Issue 10: CRISIS #1

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Adventures of Superman
Issue 10: “Doomsday”
Written by Charles HoM (with additional material by David Charlton)
Cover by Roy Flinchum
Edited by David Charlton

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…And there came a day, unlike any other, when the world’s greatest heroes faced their greatest threat… Coveting the legendary Anti-Life Equation that would make him the Master of the Universe, the evil god Darkseid brought death and destruction to Earth… Now, the fiery, black planet Apokolips hangs above the Earth and the two worlds go to war! Separate and taken by surprise, the heroes of Earth struggle just to survive!
Heroes will rise and heroes will fall. And the DC2 will never be the same again…!


CRISIS: The Apokolips Imperative, Part 1!

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“Great Krypton…”

For a moment, he was stunned, floating there in midair, doubting his senses, his ears still ringing from the sky-shattering BOOM! But the black planet was no illusion. It belched black smoke and vomited hot fire like a snorting, great beast--- a killer beast!--- and hung in orbit around Earth like a bastard brother of the moon.

The world seemed to hold its collective breath for a moment, and Superman was no different. He quickly recovered his senses, though, and began scanning the surface of the intruder in Earth’s skies. What he saw chilled his blood: battleships of alien origin, bristling with strange armament were lifting off from the surface, horrific creatures with bug-eyed faces and wings were pouring from hives and dark-walled fortresses--- and all of it was headed straight for Earth.

Then he felt the first rumble in the bowels of the earth, the world itself protesting against the uninvited guest in its orbit. Tectonic plates strained and groaned, shifting with disastrous results all over the world. Ocean tides were already disrupted, and Superman calculated that a massive tidal wave would develop in the Pacific in a matter of minutes…!

His super-vision saw the ground split and yawn just outside of Gotham City, and the cables that held the suspension bridges connecting Gotham to the mainland snapped and the bridges fell, sending hundreds of cars tumbling into the water! Superman turned in the air, aiming his body for Gotham, but his super-hearing picked up the screams from a school in Opal City where the shifting plates had caused a gas main to rupture and a fireball to blossom through the halls! He shifted his focus, catching a glimpse again of the impending danger rushing upon them all from above…!

Never had he felt so torn, so useless! Never before had he been needed everywhere, all at once… If he went to the Opal, the folks in Gotham would die. If he flew to Gotham, the children were doomed… And if he did either, the coming invaders would be unopposed.

He felt the crisis of his lifetime was upon him, and for the first time, wondered if he could face it!

In the next instant, the decision was made for him. A blinding beam of light struck him full-on, and every nerve in his body fired at once. He fell out of the sky, crashing into a busy intersection in downtown Metropolis, the cars still moving swerving to avoid him.

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“A direct hit, my lord! The Kryptonian is down!”

“Yes. Disappointing. I had hoped he would prove more entertaining…”

“Never fear, my lord. This Earth is full of challenges. You shall have much diversion before it is conquered… No! It is impossible! The Kryptonian rises…!”

“Nothing has ever survived a direct hit from my Omega Beams, before…”

“My dread lord…! Perhaps we have underestimated the Kryptonian… But the key to subduing this wretched planet is neutralizing him. We have no weapons that can stop him…”

“We have one.”

“But my dread lord! Our recent ‘acquisition’ from the human Luthor… My work on it is not complete! It is still an untamed thing, an uncontrollable engine of murder and destruction. If it slips out of our control…”

“It had better not, Desaad. For your pitiful sake. You said it yourself: this Superman must be neutralized first if our invasion of Earth is to be successful. And I need the Kryptonian for my work with the Anti-Life Equation. Prepare the monster.”

“…Yes, my most dread lord.”

“Before this day is out, I want Superman at my feet, in chains…!”

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Superman stood, brushing himself off, as the traffic cop next to him looked up into the sky and emitted a low whistle.

“Holy---.”

“Officer, get these people to safety!” The Man of Steel urged the policeman, nodding towards the crowds pouring into the street.

It was an impossible task, as it seemed like all of Metropolis was turning out, gawking at the spectacle above them. Only Superman, with his heightened vision could see what was coming.

“GO!” He yelled, and the citizens for the first time saw something in his face they never had before: fear. “Get back to your homes! Lock the doors!”

Panic seized the crowd. Something was coming. Something that even Superman was afraid of… People started running in all directions. There was shouting and a riot was on the verge of breaking out. Superman took to the sky.

But there simply was no time. The first battleships appeared in the skies, materializing out of the clouds like spiked birds of prey! Their weapons arrays blazed and the first salvos streaked towards the ground!

Superman was a red and blue blur, cutting across the path of the barrage. His body absorbed dozens of blasts, ricocheting them harmlessly into the clouds--- but hundreds more got through! They lanced through the cities, vaporizing whole buildings and forests and acres of land. Thousands perished in that first assault alone.

Then the guns fired again.

And again.

Shaking off the effects of the blasts, Superman watched in horror the devastation the invaders had wrought in just a few moments. His super-vision showed him the fires and the wreckage, the burnt and twisted bodies. The screams and hoarse sobs of the dying reached his ears.

There’s was just too many of them… He couldn’t do this alone, but he had no time to call for help. Besides, who could he call? Batman would be of no use against an enemy like this… Wonder Woman, perhaps, but no one had heard from her in weeks…

He ground his teeth and frustration, and noticing the build-up of static electricity around the weapons arrays, he burst into action. Using his body as a superpowered javelin, he punched a hole through the hull of the nearest battleship, not stopping until he had flown through it again and again on numerous passes, holing it thoroughly. Its anti-grav units failed spectacularly, and the battleship listed, small explosions bursting from its hull in hundreds of places. It fell, burning, into Hob’s Bay, and from somewhere in Metropolis, a cheer went up.

But it wasn’t enough. The battleships fired again. Superman screamed in outrage, smashing longwise through a trio of them, stopping only when he reached the command centre of the largest ship. It was an open, metallic space with dozens of crag-faced crewmen at their stations in front of a wide view-port that displayed a panoramic view of Metropolis, afire and smoking.

“STOP!” Cried the Man of Steel. His heat vision seared every console on the bridge, causing many of them to explode. A battalion of soldiers burst into the command centre and fired upon Superman. Expecting to easily deflect the blasts, Superman was surprised to find that the weapons’ fire hurt him like hot needles. He rushed the soldiers, bending the nozzles of their guns and tossing bodies across the bridge.

“The Kryptonian! Kill him for Lord Darkseid!”

Superman whirled upon an officer in an ornate uniform. The commander blanched at what he saw in Superman’s face, staggering backward. Superman snatched him up by his militaristic forecoat, and lifted him high into the air.

“Who is Lord Darkseid?”

The alien commander looked terrified but defiant.

“Lord Darkseid, all hail his dread name, is the ruler of Apokolips, and the future ruler of this mudball you call Earth!”

“Apokolips…!” Superman gasped. He thought back to the strange beings he had met only a few days ago, the self-professed New Gods who ran the clandestine company called Genesis Corporation… Their leader, Izaya, had spoken of their ancestral enemy Apokolips and its demonic king…

“What does this Darkseid want on Earth?” Asked Superman, giving the shaking Apokoliptian a little shake.

“To crush it! To subjugate this miserable world, and ground out all free will and hope! All hail Darkseid!”

“Call off the attack!”

The alien commander laughed. “Not even if I could. If I tried my second in command would assassinate me on the spot--- that is, if the Desaadite spies amongst the crew didn’t beat him to it! No matter! I would rather die than defy the will of Darkseid, all hail his dread name! Earth will fall! Let my death serve as a precursor of that glorious event!” And with that, the commander reached down and triggered a device on his belt.

The explosion sent Superman skidding backward and ripped a hole in the side of the battleship. The air pressure sucked screaming bodies outside, hurtling to their death, and Superman tumbled headlong after them.

Superman righted himself in midair, just in time to see the swarms of parademons descending. They came on like a plague of locusts, thick and bristling with weapons. Their wings outspread, they spiralled down into the steel canyons of Metropolis, cackling in the anticipated glee of murder and rapine!

Classic siege strategy, Superman thought. The battleships come in first to soften up the enemy, and then the shock troops arrive… He angled himself earthward, flashing past the hordes of parademons. The battle in the sky would have to wait. Metropolis needed him on the ground. His city was about to become a war-zone.

[Admin]

“Great Caesar’s Ghost!” Perry White clutched his desk to steady himself as the entire building shook from the last salvo. The cigar hung from his mouth, practically gnawed to nothing. “More space invaders? Who is it this time? The Martians?”

“The Martians are dead, Chief.” Jimmy Olsen reminded him, busy snapping pictures out the window, leaning so far out that Perry was forced to grab the young man by the belt to keep him from falling. “They died centuries ago--- remember that Martian Manhunter superhero from the fifties.”

Perry steamed. Of course he remembered the Martian Manhunter! He’d covered the story himself when he was just a cub reporter for George Taylor. Got the first and only interview J’onn J’onzz ever gave. But he wasn’t going to try to explain the finer points of facetiousness to Jimmy Olsen right now.

“Get back in here, you idiot!” He bellowed, hauling the younger man back into the room. “Superman will take care of these jokers in short order, and for some reason he only likes you to take his picture, and I’m not going to be the one to explain to him that you fell out a window!” Ash from Perry’s cigar fell on Jimmy’s hair as he scurried out from beneath his employer.

“Perry!” Ron Troupe burst into the office. “Radio and TV are down, but reports are coming in from the wire service from all over the planet. It’s the same everywhere! It’s a full-scale invasion!”

The Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet opened his mouth to say something, but then abruptly shut it again, noticing something in the bullpen outside his office. Or, more accurately, noticing the lack of something.

“Hey--- Where ‘s Lois?”

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Lois Lane rushed out on to the roof of the Daily Planet to get a better view of just what in the blue blazes was going on. The sight that met her was appalling. There was something big in the sky, a planet from whose charred surface jets of fire spurted.

She could only watch in amazement, her hair whipping about in the wind that arose suddenly, as the battleships appeared and opened fire. Their beams lanced the earth, and she threw her hands over her head as if a shielding of flesh and blood could protect her. But, miraculously, the first barrage missed the Daily Planet, as did the ones that followed, though one blast came so close as to shake the building. Lois peeked through her fingers to see Superman attacking the battleships, and watched as one sustained so much damage, it fell into the bay.

“Yes!” She pumped her fist in the air. “Get ‘em, Superman!”

Then the parademons appeared. In orderly files they fell out of the sky and swarmed over the rooftops of the city, firing their laser rifles indiscriminately. She ducked behind the rooftop ledge, narrowly avoiding a laserbolt that left a sizzling hole in the Planet globe behind her.

“Get out of here, you---.” The words died in her throat. A parademon landed on the roof only feet away from her, his insectile face twisted into a grin.

It raised its rifle and took aim. Lois turned and made a beak for the stairs, wincing as the first shot scorched the rooftop just inches from her. It was toying with her; she could hear its amused cackling. The next shot would fry a hole in her back. She determined not to meet her death like that--- she’d never be able to face her father. She spun, grabbing a shoe off her foot and threw it at her attacker.

The parademon easily dodged the projectile, raised his gun again and fired.

Lois braced herself, closing her eyes to spare herself the sight of her death (but opening them at the last moment so she wouldn’t miss it)--- and then Superman was there, as he always was, putting himself between her and danger.

The laserbolt bounced off his impervious chest, and the parademon grunted in surprise. Lois felt like cheering again as the Man of Steel advanced on the alien trooper, who kept firing, determined to bring his enemy down. But Superman bridged the distance in a flash, snatching the weapon away and laying out the parademon with a backhanded blow.

Elated to be alive, Lois rushed into his arms. Adrenalin was coursing through her and there were tears in her eyes. She really thought she had pressed her luck too far this time, that she had finally gotten herself into a jam there was no walking away from…

When she looked up, Superman’s face was close, and she could see that he was just as stirred. He had almost not made it this time… A fraction of a second later and she would have been dead.

Their lips met as if of their own volition. They kissed passionately, urgently, and with a desperation born of the danger swirling all around them still. For a moment, Superman held her close to him, as if he might never get the chance to do so gain, and Lois pressed herself against his firm, unyieldingness.

At last the moment ended. Lois looked up, and saw the look of pain on his face, and for the first time, noticed the smoking holes on the front of his costume, the scorched flesh beneath.

“Their weapons can hurt you!” She gasped, her fingers lingering softly on his chest.

“A little.” He conceded, smiling for her. “Lois, I---.”

“Superman, I---.”

They spoke at the same time, but neither seemed able to finish the sentiment. The look between them was enough.

“You’ve got to get to safety. I can’t do what I have to do if I’m worrying that you’re throwing yourself into harm’s way.” He told her gently. “Promise me you’ll find someplace to wait this out.”

“I promise.” She lied. “I’m more concerned about you. This isn’t like anything you’ve ever faced before. If they can hurt you, they can kill you.” There were tears in her eyes.

He nodded. “I’m going to need help. Find a way to contact the Captains Marvel in Fawcett City. Wonder Woman in New York. That new guy in Coast City, Green Lantern. And try to find the New Gods. They’ll help.”

Lois nodded, and the first tear fell. “You’re talking like you’re not coming back.”

He caressed the curve of her cheek with one finger, wiping away the tear. “I’ll be back, Lois. And then we can talk about what just happened here…”

She moved out of his grasp and allowed him to back away. He waved once, then lifted off, throwing himself back into the never-ending battle.

And she had the most horrible feeling she would never see him again…

[Admin]

He landed downtown, near Centennial Park where the Metropolis Police Department had assembled to meet the parademon assault. Men and women in ‘Steel’ battle suits had gathered and thrown up a command post to coordinate the defence of the city. He sought out John Henry Irons himself, who stepped forward from the ranks and greeted the Man of Tomorrow. He flicked open his visor and gritted his teeth.

“Live or die, these bastards won’t take Metropolis.”

“I hope you’re right.” Superman floated above the ground, the screeching and screaming of the demonic military in the skies above him deafening to the crowds below. He turned and looked at the creatures approaching, and his eyes grew bright with fire. “Because this is war.”

He unleashed his heat vision, and the first wave of parademons fell, and then with a flick of his cape, he rose into the sky, rushing the beasts of Apokolips.

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Earthquakes rattled the world, mighty rifts in the Earth erupted and spouted fire as the planet was strained by the presence of Apokolips in the skies above.

Superman fought with a fury borne of desperation striking down parademon after parademon, yet more emerged from constantly appearing boom tubes. He froze the monsters around him with a burst of arctic breath, and the creatures fell to the streets below, where the MPD began firing their plasma mortars into the sky. Parademons fell out of the sky, their minds exploding with pain. Superman turned to see, but he is engulfed by another wave of the creatures. He cast about him, looking to find a familiar face, and saw the grey familiar figure of Steel, who slammed down on the creatures with his mighty hammer, sending dozens of them flying every which way and direction.

Steel nodded at Superman, and Superman returned the greeting, only to see the hero engulfed by another wave of parademons, and vanish from sight. He reached out for his friend but the monsters shook, blue energy tearing through their being. They erupted in black light, Steel soaring away from the site of the event. He stood side by side with Superman, and the two watched as the parademons regrouped.

Superman took a deep breath and unleashed another almighty blast of arctic breath, taking out row after row of parademons until the skies were momentarily clear.

“This is insane! They’re still coming, everyone we take down another twenty take its place! How can these guys keep it up?”

“I don’t know, John, but it’s happening all over the world!” Superman took another breath, and grabbed Steel, flying both of them up into the sky, into the sun drenched cloud above. “Take a breath, round two is coming up!”

The clouds parted and a dark pestilence of parademons, clambered through the precipitation for a piece of the heroes.

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“Power packs!” Maggie Sawyer fired her weapon in the face of a parademon, sending it hurtling back down the street. “Wide beam, aim it up!”

Dan Turpin nodded and pressed an arrangement of buttons on the plasma artillery, and pulled the trigger, taking out another dozen or so monsters on the streets.

The battle-suited officers fired off their weapons, taking down squad after squad of the monsters, but their size made them vulnerable, and the parademons threw somic charges, blowing apart the weaponized limbs of the suits, and killing the officers inside, and eventually, the monsters surrounded the army of officers.

Suddenly, the creatures stopped their attack, and a loud explosion ripped through the atmosphere.

“What in God’s name…?”

“Sounded like another one of those damned ‘boom’ tubes, ma’am…”

“Loud as hell though, Dan… louder than any other… And something… Like an echo?” She reloaded her weapon and turned to her officers. “Pick up ammo, reload and start shooting! Jus’ because they’ve stopped doesn’t mean it’s a mutually accepted agreement! TAKE ‘EM DOOWN!”

The officers took aim at the creatures, and the parademons fall, but none took their places.

DOOM

An almighty series of explosions filled the air, causing the officers to point up in the sky.

“Hell’s that?” A blur approached from above, landing on the street and tearing up concrete as it approached.

DOOM

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“What is that?” Lois Lane looked from where she and Jimmy were helping a line of non-combatants into a shelter. A blur… Some kind of massive blur moving too fast for the eye to see, and too fast for Jimmy’s camera’s to pick up.

DOOM

DOOM

Superman was engulfed by more and more parademons, the creatures grabbing at his face with razor sharp claws, trying to cause him pain. He released another blast of arctic breath that caused the creatures to fly back and shatter against each other, and then he looked around, a loud noise filling his ears.

DOOM

DOOM

DOOM

There was a long pause as the tremendous pounding ceased…

“What is that?” He was hit square in the jaw by something that tore his cheek, and then slammed down into the street below, the concrete rippling off the ground in the tremendous shock wave. Kal looked up and was about to gasp when two massive feet slammed into him, sending him into the sewers below the city. He spat blood, and looked up, a massive creature standing above him, a green containment suit covering its body. Superman cocked back his fist and got clear of the beast when he was snapped back by an almighty stomp of the creature’s foot, causing him to double back in pain. He unleashed his laser vision on the creatures eyes, hidden away by red goggles, but the creature just began to laugh slowly.

"HR HR HR..."

“W-What are you?”

"HR… HR… BR… BRTH… BRUTHR… "

Superman’s eyes snapped open, in terror, disgust, and surprise.

“K-Kru-El? Did Luthor do this to you?”

"HRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRA!"

He charged Superman, sending him flying into the calf-deep water of the sewer system. He looked up, eyes blazing, and burned into Kru-El’s grey mutated flesh, causing the creature to reel back in pain, shouting so loudly Kal feels his ears begin bleed.

"HRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIAAA! "

Superman lept up, trying to escape the dark tunnels, but the grey mutated Kryptonian jerked up, grabbed his half brother’s ankle, and slammed him into the lead-lined walls, again and again, until he grew tired of this tact, and released. The beast lept up into the sky above, and landed with a crash on the street.

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“Superman!”

The crowd gasped as they saw the creature leap out of the sewers, blood covering its bony protrusions, its grey skin glistening with crimson liquid. Where was Superman?

Lois rushed to the scene, Jimmy at her heels. She scanned the hole in the ground where Superman had last been seen.... And then, a hand began to rise out of the pit. Hands bruised and cut, blood covering the knuckles but a hand… And then another, dragging himself out of the pit. The crowd began to rumble, then cheer, as a beaten and battered Superman rose out of the pit, struggling at first but then determined, strong and then… he smiles, and sets off for the sky.

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The officers screamed as the creature clad in the shreds of his green containment suit tore through their ranks, slicing through flesh and breaking bones.

Dan Turpin was hit square in the back by the flying torso of one of his men, and was sent clattering to the ground, the bloody body bits surrounding him as the creature tore through the good men and women of the force. He grabbed the handle of the plasma mortar, and pushed the body of the man off his own body, then pointed the weapon at the creature, unleashing all the power at it, causing the creature to stumble back, losing its balance slightly, only for it to slam its foot down, and send shockwaves outwards, Dan flying into the air and crashing to the ground with a wet thud.

The Doomsday creature stormed over to him and he slammed his fist down, but Dan rolled away, scrambling around for another weapon, but the creature grabbed his leg, and hurled him up. Dan grabbed a plasma rifle and pointed it at the creature, pressed the trigger but was slammed into the concrete so hard his body liquefied from the force of the blow. Doomsday shrugged off the plasma attack and stepped over Turpin’s wet corpse, and then headed back to the hole where he had left Kal-El.

[Admin]

Without warning, Superman streaked down from the sky, and snatched his mutated half brother, flinging him into space. He turned and looked at where the police department had made their stand and cringed. He couldn’t hear any heartbeats; he smelled the blood and saw the shattered corpses of the men and women who fought beside him so valiantlyfor the past six years. He shook his head, and a massive explosion filled his ears.

BOOM! - KRACKOOOOOOOM!

A cylinder of energy opened up, and the mutated Kryptonian shos back into Metropolis, colliding with Superman’s back, sending them tumbling down the street.

Before Kal could react his head was grabbed and he was thrown through a building, the foundations cracking as Doomsday leaped into the hero, punching him back, not allowing him to get up. Superman looked up, his eyes blazing, and unleashed his heat vision across his brother’s face, fire boring into his eyes, and causing him to stagger back into a support beam that rocked the entire building. Superman saw his chance and punched at his enemy, but his hand was caught in the giant grip of Kru-El, whose deformed mouth stretched into a smile.

Kru began to crush down on his hand, and he screamed. He looked up, about to unleash a barrage of his heat vision, but Kru slammed his fist across his face. Superman jerked back, and then up, shooting through the building, crashing through floor after floor until he reached fresh air, only to be yanked down onto the roof of the tall skyscraper, that began to topple as the two battled. Parademons flooded the sky, surrounding the two combatants, ensuring no one could enter the battle. Superman listened with his enhanced hearing, and Doomsday saw his chance, grabbing Superman’s head and yanking him forward, unleashing a ear splitting roar centimetres away from his half brothers ears, causing Superman to reel back and stumble off the side of the falling building, and hurtle to the ground with an almighty crunch, just as the building collapses upon him, dust and debris settling everywhere as Doomsday leaps to the street below, the impossible smile still contorting over his face.

[Admin]

Never been so badly hurt… Can’t feel… Anything… So tired, so very much… In pain… Eyes, red… Can’t see through the blood, my face so swollen, my heat vision would probably only worsen the wounds… Now I can’t even hear and that creature, apparently my brother, is somewhere, and I’m at his mercy… I need help… Who can help me now, when I can’t even defend myself?

[Admin]

The concrete fell away from Superman as he was pulled from the debris by the massive creature that was once Kru-El, and he’s thrown to the floor, the street shaking once more.

“Hey, dirt bag!”

Doomsday turned and was hit head on by a hammer, sending him flying back onto the street below, and skidding to a stop outside the empty Daily Planet building.

[Admin]

A massive cheer erupted once more, people beginning to chant the name “Steel” over and over, but Lois shook her head, straining against Jimmy to run to Superman’s side. This wasn’t a game of football. This was real life. People were suffering, people were dying, and no one realised that there were stakes too high to count. The Metropolis Police Department had been brutalised, slaughtered by this grey beast, and no one cared. They were caught up in the superheroics, the action, the game that… If Superman and Steel lost… They all lost.

This was it. The end of the world… If Earth’s heroes don’t win… Doomsday.

[Admin]

John Henry Irons lifted up Superman, and took off into the air, shooting through the Parademons that flooded the sky. The two heroes reached the sun light, and Superman looked up, his wounds healing as his body is once more imbued with the sun’s life-giving energy. Steel nodded at Superman, and they looked down as the Parademons shot up like a column of evil and chaos, the screams they released unlike anything they’ve heard before. Steel pressed a button on the gauntlet on his hand, and a black and white beam of power shoots out, hitting the Parademons and sucking them into the vortex he had created.

Superman shook his head, confused. “I- I made that, John…”

“What?”

“I created that device… Last year… After Zod left Earth… It’s a phantom zone gauntlet…”

“I surmised that, Superman… I have been using it to send theses bastards to that blasted place… I’m just wondering how an identical duplicate of you ended up with it on, and Metropolis vanished from Earth for two days…”

Superman released himself from Steel’s grip and shot back down to the city, his eyes blazing with powerAs he approached Doomsday, who started running towards him, he unleashed all his pent up frustration in one massive attack, sending them both flying in opposite directions. Doomsday rolled to the ground, dazed, and Superman floated towards him, his cape and uniform in tatters, blood covering him.

“THIS ENDS NOW, KRU!”

The monster screamed and leaped into the air, Superman hot on his heels. They landed atop the Daily Planet building, grappling before their feet touched the rooftop.

HrrrrRRRRRAAAARGGGGGGGH!!!! Doomsday wrenched the Daily Planet globe off its struts and slammed it down on Superman, dashing it to a million pieces. Superman emerged from the wreckage and uppercut his foe, slamming the wreckage of the globe atop Doomsday, knocking him across the skyline and into a Soder Cola billboard, which exploded in a brilliant display of pyrotechnics. The Man of Steel took to the sky to press his advantage searching for where Doomsday had fallen. Rubble exploded as Doomsday shot up and punched him, again and again, and the brothers begin to approach where Steel waited with his phantom zone gauntlet…

[Admin]

Steel saw the two grappling enemies approach him, and tried to activate the beam on the gauntlet, but it shook and vibrated, and then abruptly power shot up, an impossible amount, the beam widening, absorbing more and more matter, moving towards Superman and the Doomsday creature! Steel pressed every button, trying to turn the gauntlet off, but it began to glow, and he tore it from his armour, trying to remove it from the power supply. The gauntlet floated in midair, and John felt his jaw drop. It had become self sufficient, using the matter it stole from the parademons to fuel itself! He looked around, and watched as Superman was wrenched into the beam of the phantom zone gauntlet, and began to loose matter on his face…

[Admin]

The pain is excruciating, more so than the beating I was taking at Kru’s hands. My body is trying to be sucked into the bright light, but his grip is too tight, and my being is neither here nor there, stuck between places… I feel like my bones are being wrenched out of my body, my blood is boiling and everything aches like never before…

[Admin]

“STOP!”

Superman unleashed a gust of Arctic breath, freezing Kru-El, and allowing him time to wrench himself free, and pound the creature back. He grabbed the bony spikes on his enemy’s shoulders and swung him back into the phantom zone ray.

BRRRRRUUUUUTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRR!

Superman caught his lost breath and composed himself, watching as Doomsday flickered in and out of reality, and was whipped into the gauntlet’s portal. The gauntlet popped as Doomsday was absorbed, but the beam didn’t stop there. It seemed to fracture, and then a massive explosion ripped through the sky as it collapsed in on itself, and burst with more powerful than before.

BOOM!

Steel stumbled back in midair, the gauntlet exploding in a burst of light, and then watched as his gear began to fail on him. His armour suddenly lost its energy source, his body turning unearthly cold… What was happening? He thought through everything, trying desperately to reroute his subroutines to power his armour… The phantom zone blast had just sucked every ounce of energy out of his suit, leaving him near lifeless… He collided with the ground hard, his armour dead weight, and John Henry Irons… didn’t get up.

[Admin]

Superman stumbled up off the ground, trying to get his bearings. He was about to lift off into the sky to find John when Doomsday appeared from nowhere, kicked Superman in the knee and caused him to double over in pain. The monster followed through with a punch to the jaw that sent his brother flying, blood and spit flying from the hero’s face. Superman turned, attempting to unleash his heat vision but Doomsday covered his half brother’s head with his massive grey hand. There was a burst of red light around Superman’s head, and then Doomsday began to press around his enemy’s face, causing Kal to scream in agony. He released him, and Superman fell to the ground, only to be kicked up by Doomsday’s booted foot, and sent hurtling into another building.

Doomsday smiled and lept over to Superman’s battered body, spoke. “You thnkk… You can stop… The inevitable?”

Superman looked up at the creature’s semblance of intelligence, some how able to string together words that were not its own. “The alpha… and the omega… Is coming… You will kneel… Before…” Doomsday brought his fist up over Superman’s bloody head, and grabbed his neck with his free hand. “DARKSEID!” He slammed his fist down, knocking out the Man of Steel, and sending him sprawling to the floor.

Kru-El slowly falls, the pain of his own transformation overcoming him, and he lay on the floor, his body shifting and growing, his bones stretching, his muscles expanding… And then a massive explosion filled the air, and the two Kryptonians, corrupted and otherwise, are dragged through the dimensional portal, and taken to Apokolips…

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Silence. The residents of Metropolis were silent. Superman had fallen. The creature he was battling had fallen as well but… Superman had fallen. A massive explosion wracked Metropolis as a tube of pure light shot out of nowhere, and small creatures drag both combatants into it, and then nothing, a pop as the tube vanished, and then silence. Metropolis was silent. Steel lay motionless beneath rubble, the blood of Superman everywhere, the sky darkened by the parademons patrols in the sky above.

Metropolis… Had fallen.

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Lex Luthor smiled, looking dangerous in his black power suit, his gold cufflinks twinkling in the gleam of the red fires of Apokolips. The smell of burning flesh and sulphur filled his nostrils, the stench of death and destruction so close to him. He was in hell, and he was walking through the front door to sell his soul.

In front of him was an empty stone throne, and as he leaned against a wall, waiting, he heard a shuffling of metal down the corridor, and without any warning, Superman was thrown forward in front of the throne, in heavy, unearthly chains, bloody from wounds caused by Doomsday.

Lex looked up from Superman’s battered body, and his eyes widened as a being that seemed to be carved out of grey stone sat atop the throne, his eyes blazing red, his brow arching over those dark mahogany pits, and his muscles like sculpted steel. He wore a black uniform, regal in nature, but dirty, gritty, reflecting the nature of this world. He looked at the fallen Kryptonian, and then at Lex Luthor.

“You have done well, human.”

“I usually do, great Darkseid.” Lex conceded. He was filled with a swelling feeling of triumph. Superman, in chains on the ground. How long had he waited to see this…? At last, he had won.

“You wanted something in return for the capture of this ‘great hero’ did you not?”

“I want Metropolis, the greatest city on Earth…” Lex managed to keep his composure as he made his demands of a god. He was getting excited. “I want Metropolis safe.”

“Safe?” Darkseid seemed amused by Luthor’s words, and slowly rose out of his throne. “Safe? None are safe from my wrath. I am Alpha, I am Omega, I am the beginning of everything and the end of all. Nothing is safe!”

Lex stumbled back against the wall, momentary taken aback by the godly ire he had roused.

Darkseid’s lip curled… and he sat again.

“But your wish is granted. My parademons shall cease the assault on Metropolis, your city shall be spared. Unless…” Darkseid trailed off into silence.

“Unless what, merciful Darkseid?”

“Unless I change my mind.” And with that, red beams of light streaked from Darkseid’s glowing eyes, and hit Lex in the chest, leaving him shaking in his twenty thousand dollar shoes.

Nothing happened.

“W-What?”

“Tracker beams. Goodbye, human.”

A massive explosion of light and power burst out from where the original beams came from, and then Luthor was gone in a flash of black and brilliance.

Struggling in the inerton chains that sapped his will and strength, Superman managed to pull himself up on one knee, his chin out and his fists shacking in his shackles.

“Why…?” Was all he could think to say.

The dark god sat atop his cold throne, considered his prisoner, and the question. At last he answered.

“I could conquer the universe. Become the master of a corporeal realm. I need only stretch out my hand, and unleash my hordes upon the worlds and it is done. Earth shall prove but a momentary diversion. But, for whatever reason, on this mudball, this insignificant speck in the cosmos, the components of the Anti-Life Equation lay within my grasp. And with the Equation, I shall become the lord of all that live, batter down the Source Wall and become the Master of All Realities.”

Horror filled the Man of Steel. Darkseid had pronounced this like a prophecy. Like it was already accomplished.

“I will spend every ounce of my life to see that never comes to pass!” Superman bite off each word with conviction.

The dark god seemed to be genuinely amused. “No. I will spend every ounce of your life. You see, I need you, Superman. The components of the Anti-Life Equation are locked within the DNA of certain species.” He arose from his throne, towering menacingly over Superman. He grabbed the Man of Steel around the throat and lifted him, squirming, off the floor. “I have looked long and hard for a Kryptonian specimen.”

Superman struggled for breath, Darkseid’s laughter ringing in his ears. The dark god waved, and a stone panel behind his throne slid away, revealing a grotesque scene: hanging there, crucified on a static energon field and groaning piteously, were two figures. The first was an Oan, his normally placid features contorted in agony, and the second was a fluid, morphing being struggling merely to keep its shape, but still trapped--- was that J’onn J’onzz, the legendary Martian Manhunter of the early days of superheroes…?

And there were two empty spaces.

Darkseid hung Superman on the wall next to the Oan, and the Kryptonian was too weak to resist. He writhed as the energon field fried his nerves, the inerton sapping his strength.

Darkseid surveyed his trophy collection, well pleased.

“Desaad shall be along shortly, Kryptonian. And his ministrations will not be gentle. I lack but one frail mortal to complete the Anti-Life Equation. My agents seek him even now, and I shall take great pleasure in extracting the information from his DNA with my own hands…!”

“I--- I’m not the only defender of Earth…!” Superman clenched his teeth. “Heroes--- will rise against you.”

Darkseid loomed over Superman, grabbing him by the hair, forcing his head up. “Many have tried before. None have survived. I will deliver a holocaust to this planet.”

“We will stop you.” Superman gasped into the teeth of the tyrant.

“You will try.” Darkseid snarled.

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CRISIS: THE APOKOLIPS IMPERATIVE CONTINUES THIS WEEK IN TALES OF THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #10!

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