The impact of Clark's fist meeting Adrian's strike detonated through the air with a violent force.
Bang.
The collision sent a shockwave ripping outward, the atmosphere itself trembling under the pressure of their blows.
Gordon and Harvey Bullock, positioned close to the center of the battlefield, were forced to retreat repeatedly just to stay upright. Even at a distance, the residual force made it hard to breathe, as if the air had turned heavy and hostile.
Gordon felt a rare sense of helplessness rise within him. Whatever these two beings were, they no longer belonged in the category of human conflict. They were closer to disasters colliding than fighters exchanging blows.
Clark was pushed back from the initial exchange. He widened the distance immediately, choosing to reset the engagement rather than continue trading directly.
He understood something clearly now. In a straight confrontation, he was currently inferior to Adrian.
Ever since the Trigon invasion, something about Adrian had shifted. His abilities no longer followed the familiar trajectory Clark recognized. Instead, Adrian's strength and speed had accelerated unnaturally, evolving into something sharper and more violent with each encounter.
A suffocating aura radiated from Adrian's body, dense with destruction and aggression. It was not just power. It felt like instinct, like an apex predator that existed to erase anything in its path.
Clark felt it clearly. There was pressure in the air around Adrian, something primal that made his body react instinctively.
As if Adrian was a natural predator, and Clark was being recognized as prey.
Even without fully understanding the source, Clark could sense it. Adrian's current state, tied to the Doomsday template, was fundamentally wrong in a way that defied simple explanation.
Adrian moved first.
Heat vision erupted from his eyes, twin red beams tearing through the air at extreme speed.
Clark reacted instantly, lifting off the ground with controlled flight. He rose just enough for the laser to miss, the beam slicing through a nearby vehicle and continuing into a concrete wall, leaving a molten scar behind.
Without hesitation, Adrian dropped low and launched himself upward. The ground beneath him fractured violently as his body shot into the sky like a fired projectile.
The sonic boom followed almost immediately, striking Clark's senses like a physical blow.
Before Clark could fully adjust, Adrian was already in front of him.
High above the city, Adrian struck without hesitation. A single punch drove forward with crushing force.
Clark raised his arms just in time, but the impact still forced him backward through the air. The force was so heavy it disrupted his balance, sending him spinning before he stabilized himself.
Clark realized quickly that Adrian was not holding back in any way.
Adrian hovered in place, expression cold and unreadable.
"Clark, you are still not ready. You are still too weak."
Clark steadied himself midair, breathing controlled but heavier than before. He responded without backing down.
"Cyborg, Nightwing, Deathstroke, Black Canary. You are working with them and planning around me. I know what you are doing, Adrian. I know your objective. But relying on them will not end this the way you think it will."
Clark's voice carried frustration, but also conviction.
"I have failed before. Many times. But I have never stopped trying to pull you back from this path."
He continued, his tone tightening.
"You say I do not understand Father. That I live under his shadow. You are wrong. I understand him better than you think. In his eyes, I had a responsibility. In mine, he was someone I trusted completely. That trust is not weakness."
Clark's expression hardened slightly.
"I am not all powerful. I hesitate when things matter most. But I still choose to believe in what he taught us. I believe in the instinct to do good that exists within our family."
"That is where we differ. After Father died, you rejected everything he stood for. I chose to continue forward."
Clark exhaled slowly.
"There is no perfect path. But there is always the chance to correct the one we are on."
Adrian tilted his head slightly.
"So you are not completely irrational after all."
Clark did not respond immediately.
Adrian continued without pause.
"You want to be the kind of hero who saves cats from trees and calls it responsibility. Anything beyond that you reject as unnecessary. That is your limit."
His tone sharpened.
"That mindset is not heroism. It is hesitation disguised as morality."
Clark's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You think this world will improve because you restrict yourself. But it will not. Gotham remains what it is regardless of how long Batman fights it. The city does not change easily. And neither does anything else."
"You understand responsibility, but you limit your own ability to act. You try to protect everyone, yet fail to protect those closest to you."
Clark's voice rose slightly.
"Jonathan and Lana suffered because of that failure. And Alicia as well."
Clark's expression changed instantly at the mention.
"Do not say that name."
His eyes briefly glowed red, emotion breaking through his restraint.
Adrian did not stop.
"Then prepare yourself."
In an instant, Adrian accelerated.
He closed the distance in a blur and appeared directly in front of Clark.
His arm drew back, muscles tightening with concentrated force, and then he struck.
Clark raised both arms to block.
The impact detonated through the air again, space itself seeming to distort under the pressure.
Clark managed to redirect part of the force, then immediately countered with a strike of his own. His punch landed against Adrian's chest.
Adrian did not dodge.
He absorbed the hit directly, then responded instantly with a knee strike to Clark's chin, freezing his movement for a split second.
That opening was enough.
Adrian followed with a heavy punch, fully committed.
Clark was launched across the sky like a projectile, crashing through a large tree, then a vehicle, before finally carving a trench into the ground and collapsing into a roadside coffee shop.
The entire structure shattered on impact.
Meanwhile, another battle had escalated nearby.
Wonder Woman and Amy were locked in combat.
Amy, who had inherited Clark's abilities, lacked the experience to control them properly. Before this, her only real fights were street level encounters, crude and unrefined, where she relied more on instinct than skill.
Against Wonder Woman, that was not enough.
Amy charged forward, flying at high speed.
Wonder Woman raised her shield and met the impact head on.
The collision echoed sharply. Amy was thrown back instantly, losing control and crashing into the ground hard enough to form a crater.
Dust rose around her as she struggled to recover.
The gap between expectation and reality hit her harder than the impact itself. She had imagined becoming a hero effortlessly. Instead, she was being overpowered without being able to respond meaningfully.
Wonder Woman descended, sword in hand, and approached.
Amy tried to grab her wrist in a counter move, but Wonder Woman immediately shifted and nearly severed her hand with a precise strike.
Amy pulled back just in time.
Wonder Woman lifted her by the collar without effort.
"Still inexperienced."
She threw Amy again. Amy crashed into a car, deforming it completely.
Pain radiated through Amy's body, but she forced herself to speak.
"Even if you kill me, it does not prove anything."
Wonder Woman paused briefly, mildly amused.
Amy continued.
"If you are confident, fight me without weapons. Just fists."
Wonder Woman ignored the challenge and instead produced the Lasso of Truth.
Before it could be used, Clark arrived, moving at speed despite his injuries.
He grabbed Amy and escaped immediately, breaking away from Wonder Woman's position.
From a distance, Gordon and Harvey Bullock observed the situation unfolding.
Clark's retreat confirmed the shift in momentum.
Harvey spoke first, disbelief clear.
"He is actually losing."
Gordon's phone rang at that moment. It was Barbara.
Her voice was urgent.
"Dad, is Superman winning?"
Gordon looked toward the battlefield.
"No. He is retreating."
On the other end, Barbara's concern increased.
"If Superman falls, there is no one left who can stop him."
Gordon's expression tightened, but he remained grounded.
"I cannot interfere at that level. I am just a man."
He had already tried higher authority once before. It had led nowhere.
Then he took out a small capsule he had received earlier.
Harvey watched closely.
"What is that?"
Gordon answered simply.
"A change in outcome."
He swallowed it.
Harvey reacted immediately.
"You actually took it."
Moments later, Gordon's body changed. Strength surged through him rapidly, replacing fatigue with raw power. He tested it instinctively, crushing a bullet between his fingers with ease.
Harvey stared in shock.
"You just became a metahuman."
Gordon did not deny it.
"Apparently."
Nearby, Barry Allen stood in a hospital corridor, watching over a recovered patient. His thoughts were conflicted, split between the consequences of recent events.
A woman approached him, Dr. Norris from the Frontier Science and Genetics Lab, speaking with familiarity and confidence.
She referenced recent events involving speed and heroism, acknowledging Barry's abilities and the incident tied to S.T.A.R. Labs and Harrison Wells.
Barry listened, unsure how she already knew so much.
She gestured toward a young patient in the ward, identified as Michael Davis, also known as Sunstar Hero.
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