"Ugh."
Harley Quinn squinted up at the sky, watching two figures streak past, missile in tow. "So, what exactly am I supposed to feel right now?"
Deadshot's eyes followed the flight, tense. "Whatever you want, but pray that missile doesn't fall. If it's a nuclear warhead, we're all going to hell with Black Spider."
Harley stuck out her tongue defiantly. "I won't go to hell. You'll go. A loving woman like me isn't abandoned by God."
Deadshot gave her a flat, cold look.
"This is the first time I've heard someone like you talk about having a heart," she added teasingly.
"Of course I have a heart," he replied dryly, "but it's usually reserved for my little pudding and the kittens I like."
High above the city, Adrian flew at terrifying speed, closing in on the descending missile. Using a combination of the Homelander Template and the residual biological field inherited from Doomsday, he wrapped his power around the missile, redirecting its trajectory. With a decisive grip, he accelerated, propelling it back toward its origin.
Clark followed at maximum speed, both of them streaking through the atmosphere at over Mach 10.
"Adrian!" Clark shouted, alarm coursing through him. Seeing the missile headed back toward populated areas, dread spiked in his chest. "Where are you going? Just push it out of the atmosphere if you want to destroy it!"
Adrian didn't answer immediately. His gaze was cold, unwavering. "I don't accept gifts from others without returning them," he said firmly. "Whoever sent this, they'll get it back the way it came."
Clark clenched his fists, frustration mounting. "If it lands in a city, countless lives will be lost!"
Adrian smirked faintly, unyielding. "This is war, Clark. You're too soft. That mindset won't save anyone."
"It's not war," Clark insisted, chasing alongside him. "We can resolve this. People fear what they don't understand. Once they see what we've done, their doubts will vanish. Just a little hope, Adrian—hope for the people."
"I'm not you," Adrian said sharply. "I believe in an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
Without warning, he struck Clark. The force sent Clark tumbling downward, struggling to regain control midair.
Adrian seized the opportunity, steering the missile with ruthless precision. It surged across the sky, a deadly streak aimed at the launch base in Washington.
Clark forced himself forward, intercepting the missile just in time. Flames licked the sky behind them as he shot upward, sending the weapon into orbit, where it would do no harm. Adrian didn't intervene. Instead, he glared coldly at the distant White House, his eyes cutting like ice.
Inside, officials watched in disbelief. The man who had earlier sent panic coursing through their veins now hovered ominously in the distance. One gray-haired official's voice shook. "He… they…"
"If nuclear weapons can't stop them, then what hope do we have?" he muttered.
Suddenly, a brilliant flash lit the horizon—a nuclear detonation. The official's heart leapt. Perhaps there was a way to contain them, he thought.
Then the satellite feed updated. Superman, calm and unscathed, stood in space, gazing down at Earth. The explosion's brilliant light rippled harmlessly around him.
"Ugh!"
Meanwhile, Boomerang Captain writhed in Metropolis Central Hospital. Electrodes strapped to his temples sent over a thousand volts of electricity through his body. Ordinary humans would have died instantly. He gritted his teeth, enduring the excruciating shock, willing it to succeed in disabling the bomb in his head.
"Ahhh!"
Pain ripped through him despite his efforts to remain silent.
"Sir, are you… okay?" a nervous doctor asked.
"No! You try it yourself!" he spat, teeth gritted. He had agreed to this treatment, trusting the doctors to dismantle the bomb with the high-voltage shock, yet the pain was relentless.
The current climbed higher, and Boomerang Captain screamed, clenching his head as if it would split.
Then, in a horrifying instant, his head exploded. The explosion radiated outward, obliterating everything in its immediate vicinity. Doctors closest to him were reduced to dust.
The hospital convulsed under the shockwave. Corridors and wards were torn apart. Patients were thrown, some fleeing, others stunned into immobility.
On the second floor, Lana was tending to Jonathan when the tremor hit. She barely had time to react, throwing herself in front of him to shield him from the blast.
Then, in the chaos, Adrian appeared. In one motion, he scooped up the unconscious Jonathan and vanished, leaving behind the exploding ward.
Far below, civilians at an outdoor coffee shop were thrown to the ground by the shockwave. Flames consumed the hospital, spreading panic.
"Oh my God! The hospital exploded!"
"Call ambulances and fire trucks!"
Amidst the chaos, Amanda Waller watched silently in X Task Force Headquarters. The display confirmed the devastation. Two bombs had detonated inside operative heads, the force enough to annihilate the building.
"So I was used?" she said, her voice cold and incredulous. "I didn't trigger the detonation, yet the bombs went off. The explosion was enough to destroy an entire building!"
Her eyes swept across the command room, taking in her team. Most were pawns, manipulated by politicians. Even as the commander of the so-called X Task Force, she herself had been a pawn.
"But you've started a war—a war with no end in sight."
The room fell silent, the enormity of the consequences settling over everyone.
The city burned, chaos reigned, and Adrian and Clark remained the uncontested arbiters of its fate, moving as forces beyond human comprehension, leaving devastation in their wake.
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