos. Once more into the breach--

Lightray turned from his light form into his solid form. He smashed through the thinning ranks of the villains. He was like lightning, faster than a thought, and his presence already helped the battling police officers and Krypton Square residents fighting against the villains. Above him he saw the mechanical legs of Steel's new creations, and as he looked for his other friends, he realized that certain people were missing. “James? Caesar?” He broadened his senses. A heartbeat. Fading. Submerged? “Caesar?” He shot down onto the streets, and then came to an arm that was popping out of the concrete. “What in the name of the Source is that?” He concentred his power, and tore up the concrete like it was paper, and then pulled out the drenched, coughing form of Caesar. “Caesar, are you well?”

“D-do I look well?!” He gagged, coughing up water, and then groaned as his arm exploded with pain. “B-Broken… God…” He gripped his injured appendage, and then turned to his friend. “Saved my life Sollis, good on you, now where's Harp?”

“I cannot… Sense him. Something is wrong.”

The sphere creaked silently under the pressure of the speeds he was traveling at. The outside was indestructible, created to survive the most brutal of attacks, but the massive gaping hole that spread from the inside out threatened to engulf all near it. Reality was tearing apart at the seams as he flew onward and onward, stars shooting past them. The hyper space tunnel was whizzing by. So this is how Green Lantern's traveled. Amazing, he would have thought, if this entire sector of space wasn't at risk of a tesseract exponentially overwriting it all. He had to take it somewhere, he had no idea how to seal it, so if he found a place that… his eyes widened with stark realisation. He pressed on, oxygen particles being used up in his veins, and headed for… Sector 3599, dead space. Red tendrils of energy whipped across his arms, but they did not falter. He pushed on, harder and harder, until he reached the end of his journey, and with one giant effort… THREW the tesseract to the centre of the sector, and watched as it exploded outward. Suddenly, the black, ancient sector of space was illuminated, and not by stars, as none existed inside it. Superman looked back, over his shoulder, as stars became visible inside the hyperspace tunnel. He had to hurry, as his passage home was vanishing. The tesseract vanished, and Superman headed back inside the entrance of the tunnel. He headed home, travelling as fast as he could.

Behind him, in Sector 3599, something shimmered, going unnoticed by the rest of the entire universe…