‘‘Selfless’: “concerned more with the needs and wishes of others than with one’s own; unselfish.””.
Memories echoed against the noir landscape, bouncing between the debris once called a moon. Superman was a lone color in an unending sea of black.
“You have great power, son. Someday the world is going to look to you for answers, but it is going to fear you, too. It’s very important that you never misuse your gifts. Never use them for your own sake.”
“That sounds stupid, boring and annoying! I want to see just how strong I really am.”
‘The old man’s lone reply was a stern expression’.
‘‘Selfless’: “concerned more with the needs and wishes of others than with one’s own; unselfish.”’.
‘Pa told me to never be selfish, to always protect others. That’s what it meant to be a ‘man’. I don’t mind protecting the weak, but…when was it I stopped being that fiery little kid?’
First two, then three marks attempted to cover the young Clark. He could be neither tackled, nor touched. The football was firmly tucked under his armpit, impossible to dislodge even as he zoomed toward the end zone. He was the first ace running back that could double as a lineman in the history of the Kansas High School Football League. College scouts were incredulous; the Kansas City Chiefs were breaking the bank just to court him after graduation.
‘It was all for naught. I remember, now; that day.’
Coast City High and Smallville High were competing in the national championship. ‘Coast had the toughest line in the League, their defense was legendary. I was hungry, hungry to crush their line into the ground and shit on their legacy.’
The ace junior, Clark Kent, slammed into his opposing lineman. The struggle to hold his position without using too much of his strength was the real challenge. ‘You’re strong, but I’m stronger!’ Young Clark grinded his cleats into the turf deeper, pushing his opponent back. A devilish grin grew upon his face as he asserted his dominance. Suddenly, a strike to the chest and a quick spin sent Clark flying forward. For the first time in his life someone had sacked the quarterback on his watch, his dearly beloved boyfriend. The Smallville ace’s face contorted with rage. “Haha, wonder if I nailed your boyfriend before you did, faggot!” On the next play Clark Kent broke the lineman and opposing quarterback’s arms.
“You have great power, son. Someday the world is going to look to you for answers, but it is going to fear you, too. It’s very important that you never misuse your gifts. Never use them for your own sake.”
‘Goddamn it, will you stop telling me who to be?’ Kent thought to himself, frustrated at the time but refusing to let that fire out.
‘Clark Kent never touched a football again,’ Kent thought of himself. “I abused my power. I disappointed everyone; first Pa and Ma, then the world.”
A voice dug up through the earth to reach his ears, “That wasn’t your fault, son. You learned your lesson.” Ma Kent stood before her adopted son, the unending sea of black holding two.
“I only fell under Darkseid’s control because I recklessly challenged him,” the graveness was deeply rooted. “He kept trying to tell me who I was. I learned nothing.”
“He’s right, Martha. He failed.”
Clark turned to his back, a judging Pa Kent boring through his soul; those condemning eyes placing their hands around his neck, choking him.
“No, Jonathan, he tried his best.”
“Trying doesn’t mean succeeding.”
Conflict brewed, The Man of Steel’s soul cracked like glass. Anxiety built; his parents’ arguing grew only louder, rougher. Pa resorted to violence, the brutal beating of his wife paralyzing their son. The brutality before him continued and bit-by-bit Clark felt filled with pleasure—relief. “God, yes. Thank you…” He was fourteen again, stroking himself as he bathed in the glow of having his self-disgust reassured.
Content washed over Clark’s face as he watched Pa tear the intestines from his screaming wife.
***
Clark returned to the battlefield, his anxiety subsided. His belief was substantiated. His guilt warranted. ‘Putting that Saiyan on trial is the right thing to do!’ Leaping out from his shelter, The Man of Steel sped towards the goal line.
Son Gokuu waited patiently, his sharpened cyan eyes carefully absorbing the speed and timing of his foe. Finally, with a side-step, the Saiyan grabbed the Kryptonian as he darted past and swung him back towards Planet Nele. Within seconds Superman crashed through the atmosphere of the planet and slammed into the ocean below. Escaping the torrential tides was of little difficulty, the first time. Son Gokuu made sure to deliver an unexpected right hook to send his bewildered foe right back down into the ocean below. Teeth clenched, The Man of Steel fired off a blast of heat vision, only for it to be dodged handedly. The might of the heat was so grand that a half dozen miles worth of ocean exploded into steam.
Calming his ki aura, Son Gokuu hid amongst the steam, appearing and disappearing from his foe’s grasp at the last second. The battle of hide-and-seek continued for what seemed like an eternity to The Man of Tomorrow. Finally, his crazed mind made sense of the situation. Superman’s eyes sharpened and he caught sight of his foe.
***
The halls of the Watchtower were as silent as they were empty. Few technicians and operators manned their workstations. Those that did divided their attention poorly between work and the battle unfolding on Planet Nele. Operator Leander dared to call for an assembly of a team to deal with an erupting volcano on some small island in the Pacific Ocean. The poor schmuck was unceremoniously bullied the next day for pulling the team of Justice League commandos away from their monitors.
The Batman stood in shock. Son Gokuu had destroyed the moon surrounding Planet Nele with ease. Staring at earlier energy readings did little to help his mind understand the possibility of such a capricious being existing. His body felt light, yet like lead. Not only had the battle on the screen drained his psyche, it had poisoned his body. Accumulated sweat beneath his cowl birthed a growing physical agitation to further drive The Caped Crusader mad. Risking exposure to members of the League he had yet to reveal his identity to, The Batman doffed his mask.
Eyes ever consuming, Vegeta let out a soft reaction, “Ho, so he’s an ‘ikeman’, too.”
Bruce pushed past the pull of his instincts and closed the distance between himself and the Saiyan prisoner. Scrubbing his newly un-gloved hand through his damp hair, Bruce scowled as the comment before asking “What next?”
Composure of utter relaxation, Vegeta grinned anew, “It’s more fun if you don’t know the ending the first time around.”
Hunger plaguing his stomach, Bruce Wayne wished he hadn’t felt so sure he already knew the ending.
***
Clouds amassed across Planet Nele. Thickening like frozen whipped cream they stormed, suffocating the planet in lightning and thunder both purple and blue. Death was in the air.
A hawk, wings spread wide, soared below the symphony of death above it. Sonata followed cantata, strengthening the hawk’s fear. A bolt of purple lightning threatened to fry the hawk but the bolt lived too short and died too soon to surpass the experience of the eons old heir to the Accipitridae. The chorus of thunder was too eager, pulsating too loudly and too quickly to be an effective enough prelude to terror. “No, today I will live.”
Swooping down, the hawk caught sight of a school of fish. Faster and faster they swam, knowing naught of what fate awaited them. “Providence smiles upon few in this world,” the hawk spoke in hushed tones. Prey was meant to give the predator continued breath.
No fish within the school had the capacity to understand the length of time it took for the hawk to consume it and its seven thousand five hundred eighteen fellows.
***
Despite using the Zanzou-ken to create afterimages the battle maniac found himself receiving more and more damage across his body. With the steam blinding his vision, Clark’s golden aura filling the entire cloud and various attempts at escaping the massive cloud stopped, the Saiyan was but able to rely only on immediate, close-range counterattacks to properly hit his foe.
With his cannon blast straights being swept easily to the side with a flick of the wrist, the scowling superhero switched to hooks aimed straight at his foe’s wrists.
It didn’t take long for the pain in his wrists to build. Grinning brilliantly, Son Gokuu caught Clark’s timing and broke his momentum with a nasty right upper to the jaw. Too his shock, The Man of Steel found himself break into a devilish grin when he realized the Saiyan’s wrists were now too pounded to deliver the same forceful blows they had before. Images of his guilt flickered in his mind, snapping him from his reprieve.
Seeing his opponent disregard his brief escape, Gokuu broke off from his planned assault and hid amongst the steam once more. “Ain’t you wonderin’ why I haven’t blown this steam away yet?” the Saiyan called out.
It was as if his voice was bouncing off of the moisture in the air, making it impossible to pinpoint Son with but his hearing.
A smiling dark-haired woman leaned toward him. She popped brilliantly against the strong blue background in her cute red dress jacket. If he didn’t avert his gaze The Man of Steel found that…he felt strong. A pang of guilt blossomed but feeling adventurous Superman pushed it down.
Spitting blood to the side, Kent replied with a shout of his own: “You’re tired; you’re trying to conserve energy. Me, though? I can keep going all day!” The stained-glass specter of Pa flickered over Clark’s consciousness as he realized the arrogance behind his façade. Mister Kent’s face contorted as his strength shattered like a stained glass window caught in an earthquake.
“Hah, maybe, but I ain’t ‘bout to let this fight end just yet! Why ain’t you using your vision to track me down?”
A dagger pierced The Man of Steel from the front. With a face contorting with the realization of his own hubris, Superman bore through the steam cloud with his stare.
Leaning forward, the dark-haired woman frowned.
Locking onto his target, Big Blue dashed through the air and slammed his strongest right fist into the torso of Son Gokuu. It took but half a second for him to realize a fist had planted itself into his snout, the fist of Son Gokuu, breaking it once again. Vision turning to red, Superman unleashed a furious storm of blows, crushing through the Saiyan’s hastily cobbled together defense and cracking bone after bone.
“That’s more like it!” Grabbing his foe’s left arm, the battle maniac Saiyan dislocated Clark’s left shoulder and used the ensuing break in his focus to slam two close-range ki blasts straight into what he hoped was his foe’s eyes, only for his follow-up to be met with two piercing heat blasts through the palms.
Both combatants withered in pain, neither willing to give.
Clark instinctively transferred solar energy to his eyes, not simply repairing but rebuilding them. Taking advantage of his foe’s tortured palms, Superman popped his left shoulder back into place and swung with a right followed by a left, only for the blow to lack any real power.
“It’s gonna take longer than that to recover from my attacks!” Kicking what remained of his boots off at the Kryptonian, Son Gokuu unleashed a Kamehame-Ha through his feet. The massive close-range blast swallowed the bewildered superhero whole.
Moments passed before the blast explosion settled. The steam cloud Superman had created had been mostly blown away or settled at this point, finally giving both combatants clear sightings. Clark found himself short of breath as he lowered himself to a nearby beach. “When the hell was the last time I was short of breath?” he wondered aloud.
The dark-haired woman placed her right upon his left shoulder and craned her body forward to his left. Her smile rejuvenated him. His fists tightened. The more he let himself think of Her, the more his desire to battle grew. She gently pushed him forward. Pa lying over the dead Ma flickered through his mind. Pain paved Kent’s face. The dark-haired woman ran around and blocked his vision of the scene of domestic abuse, leaned toward him and pressed her face close to his. She wore a scolding scowl, accompanied by a naked apron play. Before he knew it the kitchen of the old Kent house was replaced with another. Before he knew it he could not see his guilt. Before he knew it he knew what he wanted. Before he knew it he swore to never forsake it again. Before he knew it, he was Her.
***
Lois Lane, sporting her side-shave, leapt on her taller girlfriend’s back and covered her eyes with her palms, “Guess who?” she giggled, not making it very difficult to guess. Biting her lip with a carefree smile, Lois’ taller girlfriend—whose countered her girlfriend’s side-shaven cut with a more basic mane of jet black hair—used her super strength to twirl her girlfriend in front of her and against the counter. As the aromatic dinner currently simmering on the stove sauntered up their noses, Clare nuzzled her newly reconstructed nose against her girlfriends. “Missed ya,” the tall, slender woman whispered in her familiar husk, “Hope everything went well at work.”
Stealing a kiss from her girlfriend’s lips, Lois pushed free of her girlfriend’s grasp to rest her bottom on the kitchen counter, “Oh yeah, usual shit. Those fuckers at the Pentagon keep dodging my calls about that missing twenty-one trillion!”
Leaning over to test the heat of the sauce, Clare plucked a finger into the pot and gave it a taste. The tangy taste tactfully turned her smile wider.
“Wow girl, ever hear of COOTIES?! Girl’s got them, y’know! GOSH!”
Lois’ exaggerated joke elicited a soft laugh from Clare. Dipping her finger back in, Clare stroke her now sauce-covered finger down her girlfriend’s nose and stifled her giggle by inserting it into her mouth. “What, afraid of catching cooties, Miss Lane?”
Nearly gagging on her girlfriend’s gag, Lois pulled the model-esque woman’s digit from her mouth, “Duh, Miss Kent! Everyone. Knows. Girls. Are. Icky!” Each sentence, a kiss.
A devilish grin adorning her face the Kryptonian woman lifted her lesbian lover into a princess-carry and marched off to the couch, “I was going to ask if you wanted dinner, a bath or me first but I guess it’s me! Don’t worry; I’ve got a sweat kink too, Miss Lane!”
The lilt of Clare’s voice sent shivers up Lois’ body as she pulled her girlfriend’s face down for a kiss as she was laid on the couch, “Dirty dyke!”
Getting atop her moistening girlfriend, Clare doffed her apron and finally set free “…those glorious titties all day!” Copping a feel, Lois bit her red-stained lips, “Come to Mama, Milkies!”
Heat swarmed and gestated in Clare’s penis, the touch of her lover’s warm, soft palm driving her cock to stiffness. Doing in for another kiss an explosion in the distance caught Clare’s attention and she pulled back.
“Babe, what is it?”
“Shit, fuck!” there goes a perfectly good boner, “Gas line explosion at the elementary school. Sorry sweetie, I gotta—”
Pulling herself up on her elbows Lois had only a smile and a quip, eyes soft and more than forgiving, “Sounds like a job for Superwoman. Just don’t get your cooties on anyone else, Missy!”
Shaking her head, fighting back a grin, Clare held up both middle fingers before touching them to her lips and blowing a kiss, “Be back soon!” And, with a swift grab and slap of a belt buckle from the kitchen serving hatch onto her waist Clare was enraptured in the costume of Superwoman.
Lois wrapped herself in the couch blanket and watched her girlfriend fly off from the apartment balcony toward adventure once again.
***
Clark Kent kicked off the beach and tackled Son Gokuu, mid-air. The speeding bullet of varied colors slammed into the continent across the ocean and tore through it until finally reaching a mountain. Kent cursed as his foe broke his hold but would not give. Seeking to slam his foe back into the ground, Superman lunged forward, only to be sent flying back by an uppercut kick.
A beaming Son Gokuu dashed forward and unleashed a nasty combination of blows on the still-reeling Superman. Aiming for vitals, Son Gokuu slammed elbows, knees and feet into the most critical areas of his foe’s torso. “I already broke your nose, let’s see if I can stop your breathing anyway else!”
‘If he stops me from breathing I’ll have to use more solar energy to function!’ thoughts raced through The Man of Steel’s mind as he tried to spring back into action; thoughts of injury, thoughts of pain and thoughts of defeat. ‘Then why am I smiling?’ Clark turned to see beside him. Her smile reassured him of a very possible, different life. ‘No, your smile is my smile!’ Firmly planting his feet on the mountainous region’s ground, Clark Kent slugged Son Gokuu straight off of a mountain cliff. Making sure to not be too far behind, Superman’s pursuit was cut short when the falling Saiyan spat his newly knocked-out tooth into his sunny foe’s right eye. “Shit!”
With his foe distracted, Gokuu stopped his descent and quickly repositioned himself behind him. Locking his fingers and palms together, the Saiyan sledge hammered his foe downward. A volley of ki blasts were not far behind, further propelling the Kryptonian into the base of the mountain below. Thus was born a vast crater, eating into the base of the behemoth.
Clark struggled to pick himself back up. Pain surged through his person. Somehow, through his own heightened senses, he could hear, feel, see and even taste the destruction of his own cells. The cells that absorbed solar energy and gave him his great power were, like him, dying. “Anymore…and I’m dead…well, not like I ever liked my body anyway,” he groaned. Sudden exhaustion caught up with him and he stumbled back to his knees. “Damn, even admitting that to myself is keeping me down…” Superman’s voice trailed off as his foe calmly landed just feet away. Forced to look up to the man that had tantalized him for so long, Clark Kent wanted to swear.
The Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan was surprisingly calm, despite the cauterized wounds on his palms. The Man of Steel could still hear the flesh sizzling, even as his vision blurred and the world around him became frighteningly silent.
“Y’look real beat up, Superman; you should quit using that form.”
‘I don’t want to admit it.’
“Here, I’ll stop using Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, too.”
‘The sternness faded from the Saiyan’s face. ‘
“Phew, that form sure takes a lot outta me!”
‘I’ve hated this guy so much—hated him for treating this fight as if it was a game—but here he is, showing some kind of sportsmanship.’
“Come on, drop that form so we can keep goin’ at it!”
‘He’s so excited. So alive.’
“I wanna see how much further you can go!”
‘I…I want…’
“It’s been a while since I had to fight without my hands! This has been tons o’ fun!!”
‘I want to—‘
A bright red ribbon stretched a centimeter too far snapped against a black backdrop.
***
Superwoman arrived at the location of the explosion; teachers still finishing up lesson plans fled the school. Fire engines were still blocks away. Rushing through the flames, Superwoman saved the lives of several teachers pinned beneath debris. Spotting the flames threatening to leap to surrounding buildings, Superwoman immediately drew in oxygen, her body’s stored yellow solar energy converting it into ice breath, and unleashed a wicked blizzard to smother the flames. Frozen arches of fire remained only inches from escaping the property lines.
The people cheered for Superwoman. Crowds gathered to thank her for her heroism. Somehow, it still all felt hollow. The life she had with Lois was perfect but still, there was a piece of her heart left unfulfilled. As she stared back into that unending abyss, Clare wondered…would her fist ever feel the satisfaction of a hard-fought battle? To truly know the limit of her powers? It had been so long since that time with—a shriek snapped Superwoman from her reprieve.
“T-that man!” a soot-sullied woman, perhaps a school secretary, stammered, “T-that man that did this…h-he’s…”
Clare snapped her head back to spot the wicked school destroyer rising from wreckage. Covered in a green, full-bodied suit of some kind, the man had only heavy, low breathing to speak with.
“Who the hell are you?” Superwoman asked, raising a particularly plucked eyebrow.
The green suited man some fifteen feet tall had but one response: a blindingly fast fist to the face. Superwoman quickly found herself implanted in a building some difficult to count number of blocks around, “T-this is…”
The man was soon on Clare again, hands wrapped around her throat, choking her, driving her slender body to increasing limpness…
‘I…I want…’
The man roared as his prey’s doom approached.
‘I want to—‘
A bright red ribbon stretched a centimeter too far snapped against a black backdrop.
***
“—I want to fight!!” Restraining chains snapped. Broken, falling links bounced against the black backdrop of the soul of the beloved superhero. One bounce, two bounces, three bounces. Blue and red sprang to life in the darkness, consuming it until none was left. The golden aura of resentment burst into red and blue. Superman’s face burst to life, the adrenaline of freedom coursing through his veins. His skin, reddened by the excess solar energy, returned to its natural hue. With a ferocious roar The Man of Tomorrow lunged as his foe, reaching for Her tomorrow.
“His smile has yet to fade, son. Take it from him!” the specter of Pa Kent whispered into Clark Kent’s ear.
“Go away, you!” turning, Clare furiously swung at the specter of Pa Kent amidst the dark. Punch after punch dealt no damage. The journalist’s soul was unbalanced yet again, “I-I can’t beat him for you!” the desperation broke her voice, “I can’t keep fighting for you!! It’s killing me!!!” Finally, the Kent girl hit her adoptive father’s face, eliciting blood from his nose. “I g-gotta,” another blow to the face, “I gotta fight for me!!!” A dirty uppercut knocked Pa off balance, leaving him open for the finishing left straight. Pa’s body bounced after the initial impact.
Turning her upper body with a snappy motion and returning her attention to the Saiyan before him, Clare unleashed a barrage a heat vision blasts, each dodged with less and less grace. “You’re getting’ sloppy!!”
The racing heat nearly caught him. Droplets of sweat evaporated on his skin the closer he came to the blasts. Son Gokuu took notice of his foe’s wobbly legs and knew exactly what to do. It was difficult channeling ki while dodging in his condition, but the pain seemed to quiet as he thought more and more of his goal. Finally, Gokuu pretended to slip, shocking his blue-draped foe just long enough for her to not notice that the Saiyan had not slipped, but rather sled. Using his left arm for a pivoting axis, Son Gokuu slammed his right kick into Clare’s left Popliteal Fossa.
The agony was unreal. The surprise attack had penetrated her wildly divided attention and struck an all-too unforgettable blow to The Woman of Steel. Stumbling, Clare struggled to maintain her footing. The nerves in her leg popped, like balloons filled too much. Before she knew it she had lost sight of her foe, inspiring her expression to quickly change from one of pain to one of panic. Suddenly, a voice broke over the thunderstorm above:
“Kame—”
Miss Kent’s facial expression spoke a nigh audible “Oh, shit!” The blue light above her highlighted her face and threatened to consume her entire body.
“—Hame—”
‘Move!!’ Clare screamed at every cell within her body, ordering whatever strength she had left to rush into her eyes. Her large, cumbersome body of pure muscle and mass plagued her once again; the sensation of her form boring through her mind, maddening her as she finally accepted the truth of her heart. A brilliant blast of royal red burst forth, erupting first in the shape of a star, before chasing straight into the sky.
“—Ha!!!”
The stream of blue rushed diagonally downward, running with grace and tranquility a river would envy. The wave made an audible roar as it seared through the sky, burning with a fire no less hot than a night of passion.
The two colors clashed. Blue pushed down on red as red lifted up blue. The planet seemed to crumble even faster under the weight of the struggling lights. The flashing violets adoring the sky were soon joined by reds and blues. The violet clouds seemed to thicken in reaction, their tangibility ever more disquieting.
Clare’s knees grew closer and closer to the crushing ground beneath her. It was a struggle just to keep her neck in place, her vision locked into its current clash. As she gritted her teeth she could feel them grind into dust. The bones in her jaw cracked, sending reverberations throughout her entire body. Snaps. Cracks. Full on shatters. Her eyes cried in pain as each solar energy-storing cell within them shuddered violently, stretched a thousand leagues beyond comprehension. Her entire body was crumbling to dust. Soon, Clare would be little more than powder in a sack of meat. ‘Damn it, there’s only so much power I can release with just my eyes…’ Instinct took over, as if a thousand years of torment has been washed away. Clare pushed the Kamehame-Ha back further with her palms. The Woman of Steel’s arms quaked under the pressure of holding back the immense beam. ‘I…I need to…!’ A pure red fire danced against a black backdrop. Wildly, it kicked, it twirled and it squirmed. Finally, the fire spread before reshaping itself in the form of a hand reaching out.
Son Gokuu screamed with glee as he poured more and more of his ki into the rushing stream of blue energy. He could feel his opponent buckling, his victory approaching. “It’s a shame it’s gotta end, but it’s gotta end!” Another burst dashed out from his connected palms, gliding down the towering light and slamming into its target.
A red needle the length of a No. 2 pencil streaked across a black backdrop. When the needle passed the center of this backdrop, it opened a sliver-sized wound and blood—most suddenly—began to flee. The black backdrop faded, revealing a surprised Son Gokuu.
The Saiyan struggled to see out of the corner of his eye. Somehow, his cheek had been cut. Gokuu returned his attention to his foe below just in time to catch sight of a beam of red hot energy slicing through his Kamehame-Ha. To meet the beam, Gokuu dug up more of his ki and poured it into his attack.
Two lights: one red, one blue, struggled in the darkness. The more one pushed back the more the other rose to the challenge. Which would consume the other first?
***
The clash of lights and colors enraptured hundreds of billions across the universe. For one brief moment in time the universe was in harmony. Friend shared with foe a moment of unity, whether in the heat of battle or the comfort of abode.
The Watchtower seethed with heat as it struggled to display the visual information being conveyed to them by the Lex Corp. satellites. The brilliant clash of energies and lights, ever shifting in intensity and frequency, had become nearly impossible to record. Even at a distance the cameras were becoming embroiled in the two-man war, exploding from residual energy or falling prey to the worsening weather conditions. Waves of color poured out from the monitors and washed over the cramped viewers, bathing them in more unpleasant heat. One might think that they, too, were in the thick of the battle. The gradient texture of water color paint drenched the viewers as sweat slipped off of their bodies. Perhaps larger puddles of sweat would soon grace the floors of the Watchtower?
Vegeta, the prisoner prince, would not remove his all-seeing, all-consuming stare from the main monitor. Those that shot him looks could swear that they’d seen a predator eating its prey. Some would later recall the scent of fresh split blood dancing amid the room.
Bruce Wayne clenched the mask of The Batman in his hand. Sweat marred the cowl beyond what a few minutes of air drying could afford. Using the Watchtower’s laundry room was off the table, it was impossible for Bruce to leave the room while the battle still raged. ‘Besides, I need to see this guy’s face when it’s all over.’ Master Wayne stole a glance at his Saiyan prisoner; his expression remained ever frighteningly thrilled.
Finally, he said something, a hushed whisper blurted out, “This is it!”
Bruce swung his head back to the main monitor. The room filled with a violent purple light emitting from all the monitors. Everyone but Vegeta shielded their eyes on instinct. Shouts of astonishment and anger ricocheted off the walls of the main control room.
With howling laughter Vegeta broke free of his shackles. The Batman twisted in surprise, although in the back of his mind he realized he knew this had been possible all along. As the chain links soared through the sky Bruce caught through them sight of the main monitor. He was the first in the room to ‘see’ the outcome of the battle—the prisoner had no use for sight. He had already sensed it.
***
The sky was violent in its churning. Clouds with thick black outlines huddled together, twisting and entwining, but never quite losing their independence. At the same time, it was as if all of the clouds had become one massive mass. It unsettled Clare Kent. The journalist by day watched the clouds for a time she knew not how long. Finally, she was snapped back to reality. The Saiyan was picking her up off of the ground.
“That was a hell of a fight!” the martial artist giggled, slinging his foe over his shoulder.
“So, I guess I lost.” she didn’t particularly like it, but the superhero was in no condition to argue. Her mouth and eyes were the only parts of her body she could use, let alone register as still being there.
“Yeah, but it was real close!”
Clare Kent made a mental note that day: ‘I don’t like being lied to.’
The duo wearily walked—perhaps better described as ‘stumbled’—back to the Justice League Javelin-class spaceship that had been their transportation. The Kryptonian wondered just when their battle had taken them back to the desert their battle had first begun in. Sand took refuge in-between her toes.
Painful as it was to speak, Miss Kent had something to say, “…I’m sorry.”
Son Gokuu wore a face of confusion.
“…for being such a jerk.”
Confusion.
‘Well, I guess it’s to be expected.’ “Forget it.”
The Saiyan returned his sight forward, smiling idly.
‘The planet sure has been beat up by our fight. It’s dying, soon. Still…what’s next? After all this I just hope…hope that after finally facing such a foe…finally reaching this point where I can admit to myself that I…’ Clare’s attention was stolen by a peculiar sight as she and Gokuu entered the Javelin. A saber tooth tiger, a frog and a hawk, all of suspiciously grand size took refuge within the spaceship.
“Hurry up, you damn brats, the planet’s goin’ t’blow!”
Comically, Son Gokuu picked up his step and dragged his defeated foe into the Javelin. Buckling the hero into a seat, a curious expression soon took form on his face, “Say…have you always been this small…and soft?”
Clare raised an eyebrow, “H-huh?”
Curious, Son Gokuu performed a puff-puff, “Wow, they’re bigger than Chi-Chi’s!”
Like the rising of a new sun, realization soon dawned upon Clare as she looked down at her now scantily covered chest. A rosey-red color bleached her cheeks as a terribly intoxicating thought threatened to bloom in her mind. With renewed strength, Clare thrust herself up onto her wobbly feet and stumbled to the small bathroom unit to look at her reflection in the mirror. Clare Kent laughed, a genuine smile gracing her newly reconstructed face for the first time in her adult life.
“Ah shucks, I thought you was a guy since yer name is ‘Cla—’”
“Clare!” the woman cut the Saiyan off, notably lifting her voice an octave or two, “You probably just misheard.”
“Ah, shoot, sorry!” the Saiyan nervously laughed.
Turning back to look into the mirror some more Clare replied with an unusual jovialness, “No problem, dude!”
THE END
