Chapter 47 - Less Than Zero Chapter 47 Part 1

Chapter 47: Nullifying Agent

Lex Luthor's entire explanation of what was going on and what he knew lasted just a shade under twenty minutes. In that time, Null felt his mind bend into a pretzel more than once. It was difficult for him to come to terms with.

An alternate Superman, Superboy, and Lex Luthor from other dimensions, playing around with the very fabric of reality. The moment Luthor's explanation dipped into that realm, Null wanted to throw him out of his house through the window, but he kept going. The false Luthor was behind the Secret Society of Supervillains, using them to destabilize the planet, do his legwork, and sow seeds of mistrust in the only organization with the strength and resources to stop his plan; the Justice League.

Null didn't trust Luthor in the slightest, but the more he spoke, the more things started to make sense. That he had the credibility of knowing everything Null had done as a member of the Secret Six also gave credence to his hidden role as Mockingbird.

"I underestimated my double," Luthor bemoaned his previous failure, "Armed with the information you and the Secret Six managed to dig up for me, I made my move. But he was stronger than I could have anticipated. And that Superboy... he shredded my warsuit. They would have killed me."

The idea of taking on any kind of Superboy, either from his universe or another's was not Null's idea of a good time. Even if this one smacked Kara around. He wanted to, of course, and was willing to try, but willingness did not equal capability.

"I can't fight a Kryptonian straight-up," Null admitted.

"Nor would I ask you to," Luthor said, "Honestly, Null, if you ever see me in anything approaching a fair fight, you can easily discern that it wasn't by choice."

The way Luthor described things from his end, however, the fight had been anything but fair. In fact, Null couldn't see anything that could level the playing field for them. Alternate Luthor had the power of most of the world's supervillains. An army of evil. The heroes of this universe couldn't even be counted on to come together.

"Do you have an actual plan?" Null asked, "A way someone can take them down? Or are we just supposed to throw ourselves at the bad guys for some heroic sacrifice?" Null's tone showed his lack of excitement over that prospect.

On his own end as well, Luthor seemed appalled at the thought. Whether it was at the thought of sacrificing himself for anything, or taking any course of action without a well laid out plan was uncertain, "For all my troubles up north, I got a very good look at their technology," He smirked as he showed Null an image of a titanic golden tower.

Okay. That was one piece of the puzzle. If Luthor could discern what they had and what they were doing with it, there was a chance Null could point someone in the right direction to stop it without having to go directly to the source. As much as he wanted to cut the head of The Society off like it was a snake, he had to be realistic in his own chances of doing so, especially if the one in charge had a Superboy prowling around doing his bidding.

"We haven't a moment to waste," Luthor said getting up from his chair. Null followed suit to the front door where Luthor opened it and stepped outside, "We have to-," Luthor stopped talking when he got a good look at the sky ahead of him.

Null caught himself staring as well. In the sky, past the horizon, there was another Earth – a mirror image of the world that he called himself an inhabitant of.

"Luthor," Null prompted hesitantly, "What the hell is that?"

"It appears, by my observation, to be Earth."

"...But aren't we already on Earth?"

"The last time I checked, yes," He grumbled sarcastically. He was quick to shake Null out of his stupor. As much of a marvel as it was to see another Earth, there was work to be done, "If you wish to save the one we're on, we need to go. Now."

XxX

(Undisclosed Hideout – North Pole)

Alexander Luthor was very much accustomed to playing with power. He had control over both matter and anti-matter. In another timeline, another universe, he had helped saved all of creation by making precise, specific moves while wielding the power within his very hands. In order to achieve goals of that magnitude however, he required the means to amplify that power beyond measurable limits.

With his technological advantage and The Society managing to capture all of the heroes from alternate universes that he needed, he was able to build a massive machine that could seek out the previously erased universes and bring them back into existence. With Superboy-Prime's strength capable of moving entire planets around, he had changed the center of the universe to resemble Kal-L, the elder Superman's universe.

Now, everything was set up. The time for action was upon them.

"Activate Program: Earth Spawn."

The machine Alex had constructed at his hideout was something of a dimensional tuning fork, able to change reality itself at his whim.

Sweat poured from the Earth-Three Luthor's brow as he focused his energy and thoughts through the massive golden tower that magnified his power, "Y-Yes... yes..." He could feel the entire universe, and with that feeling, and the thoughts of universes long erased, he brought a second Earth into existence.

At his side, Superboy-Prime marveled at what he was seeing, "That's amazing!" He observed, "Alex! It's really happening! You did it!"

After creating only one alternate Earth, Alexander Luthor needed to take a moment to catch his breath. While his machine amplified his power, the process was still exhausting, "Not yet. It's just the beginning, but we have everything we need."

He directed Superboy-Prime's attention to the captured, neutralized heroes he held captive in different areas of the golden tower that served as his mechanical key to the multiverse. In addition to Black Adam and Martian Manhunter of the existing universe, there were several more from beyond.

"Power Girl for Earth-Two. Nightshade for Earth-Four. Lady Quark for Earth-Six. Breach, the Captain Atom of Earth-Eight. The men and women plugged into the tower will help me re-form the core Earths, but I need the rest of the multiverse back as well."

"Why don't you just bring back our worlds?" Superboy-Prime asked excitedly. He had seen firsthand that Alex's planning had been legitimate. Now, he was closer than ever to being back in a universe where he was the only Superboy, the only hero period.

"Patience, my friend," Alex said, trying to keep his ultra-powerful ally pacified, "There is a careful balance that needs to be kept, or else everything could fall into ruin. There are thousands and thousands of worlds. Worlds I must sift through like sand, one grain at a time. Earth-Two was first simply due to chronological order. After all, the wretched universe we're in was based heavily on Earth-One, so it already exists. Things would be easier with the Brother Eye satellite to use for coordination, but..." At that, he trailed off, both of them aware of the loss of Brother Eye.

They were in prime position, but without Brother Eye, he couldn't see and keep track of everything happening in the universe, nor could he narrow down which Earths he brought into existence. Now that they were in the endgame, it mattered less than it did previously, but it was still a peace of mind he would have preferred to have.

While the explanation didn't make Superboy-Prime particularly happy, there was little he could do about it in the interim, "I get it..." He groused.

"Rest assured, you will get your perfect universe, Superboy," Alex said, "We all will."

XxX

(Earth-Two – Metropolis)

As the second Earth had been created, Kal-L had retreated to the pocket dimension that at one time had served as both paradise and prison for he and his co-conspirators. While he, Superboy-Prime, and Alexander Luthor had all been free to move about, there was still one among them too weak and weary to be active; his wife, the Lois Lane of Earth-Two.

She was dying, and Kal-L's primary motivation to act and re-create the multiverse. Alexander Luthor had told him that the taint of the current universe was poisoning Lois' body, killing her slowly. He told him that once Earth-Two was restored, Lois would recover.

In an instant, he found himself transported from the pocket dimension to a location that he found more familiar than just about any other. In the heart of a city that he knew like the back of his hand, Kal-L looked around, a smile growing on his face. It was only when he looked up and saw a sign labeling the nearest building as "Daily Star", that he allowed himself to speak.

"We're here, Lois," Kal-L said softly, awe-struck, "We're home."

On her feet for the first time in a long while, Lois had to adjust. Her weak body leaned against Kal-L's as she tried to understand what was happening, "Clark?" Her eyes were still closed.

"It's okay, Lois," Kal-L assured her, "We're back in our Metropolis, on our Earth. The right Earth."

"The right-?" Lois repeated, processing her husband's words, "The air's so warm."

Kal-L let out a light laugh, "You must still be disoriented from another trip. Open your eyes. Look around us," He said, "We did it. We saved you," He pointed to the place they had spent so many years working together as reporters on Earth-Two, "It's the Daily Star. Do you see it?"

Lois looked around at the Metropolis they had thought lost to them, "It's just like I remember, but it's real. Everything's real..." But something was wrong.

Where were all the people? There wasn't a soul on the street other than them. There wasn't a single vehicle moving on the roads. The stands and stores were all empty. The Metropolis of her memory had been so bright and full of life, but this was more of an empty husk of a city.

It was wrong. What's more was that it wasn't working. Lois could feel it. She felt worse than ever, hardly able to stay upright. And yet, looking at Kal-L, he was so proud, so relieved that everything had worked out.

It hadn't. It just wasn't that simple.

But even as Lois tried to appeal to Kal-L's better nature, she could feel what little remained of her strength leaving her, "Clark... I love you so much... but this isn't... hnn..."

"Lois!?" Kal-L watched his wife collapse. He swept her up into his arms as her legs gave out, gently setting her on the ground, "Lois, what's wrong? We brought back Earth-Two. You're going to be fine. You have to be fine."

If she wasn't, what had all of this been for? All of the subterfuge, everything he had allowed to occur under his watch, it had been for her.

"I've lived an absolutely wonderful life with you," Lois started to say. To Kal-L, these sounded like last words.

"Don't give up," He begged her.

"I'm not giving up, Clark. I'm grateful for the extra years we've had."

"We'll have more," Kal-L frantically said, "I couldn't save our Earth back then, but I will save you. That's what I do. That's what I always did. Superman always saves Lois Lane," There was an almost manic look in his eye at that, "I can't be another survivor of a dead world. Not without you."

Lois tried to smile, to comfort Kal-L. It was a pained, difficult expression, "With all your powers, with everything you saw and did... you still never..."

"It can't end this way..."

"It's... not..."

As she trailed off, a shock of fear ran through Kal-L's heart, "It's not what? It's not going to end this way? Is that what you're trying to say?" Her eyes slowly closed, smile still in place as they did, "Lois? Lois, tell me it's not going to end this way. Lois, please. Be strong... be..."

There was only so strong she could be. The human body had limitations, and Lois had reached hers. Kal-L felt her go limp. For all his power, in the end there had been nothing he could do. She was gone. Even after everything Kal-L had taken part in and had condoned in order to save Lois, there she lay, dead in his arms.

This wasn't how things were supposed to go. He was Superman. Superman always found a way. Superman could do anything. Yet there he was, powerless to affect the one thing he cared most about.

Holding the lifeless body of his love in his arms, Kal-L stood, weeping, body shaking in grief. Turning his head to the sky, he desperately howled his wife's name.

"LOIS!"

The force of Kal-L's anguished yell obliterated his surroundings around the planet. Windows on buildings and vehicles shattered, trees were stripped of their leaves and had the bark on their trunks crack, pavement and building exteriors cracked.

Earth-Two's Man of Steel had broken.

XxX

(With Null – Earth-One – North Pole)

When Lex Luthor told Null that they needed to go now, he didn't mean right at that very second. With the help of a teleporter, Luthor took them all the way to the North Pole. The change in temperature was jarring, but with his suit, it didn't bite at Null as much as it would have for someone unprepared. The temperature, however, wasn't what caught Null's attention first.

"There it is," Luthor said as they both took in the sight of the massive golden tower miles away, built around an alien corpse, radiating pure energy. Around it, the very universe itself seemed to be projected, somehow in a scaled-down model.

Null had been to space on a few occasions at this point, but this was something else entirely. A pair of golden hands appeared on the universal projection, reaching in and grabbing hold of entire worlds. Entire Earths, "Holy shit..."

Much like the last time Luthor had gotten anywhere near his duplicate, the closer he got, the more pain he felt. His mind was already beginning to lapse and he wasn't even in his alternate's presence yet. The plus was that they didn't seem to notice their arrival, "Whatever you do, don't screw this up."

Null paused. Why did Luthor sound like he was about to do this alone, "Wait. What are you going to do?"

"We've already been over this. I can't fight my doppelganger. I can't even get close," Luthor said, "You're the thief. Between the two of us, you're best equipped to sneak in."

Maybe, but Luthor was the super-genius, not him, "So... it's just me. That's what you're saying," Null replied.

"That will have to do," Luthor declared.

Null shook his head, tentatively stepping back away from the man. Luthor was out of his mind, "I can't! It's too much! It's too big! I can't do this alone!" This couldn't be his plan. It was insanity.

Luthor sneered before turning his back, walking several more steps away, "We don't have options here. Your choices are to go it alone and die, or do nothing and die. In the grand scheme of things, there really isn't a difference," He said, "I've given you all you need to know to accomplish the task."

"You son of a-!"

Luthor left no more room for discussion, teleporting away the instant his device had recharged enough to do so.

Null stood there alone, mouth agape. There was no way Luthor was banking the fate of the universe on him. Null was good at running, hiding, and stealing, and decent at fighting, but against enemies on this level? If they spotted him, they would tear him apart and that would be it.

...

...And that would be it.

It quickly dawned on Null, if he failed here, what would really be lost in the grand scheme of things? This wasn't Luthor's plan. He wasn't Luthor's plan. If anything, he was a distraction – a diversion meant to buy time. At best, a probing, information-gathering measure to see what the enemy was capable of without a compromised threat against them. He was a skirmisher, meant to dash himself against their defenses, all in the name of testing the waters.

Leopards didn't change their spots. Neither did Mockingbirds, it seemed. To be fair, with all of existence at stake, losing him before it all came crashing down wouldn't be much of a setback. That didn't make the medicine that was the truth of Null's situation go down any easier.

He could feel himself begin to hyperventilate. Aware of what was happening to him, he did his best to get his breathing under control. The frigid air burned his lungs with every deep breath he took; it helped to calm him.

Even as he stood composing himself, parallel Earths continued to appear in the sky, one after another. More than Null could count; more than he could see, even. They just kept forming.

Closing his eyes, Null used his powers to reach out and link his phone with the nearest communication satellite he could, then another, then another. One-by-one, he mentally overrode the transmission sequences of each of them until they were all on his. Once that was done, he held his phone up to his mouth. He hesitated for several moments before he finally began speaking.

"This is Null speaking. I'm currently at the North Pole, coordinates 86.50 N, 164.04 E," He started, mouth suddenly feeling dry. Still, he carried on, "...The entire world is falling apart all around us. It has been for a while now. All seen the good guys have been drifting away from each other for months, while all the bad guys have been coming together. If any hero out there can hear me, I know we've all just been thinking that worst-case scenario for The Society winning is the end of heroes and crimefighters, and the world falling into ruin... but it's so much worse than that. Even The Society doesn't know it."

At that, he realized, why stop at just heroes? It didn't matter where he got his help from at this point. He'd just had Lex Luthor helping him, despite doing nothing more than dropping him off and leaving him there like it was the first day of school. The point was, any help from anyone was welcome.

"If any villain can hear me, this isn't going to end the way you think it will," Null continued, trying to warn anyone listening, "You aren't gonna mindwipe the Justice League and take over. There isn't going to be a world left to fall into ruin. There isn't going to be a world left for the bad guys to take over. If no one stops the man at the top of all this, we're all going to be wiped out; we'll never have existed at all. That's why I'm here, again, coordinates 86.50 N, 164.04 E, to try and stop the fucker responsible for threatening everything, for using half of us like pawns on a chessboard."

The silence that accompanied his plea was disheartening. Only the howling wind of the arctic seemed to answer him. But he had to try.

"I can't do this alone," Null closed his eyes tightly and shook his head, "Even if I had help, I'm still probably not good enough, not strong enough. By myself? I'm definitely screwed. But even if nobody else comes, I'm going to where the enemy is, and I'm going to deal with him there. If I die? That'd suck. But if I don't do anything, it doesn't look like I'm going to survive anyway. I don't think any of us are. So, whatever."

While nihilism probably wouldn't do much to inspire a rousing response, Null doubted anyone who didn't have to hear him still was. It was his elevator pitch for saving the universe, and he was going to do it his way.

"I'm not with the Justice League, or the Titans, or whoever you think of when you think 'good guys'," He said, "I'm not a hero. I'm not doing this because I think it's my job to save the world. I don't even think I can save the world. I'm doing this because it's the only chance I have to survive," Slim as it was. Luthor was a piece of garbage, but he wasn't wrong. Null's options were to stand up on his feet and probably die, or curl up in a ball and definitely die, "So, I repeat, my name is Null. I am currently at the North Pole, coordinates 86.50 N, 164.04 E, and I really need your help. Anyone's help."

He let the message run for a few seconds longer before ending it. It would repeat over every transmission he had hijacked in perpetuity until someone did something about it. It was intrusive and a problem for emergency crews, military, and even superheroes dealing with disasters and villains all over the world, but he needed to be heard.

Null plopped down in the snow, feeling his head throb painfully.

He would give it some time, but there was little hope of any kind of cavalry coming for him. When he had been forcing his transmission through comm. satellites, he could hear what was going on around the world. Riots were tearing major cities apart internationally. There had been prison breaks at every maximum-security facility in the greater U.S. Since Null's departure from Gotham City, it had become the epicenter of a cataclysmic magical event. There were rescue efforts due to earthquakes and tsunamis all along the Pacific. 72 percent of all volcanoes along the Ring of Fire were erupting. The superheroes that weren't active were only considered sidelined because they had gone missing.

All of those things would likely take priority for any self-respecting hero over an S.O.S. call from some random thief. And that was if communications worked wherever certain people were at all.

*BOOM!*

Null jumped to his feet at the sudden noise and appearance of an extra-dimensional portal. He relaxed somewhat when he saw who stepped out, but he was no less incredulous at who it was, "Lonnie?"

The Boom Tube closed behind a fully outfitted Anarky, leaving him more or less stranded in the North Pole with a person who at one time he would have considered an enemy, "Don't look so surprised. Didn't you send that little pirate broadcast of yours out to the whole world?"

"Yeah, but I kind of expected the world to ignore me," Null admitted, trying and failing to hide how happy he was that anyone bothered to show up, "So, are you here to help?"

Anarky scoffed, "It's complete bullshit that you were the one that got to the center of the mother of all conspiracies. I might as well see it the rest of the way through now," As he spoke, a small floating computer flew around his body. Null noted that was new, thinking Anarky must have brought everything he had to bear for this one.

"We're probably gonna die."

"I picked up on that much from the message," Anarky deadpanned, "So, what are we up against?"

Part of Null didn't want to fill him, for risk of sending him running. But from personal experience, Anarky's Boom Tube was a one-way trip, so he couldn't simply run for the hills now that he was there, "As far as I know? Well... that's gonna take a while to get through."

And that time spent would hopefully bring more assistance their way. One could only hope.

XxX

(Earth-Two – Metropolis)

A cry of grief and horror loud enough to travel from one planet to another would have been enough to draw Superman from standard Earth, but when it was a voice that sounded like his own, crying out the name of his own wife, he couldn't ignore it.

The yell drew him to a second Earth, one of the many that were appearing. It looked so similar to his, but there were many things wrong. For one, it seemed set in the past. Not terribly so, but enough that it was noticeable. Everything on the planet seemed more fragile, more poorly fabricated. Most importantly, there wasn't a soul to be found anywhere. It was entirely devoid of life. A ghost planet.

Why was a planet created with nothing on it? It hardly seemed like it could sustain life to begin with?

After flying across most of the planet, he found himself in what he could only describe as a mock-up of Metropolis; a golden age replica of his city from a bygone era, but still decidedly an alternate version of his city, "There. I've finally found someone," It was there that he found the older Earth-Two version of himself, desperately cradling a woman's body in his arms.

He remembered the conversation he had with Kal-L only a day prior. This was her; his Lois Lane.

Superman landed right behind Kal-L, swooping in to lend a hand if needed, "I heard you. I heard you cry 'Lois'."

Even with all his power, Earth-Two Superman seemingly hadn't noticed his younger counterpart approach, still in his own world from his personal tragedy, "Kal-El?" He finally took note of his presence, and was none too happy about it, "You came here? To our Earth?"

Superman caught himself looking around, still trying to understand his surroundings, "I'm not sure what Earth this is," There were more pressing issues to see to, however, "Does she need help?"

Something in Kal-L broke. He had been mentally hanging on by a thread for the entirety of Lois' illness, kept whole by the possibility that she could be saved, protected from the taint of the universe he had given everything else for. That was the thing. He had given everything to create the universe that the current Superman lived in. Kal-L's own universe had been destroyed, along with countless others by the Anti-Monitor. The only thing he had ever asked for, that he had been unwilling to part with, was Lois. It had been the only thing he'd had left, and now he had lost her as well.

Hearing the voice of Superman eroded away what was left of Kal-L's temperament, "It's your fault, isn't it?" Gently setting his Lois' body down on the pavement, he turned and grabbed onto the frame of a nearby car, "You brought the corruption with you? You're spreading it, like a disease," His fingers sank into the metal chassis, providing him a grip, "You... KILLED MY WIFE!"

Kal-L smashed Superman with the entire car, sending him flying across the street. His body bounced off of the side of a building, nearly bringing the entire wall down from the impact. Before superman could get up, Kal-L slammed the car down on top of him, front first, to try and crush him into the street.

Superman reached up and ripped the entire car in half with his bare hands. He grabbed Kal-L by the front of his costume and lifted him up off of the ground, "I didn't kill anyone," He patiently, yet resolutely stated.

Still holding on to half of the car, Kal-L hit Superman again, freeing himself. Metal pieces and car parts went flying, as did Superman, "Lois was the only one of us who still believed in you. But you took her," He gasped, tears rolling down his cheeks, "You took her from me."

Openly weeping, he clenched his fists and flew straight ahead, slamming into Superman and battering him with punches.

The flimsily constructed world had no chance of withstanding the destructive potential a battle involving two Supermen. Simply pushing each other around, trying to impose their will over each other, they tore through entire city blocks like papier-mâché.

Superman was able to gain some leverage and used it to hurl Kal-L away, but the Earth-Two Superman righted himself in the air. Both men made eye contact and flew straight ahead at each other, clashing in the air hard enough to cause a shockwave that destroyed the facades of buildings for miles around. Both strained against each other in the air. Superman found himself slowly being forced back by the sheer anger in Kal-L. It was visible behind his eyes. Still, he tried to restrain himself in the face of a grieving man. Recent events with Maxwell Lord made him understand just how capable he himself was of going overboard when faced with the reality of losing his true love.

Superman didn't want to hurt his alternate self when his reaction was something that he himself could understand very well. Still, when he saw the Earth-Two Superman's eyes burn red, he knew he had to start fighting back or find himself a victim.

"RAAAAGH!" Kal-L roared as his heat vision burst forth. The powerful blasts sliced through the surrounding city buildings, tearing them down and demolishing them in an instant. The structural integrity of the false Earth-Two struck again as fires created by the heat vision quickly spread through the fabricated Metropolis. All the while, the two Supermen battled hand-to-hand amongst the ruins of their creation.

The two Kryptonian juggernauts crashed into the remains of the Daily Star, the rubble serving as the next stage of their fight. Driven by anger, Kal-L managed to unleash a crushing uppercut that Superman found himself unable to block or evade, "I won't let you hurt anyone else!" He shouted.

Superman retaliated with a straight punch that sent Kal-L flying, "There's no one else here!" He shouted back, flying forward to grab his opponent and drive him back, carving a mighty trench into the ground, "This city is empty! This planet is empty!"

"Because of you!" Kal-L exclaimed as he broke free of Superman's grasp, "This is all because of-!" He stopped when a golden lasso wrapped itself around his upper body, restricting his arms.

Superman's eyes went wide. He followed the length of rope up to the top of the trench where Wonder woman stood on a pile of building debris, holding the Lasso of Truth, "Stop."

"You're here too?" Superman asked.

Kal-L struggled against the lasso, "Get this off of me," He demanded angrily.

Wonder Woman refused, keeping a tight hold of her mystical weapon, "I want us to talk. And I want the truth."

Kal-L scoffed, "I don't need your magic lasso to tell the truth. It's what people from my Earth do," He said, throwing a pointed barb at the rest of them, "And the truth is that your Justice League lobotomized their adversaries. Your Batman built a satellite that spawned an army that killed dozens. Your Wonder Woman condones the murder of Maxwell Lord," As Wonder Woman's lasso loosened, Kal-L turned a venomous gaze onto Superman, "The worst of all is that with everything that's happening, you, Superman, could have stopped this before it started. You should have! You should have led them to a better tomorrow. Instead, when the universe needed its greatest heroes, they refused to stand together."

Superman and Wonder Woman shared a look, but remained silent. For his part, Superman had already accepted that the near collapse of the Justice League had been on him more or less for not working to keep relations open between the parties involved. As Earth's most influential hero, if he had really pressed to keep things together, it could have been done.

Kal-L pointed at both Superman and Wonder Woman accusingly, "You had the opportunity to make that Earth into the perfect world it had the potential to be, and you wasted it! That's why I had to come here! That's why my Lois died!" He spat.

"To bring back your perfect Earth?" Wonder Woman asked rhetorically as she removed the Lasso of Truth from Kal-L.

Neither Superman nor Wonder Woman reacted in anger to match the man before them. They didn't get defensive. They simply allowed him to speak and let his accusations wash over them. There was much that they were willing to take responsibility for.

Superman shook his head at his older counterpart, "I already told you... your Earth can't have been perfect. Because a perfect Earth doesn't need a Superman."

"It... the perfect Earth... it's..." He stood among the very ruins of his city, on his Earth, alone. Earth-Two had returned, and the reality of it in the state that it was in was far from what anyone would ever have called perfect. Kal-L thought back to his last moments with his Lois, the last words he remembered her speaking.

"It's... not..."

'It's not ours.'

"My God..." The Earth-Two Superman fell to his knees in realization, his eyes pointed to the ground, "It's not mine. It never was."

This Earth-Two, it wasn't his. It looked similar, felt similar, but it lacked just about everything that had made it his, had made it home. It was a soulless husk; a planet only in the literal definition of the word, nothing more. Even if it was his world, the arrogance to call it perfect, when he had spent his entire adult life fighting to defend it from all kinds of threats.

A perfect Earth? There was no such thing. There couldn't be. There were simply Earths where people were doing the best they could, and that was enough. It had to be.

A blank expression crossed Kal-L's face before he drifted off, slowly flying away. Wonder Woman went to follow after him when Superman put a hand on her arm to stop her, "Where's he going?"

Kal-L returned to where he had left Earth-Two's Lois Lane. Despite the ferocity of his battle with his fellow Superman, she had been untouched by the destruction. A small miracle, if such a thing could be considered at this point. He landed by her side, kneeling down to gently touch her face, "...A perfect world doesn't need a Superman..." He said to himself.

Superman walked up behind Kal-L and rested a hand on his shoulder, "If we're at all alike beyond the uniform, I know how much you loved her. And I'm sorry."

Kal-L reached up and put his hand on Superman's giving it a squeeze. He wiped his eyes and stood resolutely, "I made a horrible mistake."

"We've all made mistakes, Superman. But it's not too late to learn from them," Wonder Woman said, "You realize if you replace our Earth, you'll be throwing away all the good with the bad."

Kal-L knew she was right. But even so, with all the evil he had seen carried out with little to no reprisal. Even the heroes seemed more like villains at times, "How can you still have faith in your Earth?" He asked.

Superman's answer was a simple one, "Because they still have faith in us."

As long as people believed that Superman was a force for good, that he could and would protect them when they needed him, it meant he would keep fighting. As long as heroes were necessary, Superman would make sure they knew they who they were supposed to be, what they were supposed to do, and what side of the line they were on.

He would screw up, as would all of them. No one was perfect. Their universe wasn't perfect. But it was worth fighting for.

Superman's reply steeled Kal-L's resolve to make things right, "We have a job to do," He said, "Your Earth has been splintered back into a multiverse made up of thousands of worlds. But the multiverse is unstable. The Earths will become weaker and weaker as they're divided. And if they aren't brought back together soon, the entire universe will explode in a new big bang. Everything will be destroyed."

That wasn't good. Especially because in the time since Superman's arrival on Earth-Two, enough alternate Earths had formed that they had lost track of the original. As all three of them looked up into the sky and took note of the unnumerable planets, Wonder Woman asked the obvious question, "So... which one is our Earth?"

"Uh-oh."

This was not good.

XxX

(Earth-One – Undisclosed Hideout – North Pole)

Superboy-Prime had been extremely useful in helping Alexander Luthor maneuver everything to where he needed it to start manipulating the separate universes. His assistance had been invaluable, as without him, he would have had to risk directly involving Earth-Two's Superman in the dubious activities that Superboy-Prime had leapt at the chance to take part in.

That being said, now that Prime's role out and about was over, having him look over his shoulder was decidedly distracting. Having the boy constantly whine and complain was something that Alexander Luthor could do without when he was in the middle of delicate work. Entire universes were at his fingertips.

"But why can't you just do what I want and bring back Earth Prime?" Superboy-Prime complained for what seemed like the fiftieth time in a handful of hours, "Kal-L already got what he wanted!"

Alexander Luthor's calm temperament started to slip in the face of the boy's constant annoyance, "No, he didn't. Nor will he. Not truly."

Superboy-Prime was impulsive, untrained, and immature, but he wasn't a fool. Even though Alex never said it aloud, he could read between the lines well enough, "Lois... is still going to die?"

Alex cursed inside of his own head. Between the concentration it took to restore and sift through the different universes and Superboy-Prime being a pain, he had let something slip. There was no need to act as though he hadn't said it, "If she hasn't yet, she will soon," He admitted with a shake of his head, "She was never going to survive, Superboy. I never told Kal-L that this course of action would save her life. He came to that conclusion on his own, and it was easier to allow him that fantasy so that we could conduct our work."

Superboy-Prime floated away from Alex, somewhat taken aback, "I still don't believe it."

He had shared space in the 'paradise' dimension alongside Lois and the others for what seemed like an eternity. To find that she was gone, just like that... it was jarring.

Alexander Luthor tried to keep his tone and content pragmatic in nature, "I will miss her, but this is the price we have to pay for the future. As regrettable as her passing is, Kal-L is the one we really need for this."

"Why him?" Superboy-Prime wondered. He had grown familiar with the elder Superman, but even as Prime had been out doing the legwork asked of him, Kal-L's place in Alex's plans had always been a mystery.

To his surprise, for once Alex didn't have a concrete answer for him, "The Superman of Earth-Two is the key to the return of the rest of the multiverse. For some reason I can't explain or understand, and probably never will, everything comes from Superman."

XxX

(With Null – Earth-One – North Pole)

Nerves pulled at Null. The more time passed, the worse things seemed to get. Every time he looked up, there seemed to be a new Earth in the sky. There was no way such a thing could be sustainable. He and Anarky had sat back to wait for help, but it didn't look as though they would be receiving any.

They had scouted the area as much as they could from the seemingly safe distance they stood at. Several heroes were being held captive, hooked up to the machine. In a pinch, if some of them could be freed, they could possibly be used as backup, that is, if they were in fighting shape. They were too far away for Null's binoculars to properly identify who was there or what condition they were in. Either way, there was nothing more they could do to prepare.

"We can't wait any longer," Null finally admitted, "If we're going to do anything, we've gotta go now."

Anarky had spent the downtime fiddling with his equipment, making sure everything was ready for what was to come next, "Tch. Are you telling me, or yourself?"

Null was quick to respond, "Whichever one of us needs to hear it," Which was decidedly him, "Fine. Plan. All stealth. Lex Luthor was able to sneak up on these guys wearing a heavy-ass armored warsuit. I'm pretty sure we can get close to that tower machine."

"-And then we figure out just what we're dealing with," Anarky said, filling in the blanks, "Between the two of us, I'm pretty sure once we get close, we can find some way to take it apart."

That was, if they managed to make it that far. Clearly, having the entire universe at one's fingertips was a distracting endeavor if they had been allowed to linger as close as they were. Once they got into the true lair of the mastermind, however, could they remain hidden?

"Whatever," Null eventually said, "Let's do this. Scared money don't make money."

"It's always about money with you, isn't it?"

The response came from a familiar voice, but it hadn't come from Anarky. Null turned to find both Blue Beetle and Booster Gold approaching. Heroes. Actual heroes. Granted, one of them was Booster Gold, but he still counted!

Null walked up and, without fanfare, wrapped his arms around Booster Gold. The commercial superhero could only stand there, arms open in shock, "Uh..."

"Thank you," Null honestly said as he awkwardly hugged Booster Gold, "Thank you so much for being here," At least he wasn't going to die alone.

Booster Gold looked from the young thief to Blue Beetle, "Is he always like this?" He asked his old friend.

"Not really," Blue Beetle said before patting Null on the back, "You alright there, kid?"

Null released Booster Gold and looked between the two new arrivals, hardly able to comprehend their presence, "I can't believe you guys showed up."

"You called for help, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I didn't-."

"-You didn't think anyone would come?"

Null momentarily went silent at that, "...Not because I said so," He eventually admitted.

Blue Beetle chuckled and put a hand on Null's head, "You believed me when no one else on the planet who could help me did. I would be a hell of a hypocrite if I didn't believe you now."

"You had my best friend's back," Booster Gold said as a follow up, explaining his own presence, "You helped save the world once already. As far as I'm concerned, even if you weren't telling the truth, I owe you one. Besides, it's not just us," Booster Gold pointed off to the side.

Null followed his gesture and saw more help. Or more than likely, he would end up being the help for the newest arrival, "No way."

Batman stood gazing out at the golden tower, cape billowing behind him as he took in the scene. The absolute last person Null would have ever expected to heed an S.O.S. from him was there, front and center.

Null tried to make sense of the Dark Knight's presence, turning to Anarky to tug on his rival's cape, "Did we go in already and I got my ass kicked? Because this feels like a concussion dream," Which, as he had heard were very similar to near-death visions, so it feasibly could have been either-or.

"I'm more concerned with how we didn't hear any of them coming," Anarky replied.

Nightwing approached, grinning at the group, "The Batplane and the Bug can fly pretty silent, you know."

Six. That made six heroes in the flesh, all there to fight for the fate of the planet. The weight on Null's shoulders still felt crushing, but with some of the load taken off, he wasn't about to complain further.

Nightwing walked up to Null and threw an arm around his shoulder before whispering, "You're in so much trouble."

Null had a feeling that Nightwing wasn't talking about what they were about to get themselves into, "Kara mad?"

"So mad," Nightwing confirmed, "That crap you told me to tell her when she woke up? It didn't fly."

Null expected as much, "I'll be more than happy to get bitched out later. It'll mean we won," Nightwing shook his head, "What?"

"How fast do you think the Batplane flies?" Nightwing asked rhetorically, "Not fast enough to get here two hours after your transmission went out - by itself, anyway," He gestured his head upward, prompting Null to look up.

Supergirl hovered high in the air, her arms crossed over her chest, staring straight ahead at the tower. She hadn't bothered to greet him with the others. While Null couldn't see her face, he expected there was a scowl there.

A part of him wanted to question aloud if there was really time for him to talk to her. Another part realized though that there was a good chance he wouldn't get another opportunity. That in mind, Null took hold of the ironsand hidden in his suit and used it to lift himself up into the air until he was on Supergirl's level. She didn't turn his way or even acknowledge him at all.

Null winced at receiving such a casual cold shoulder, "Kara..."

Supergirl quickly interrupted, "You can fly?"

Null tried to ignore the matter-of-fact way she'd spoken to him, "Kinda. I'm still getting the hang of it. The Gravboard's way faster," Supergirl didn't respond. Setting aside the uncomfortable small talk, upon getting close enough, he was able to look her over.

The last time he had seen her, she had been a mess. Now, however, there wasn't a scratch on her. Nightwing had been right back in the Batcave. All Supergirl had needed was some decent rest underneath yellow sunlight, and she was as good as new.

"I'm sorry," Null said, finally getting Supergirl to glance over at him, "I sent you off on your own and you got hurt. I just... I didn't think that anything-."

"Wait," Supergirl said before Null could launch too much into an apology. She seemed confused, "Do you think I'm upset because I got beaten up and you weren't there?"

"You're not?"

"No," Supergirl insisted with a roll of her eyes, "Max, look at where you are. Look at what you're doing. Were you really going to walk in there all by yourself?"

"Someone had to," Null defended, "And I called for help."

"But you didn't wait for me," Supergirl accused, sounding upset by this, "You left without me."

'You left me behind,' was what she wanted to say.

Null shook his head before looking away, "I didn't think you'd be ready. You were hurt so bad when I found you, Kara," She looked much better now, but that was only because of her Kryptonian physiology. Had she been made of anything less sturdy, she wouldn't be with him right now, "All because you got involved in something I got called out to do in the first place. You got hurt helping me."

Supergirl placed her hands over her hips and finally turned to face Null fully, floating directly in front of him, unwilling to let him off the hook, "I got hurt trying to help save people. It comes with the territory," She deadpanned, "...Did you seriously come out here looking to get revenge for me?"

When Null considered his motivation for storming up to the bad guys' lair, the more context he gave it, the more foolish it seemed, "I wasn't thinking I was gonna stroll in there and kick their asses. I was thinking more along the lines of blowing up their little plan and flipping them off about it afterwards."

"-And then they'd kill you," Supergirl commented as the most likely logical conclusion.

Null didn't deny it, shrugging his shoulders as a concession, "That's probably as close to an honorable death as I'd get, to be honest."

Supergirl was a very expressive young lady, but the resulting expression on her face was hard for Null to read. She struggled to find the words she wanted to use, until she decided to stop being diplomatic, "That is so... selfish."

"I know."

Supergirl continued, "And, like, it's not even selfish because you'd be doing it for petty revenge instead of, you know, saving the world."

"I know."

Null's admissions did little to stop Supergirl once she'd gotten on a roll, "How do you think I'd feel, knowing you came up here all by yourself and got killed because you were mad about what someone else did to me?" She reached out her hand and pressed it to Null's cheek underneath his hood, "I'm better. I got better. And you'd have left me all alone like that?"

It was kind of sweet, that she meant enough to him that he would face certain death just to glove-slap the person that hurt her. It wouldn't have given her much solace, however, to be left with his corpse after the fact.

Null closed his eyes and leaned into Supergirl's touch, "You wouldn't have been alone, Kara," He replied, "You have family, and friends, and people who care about you. You've got talent and ability. You've got a massive future, no matter what you end up focusing on. If I wasn't around, you'd be fine," In fact, she would probably be better off. Null knew full well he got more out of their relationship than she did, "Ow."

Supergirl started pinching and pulling on Null's cheek, "Still, no. Screw that," She said before giving him a sturdy pat on the same cheek, "You don't get to run off and do dumb things just because you're dumb. I care about what happens to you. You're mine."

Null glared at her until what she'd told him sank in, "Wait, what did you just say?"

To her credit, Supergirl didn't back down, "You heard me, mister. You're mine."

She had spent so much time being touch-and-go with her relationship with Null, but after the run-in with Rose Wilson, she had decided that she was all in on him, as much as a pair of teenagers could be, anyway. She'd planned to ease into a more serious relationship, but it didn't hurt to make her intentions clear post-haste. After all, tomorrow wasn't guaranteed.

Supergirl wrapped her arms around Null's neck and pressed her forehead to his, "On this giant ball of rocks and water, countless miles away from my home, you're the only thing I found to latch onto that means anything; that's just for me," In the face of his silence, she smirked at him, eyebrow raised, "Oh, are you going to say something about it? As if you have any room to talk, mister greedy thief."

Null was quick to clear his throat before trying to head off any misconceptions, "No-no, it's just... no one's ever claimed me before," No one had ever really wanted to. Even his parents had been mostly dismissive of him the older he got. There was Selina, but in reality, he had claimed her, and she had simply come around to accepting him.

"Well, I am," Supergirl chirped, "I'll totally lick you to call dibs if I have to."

Null grinned at her and wrapped his arms around her waist, "Don't threaten me with a good time," He pulled her into a deep kiss that was quickly interrupted by an audible clearing of someone's throat from below.

Right. The fate of the world was at stake, and then some.

Despite their moment being seen by a cadre of heroes, Supergirl was slow to let go, "Hey. When this is over, and we all get out of this..."

Null could tell where Supergirl was going and met her halfway, "When we get out of this, we're gonna find somewhere quiet and out of the way where nobody'll bother us for a bit."

"Good. There's a lot I want to share with you," Supergirl said, her face turning a bit red at what she was implying, "We just never seem to get the chance."

Null would do his damnedest to make sure they had one, because she was worth it, "Make it a date, then."

It was a nice thought. But before anything else, they had to win. The survival of everything counted on it.

XxX

More than ever, Alexaner Luthor missed having access to Brother Eye. The satellite would have been invaluable at helping him pick through all of the alternate Earths he had created. If Brother Eye had been active, he never would have created so many in the first place, his work would have gone much faster.

As loathe as Alex was to have to pick through each Earth one-by-one, it was nothing compared to the impatience of Superboy-Prime.

"Have you found it yet, Alex?" Superboy-Prime felt antsier and antsier the more time passed.

Alex didn't answer at first, his attention focused on the alternate Earth in his grasp, "Hn," Once he had finished his observation, he disposed of it, literally eradicating it in his hand, "No."

"You're just destroying them?" Superboy-Prime asked.

Sentimentality didn't become him. Not after everything Alex knew he was responsible for, "We don't need them, Superboy. It's not my Earth, nor yours," "We planted this garden, we have every right to tend to it. And unfortunately, good gardening requires some pruning."

The only Earths they needed were Earth-One and Earth-Two, the former because it was the Earth they were on, their base of operations, as it were. The latter was needed because Earth Two Superman was the baseline Alex was using to

Superboy-Prime watched as Alexander Luthor reached into the very cosmos themselves, entire planets in his hands as he closely scrutinized them.

"Come now, to the petri dish," Alex said as he looked upon his work. Each Earth was different. Some of the changes were small, such as heroes and villains with altered races, genders, and backgrounds. Some changes were all-encompassing, such as an entire Earth with an ancient Roman theme, "Earth-Q... Earth-381... Earth-25G..." Either way, they were all failures in Alexander Luthor's eyes, "No. No. No."

With each failure discovered, Alex crushed them in his hands, returning them to the nothing from whence they came. It made logical sense. There were hundreds of Earths, some so distant and warped from his ideal world that he hardly needed to look at them to see they were inferior. If he allowed the useless one to remain, they would simply clutter his workspace.

There was something wrong with all of them – a taint that he couldn't allow to bleed into what was to be his perfect Earth. Perhaps the answer wasn't in simply looking at the qualities of individual Earths. Maybe the answer could come from combining the aspects of more desirable Earths. To that end, Alex knew where to potentially start.

'Earth-Three. My home. Perhaps there is something there,' Alex thought to himself, drawing the Earth he had already earmarked as his own into his grasp, 'And maybe Kal-L was right. Maybe Earth-Two has some level of moral value. Something pure to add to the mix.'

With Earth-Three and Earth-Two in his hands, he used his power over matter and anti-matter to forcibly merge them together. There was a great amount of resistance to this warping of reality. Sweat beaded Alex's brow as he persisted.

'Superman, the greatest hero on Earth-Two. My father, Lex Luthor, the greatest hero on Earth-Three,' He could see the individuals in question, as well as the Earth-One Superman and Wonder Woman present on Earth-Two, out of place. It didn't matter what horrible amalgamation the fusion would create of them. He would do away with whatever that end result wound up being, 'The universe says Supermen and Luthors are destined to be at odds. Maybe the universe is wrong. I'll fuse them together.'

It would work. Of course, it would. It had to work, for the sake of reality.

So focused was he, that he didn't notice anything was wrong until his very hands were blasted with heat vision. Multiple fingers were severed.

"AARGH!" Alex cried out in pain as he lost his grasp on Earth-Two and Earth-three, losing them in the hodge-podge of alternate Earths. Enraged and in pain, he rounded on Superboy-Prime, nursing his injuries. But that was a mere trifle to him by comparison, "What do you think you're doing!? Now I'll have to find them all over again!"

Superboy-Prime responded to Alex's angered outburst with a cold stare, "Why?"

It was here that Alex realized that the tiger he had been holding by the tail may have finally found it in his best interest to bite him, "Why what, Superboy?" He asked, returning his tone to one of diplomacy.

Superboy-Prime seethed, "All these loser, reject Earths... and you won't send me back to mine! Kal-L went right back to his when it was created!" He snapped, "Why can't I go back to my Earth, Alex? Why can't I go home!?"

Alex tried to buy himself some time until he could think of a way to appease him, "I'd theorize somehow that you changed at your very core, Superboy."

"They made me change. I didn't want to, but they made me," Superboy-Prime said, almost pleading, as though doing so would prompt Alex to solve his problem for him, "I did what I had to do to find a way out. I always find a way out."

"Earth Prime is out there somewhere, Superboy," Alex said, finally having come up with a means to do away with Superboy-Prime while he did what he needed to, "You've done more than enough for our cause here. You're free to go looking for Earth Prime."

In order to get the muscle needed to see to their plans, Alexander Luthor had used his own powers to enhance Superboy-Prime's strength, to the degree that he could move entire planets and fight at a level beyond his fellow Kryptonians from other Earths. Trying to take that enhancement back to his face would end poorly for Alex, but if he could get Superboy-Prime into his reach in the stars, he could relieve him of his increased power. It wasn't like he needed Superboy-Prime to be that strong anymore.

Superboy-Prime seemed receptive Alex's idea, until he took longer than ten seconds to think about it. At that, an unpleasant smirk crossing his face that Alex didn't like. Nor did he like how Superboy-Prime flew uncomfortably close to him, "I know you're searching for the perfect Earth, but your search is over, Alex. You're going to forget your mixing and matching, because I've got an easy answer. You're going to find my Earth. Earth Prime. We'll make that the perfect Earth."

The look in his eye was manic. Alex's fight-or-flight instinct screamed at him to do something, anything. His own aims had nothing to do with Earth Prime, but if he refused to acquiesce to Superboy-Prime's demand, he had no doubt that the lad would act drastically in response.

Alex received a temporary reprieve when the universe projection flickered. Ultimately though, it remained active. It was an alarming sign, however.

"Something's wrong with the tower," Alex said.

Superboy-Prime sneered angrily, looking down the length of the tower he and Alex resided atop, "Who in the world has the guts?"

It was here that Alex found his much-needed diversion, "I need a little more time to find Earth Prime."

Superboy-Prime's eyes burned an angry red, "I'll give you all the time you need."

XxX

(Meanwhile – With Null)

That they had reached the golden tower without being discovered had been nothing short of a small miracle to Null. For once, he felt that perhaps luck was on his side. Then, they reached the level of the tower where the captured heroes were. Power Girl, Nightshade, Lady Quark, Breach, Atom, Martian Manhunter, and Black Adam.

Great progress. Things couldn't have been going better. The powers-that-be had to be distracted beyond measure to not notice them. They were even able to split up to cover more ground. Then, Booster Gold took it upon himself to yank the first hero they came across free. Nightshade was the lucky rescuee. The tower reacted to the loss of one of its catalysts.

"Goddamn it, dude," Null muttered under his breath. Being teamed with Anarky was fine, but it was just his luck to get stuck with Booster Gold as well. He figured Batman would blame him for blowing their cover, if they survived, "Should have given us Blue Beetle..."

"What?" Booster Gold defended himself, "We're here to get them out, aren't we?"

"We don't know what that did," Anarky said.

"Seriously," Null continued, "We've got a tech genius and the world's greatest detective with us, and you've got a fucking onboard computer flying around your head for reference. Could you have not waited for the smart people to figure out how the fuck this thing works before you yanked one of these guys out?"

"And why Nightshade?" Anarky said as the two teenagers continued to let Booster Gold have it, "For what we're about to do I'd have grabbed Power Girl or Black Adam first. We need firepower."

"You think Black Adam won't try to kill us when he gets loose?" Booster Gold asked.

Null scoffed, "I think Black Adam'll try to kill whoever put him in this thing before he thinks about going after any of us."

"INCOMING!" Anarky warned.

Null didn't need to be told twice to flee. He took off with Nightshade in his grasp the moment Anarky shouted. Superboy-Prime approached from above, flying at them like a bullet. They narrowly avoided him crashing right through them.

When Superboy-Prime saw who had intruded upon the tower, he rolled his eyes, his anger subsiding, "Really? Bottom-feeders like you are the ones that showed up? Of all the people..."

"Bottom-feeder, eh?" Booster Gold muttered before pointing both of his fists at Superboy-Prime, "How's this!" He unleashed a pair of powerful energy blasts from the gauntlets on his wrists, sending him flying into the side of the tower.

Despite the blast and the impact into the wall, Superboy-Prime didn't have a scratch on him. Entirely unharmed, he floated out of the crater his body had created, "You done, weakling?"

Booster Gold blinked and looked down at his gauntlets. Granted, he hadn't really expected to hurt a Kryptonian with his equipment, but he'd expected more from that, "Well... I mean-," In the next instant, Superboy-Prime had closed the distance between him and sent him flying with a punch.

"Heh," Superboy-Prime momentarily admired his handiwork, "One cockroach down."

In the meantime, Null and Anarky had scrambled to try and free more heroes. To Anarky's earlier point, they needed someone with stopping power awake and ready to fight. To that end, the next heroes they had reached were Power Girl and Martian Manhunter. The older Kara from an alternate dimension was still gorgeous, but Null couldn't rouse her.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up," Null repeated frantically, seeing Booster Gold go flying, "Crap. Anarky, we've gotta do something!"

"You're the one with powers!" Anarky shouted back, "Give Power Girl here and do something to slow that asshole down!"

Null magnetically floated Power Girl across the divide between them and turned his focus on Superboy-Prime as he flew their way. He had avoided fighting a Kryptonian for his entire career. That streak was now over.

When Superboy-Prime slowly turned around to face them, it felt like the unstoppable monster in a horror movie turning to menace its victims. He had dealt with Booster Gold, who despite his reputation was a real hero. He wasn't a shitkicker like Null, or whatever Anarky was.

The gesture, while useless in practicality, still enraged him. But for once, he kept his cool. After all, this was Null – a worthless, bottom-feeding thief. Not even enough of a threat to be classified as a supervillain. He could give him his best shot, and it still wouldn't matter.

In fact, that sounded like a fun way to put someone in their place.

Superboy-Prime preened arrogantly, hovering in place, "Look. I have a million better things to do than slap you around. So, here's the deal. I'll give you one freebie. I want you to hit me as hard as you can."

Null felt physically repulsed at someone who looked like a Super-person, wearing their colors and emblem, possessing such an ego, "Are you kidding me?"

The universe was at stake, and this guy wanted to play 'test your might'?

"Now hold on, you might have misheard me," Superboy-Prime continued, "Not half as hard. Not some arbitrary percentage. I want you. To hit me. As hard. As. You. Can."

Both Null and Anarky looked at each other. Well, if he was handing out freebies...

Anarky stood back as Null rooted his feet to the tower platform and lifted them over his head. Energy crackled around him as a large, unstable orb of electricity started to form just out of his grasp. But it wasn't enough.

"Bigger."

The ball grew to the size of his entire body. Again, still not enough.

"Bigger!"

It grew to the size of a tractor trailer, which prompted Anarky to hit the deck, Nightshade in his grasp, to make sure they weren't injured. Even Superboy-Prime raised an eyebrow in interest. But for Null, it still wasn't enough.

"BIGGER!"

The orb jumped in size to that of a two-story house. Whatever Null felt about the potency of the attack, he had run out of time. He would have to make do with what he had.

Null threw the ball and fired the homing beacon at Superboy-Prime, sending the electric ball rocketing toward him. He didn't even move as it exploded on him. Null threw up a forcefield for the sake of Anarky and Nightshade as the force of the blast shook the entire pole.

Snoke filled the air in the aftermath as Null lowered the forcefield, "That's not going to do the job," He informed Anarky, "I'm, like... 85% sure he's floating there, waiting for the smoke to clear, just to be dramatic."

"Can't you absorb more electricity from the tower to pump yourself up or something?" Anarky asked.

Null smacked a palm off of his forehead, "Wow. I can't believe I didn't think of that," He replied sarcastically, "If I had, maybe I'd have been doing that since the literal moment I touched it. Oh, wait. I have been!" He eventually snapped back.

Anarky felt a sinking sensation in his stomach, "You have?"

Null looked over his shoulder and nodded gravely, "I've been siphoning power this whole time, just for this. I still am. And I'm gonna try my best, but I wouldn't count on me holding him at all. Unless you've got an ace up your sleeve, you should go link up with the others."

Anarky hesitated for a moment, but eventually lifted Nightshade over his shoulder and did as Null requested. The heroes had a better chance of winning if they were all together than if they were separated all over the tower.

As Null expected, when the smoke cleared, Superboy-Prime simply hovered in the air, seemingly unharmed. He in fact made a show of casually brushing off his own shoulder. Null responded by picking his nose and flicking it. However, instead of a booger, it was an ironsand bullet that impacted off of Superboy-Prime's forehead, bouncing off harmlessly. Superboy-Prime sneered at his inferior opposition, and in a rush of speed stopped in front of Null.

Just out of instinct, Null responded to the breach of personal space with a claw hand to Superboy-Prime's face. Both of their bodies were engulfed with enough electricity to power an entire housing development. Superboy-Prime slowly reached up to his own face and peeled Null's hand off. Cold eyes gazed at his target before he reached out a hand and flicked Null in the center of the chest.

Null went flying back, tumbling uncontrollably, head-over-heels until his body finally came to rest. He gasped and wheezed, clutching at his breastbone. A little more force, and Null doubted his rib cage wouldn't have exploded through his back.

"Ooh..." Superboy-Prime hissed in fake sympathy, relishing in the pain he had undoubtedly caused, "That looked like it hurt. Not that I would know," He watched Null struggle to get back up, which he eventually did with the help of the tower wall, "I know most of you criminals are complete morons, so I'm going to give you one last chance. You. Me. Hard as you can. We clear?"

Null lifted his head high enough to glare at Superboy-Prime underneath his hood, "Crystal," The metal wall groaned as he drove his hand through it, reaching in deep enough to grab and rip out a handful of sparking wires.

This was it. The most direct boost he could get from the universal tower. Since Superboy-Prime was being 'gracious' enough to grant him the opportunity to leech as much power as he could in one go, it would have been rude of Null to turn it down.

Null began to borrow so much power that his eyes began to glow white. His veins, now visible on his face, started lighting up under his skin. The smell of ozone engulfed the nearby area and a pressure began to build up around them.

Al of a sudden, Null didn't seem so weak and worthless to the alternate universe Kryptonian, "Uh..."

"You know what? You're right," Null said, heart pumping fiercely in his chest as his system was flooded with more and more power, "You are better than me, in pretty much every way I can possibly think of. You're faster, you're stronger, you've got more raw power... and you've got a pretty good jawline. But here's the thing, Psychoboy-."

"It's Superboy!" Superboy-Prime snapped.

"I know what I said," Null said before continuing, "-You're way stronger than me. But if I need more power, I can find ways to borrow it."

"...How much can you borrow?"

"That's a great question," Null replied, "I try not to fight monsters like you, so I've never really had to ask before. I'll tell you what. Let's find out together!"

Null pointed the index and middle fingers of his free hand at Superboy-Prime like a gun, forming a twenty-pound ironsand shell at the end of his fingertips. Channeling all of the electric power he had at his disposal, Null formed a fifty-foot long, two-pronged cannon made from some of the metal of the tower that extended from his arm.

Superboy-Prime could feel the power buildup, and a touch of fear crept into his heart, "W-Wait a minute."

"What's wrong, big time?" Null taunted, able to see that his target was a moment away from attacking him before he had completed the setup for his own, "You're the one who asked me to take my best shot! Or are you backing down now?"

Superboy-Prime bristled. Despite how he felt, he wasn't going to give Null the satisfaction of going back on his word, "I'm gonna be Superman, you idiot! Superman doesn't back down from anyone!"

"Glad to hear it!" Null shouted, "So, just stand there and smile for the motherfucking camera!" With that, he squeezed his fingers and let the chambered round fly.

*BANG!*

A sharp, yet deafening blast rang out, and the large projectile within Null's launched forth faster than the recoil of the makeshift cannon could register. The cannon itself blew apart upon firing. Superboy-Prime saw the whole thing coming the entire way, and braced for it. All the same, the round hit him faster than a speeding bullet. It, in fact, hit him somewhere along the speed of 8200 feet per second.

Even with all of the power behind the shot, aim was not sacrificed in its place. With a round of that size, from a range of that close, even if Null had missed, he still couldn't have missed. Besides, he had a big, red 'S' to aim at, dead center on Superboy-Prime's chest. The shot hit true, jerking Superboy-Prime's body forward violently. With the resulting shockwave that had ripped through the air after the point of contact, Null held out hope that perhaps the dimensionally misplaced Kryptonian had bitten off more than he could chew, and had gotten a helmet-sized hole blown through his torso for his trouble.

The front of Superboy-Prime's uniform had been shredded, and as for the body underneath? Ugly purple and black bruises were visible where the shell had made contact.

Tears of pain pricked at the corner of Superboy-Prime's eyes, but the pain was merely a sign that he had survived. He touched at the injury, relishing in the feeling, "Heh-heh..." He started to laugh, first slightly, then loudly and more maniacally, "Hah-hah-hah-hah! I knew it! I knew I could do it! There's no way a second-rate thief could ever put down the main hero!"

No longer overcharged, Null's eyes and skin returned to normal. That had been his best shot; the most power he could focus into one point. He'd had to absorb more power than he'd ever gathered just to make it work.

Superboy-Prime felt his confidence and ego swell at the sight of Null's dejected body language, "Did you really expect anything better? You're not JLA. You're not a Titan. You're nobody. And nobody's going to miss you when you're gone," He threatened with a manic grin before taking off at Null.

Still somewhat overcharged, Null pointed one hand at the golden tower, the other at Superboy-Prime. The next instant, his trajectory shifted, sending him headfirst into the colossal structure. The satisfying sound of a metallic clang that resulted prompted Null to pump his fist triumphantly. However, Superboy-Prime almost immediately freed himself from being magnetically pinned.

"Come on..." Null groaned, "That couldn't even buy me ten more seconds?"

In another rush of speed from Superboy-Prime, he blew past Null. The only thing keeping him from tearing right through Null was the magnetic forcefield Null kept in place subtly pushing him aside. The thief had learned his lesson after being hit by Superman before and had adjusted accordingly. It wasn't a catch-all in the least, however, and he found himself bounced around like a hamster in an invisible ball.

'He doesn't matter,' Superboy-Prime thought as he rocketed past, 'He's just the diversion. A waste of my time.'

As he thought to himself, he was blindsided by a white and red blur. Power Girl. Newly recovered, she smashed Superboy-Prime into the side of the tower, her forearm pressed against his neck, "You have a lot to answer for."

"I don't have to answer for anything," Superboy-Prime regarded, eyes red, "I'm the good guy here."

A sharp blast of heat vision forced Power Girl to let go, lest she be burned. Superboy-Prime flew past her as she evaded, grabbing her by her cape. With a mighty heave, he threw her away from the tower, following up with a heat vision blast for good measure.

He had expected more of a fight from the former Earth-Two Supergirl, but to his surprise, once she had been moved far enough from the tower, Power Girl disappeared. That was odd, but all the same, it was a significant powerhouse taken out of commission.

'Besides,' Superboy-Prime thought, smiling at the sight of Alex's still active machine, 'It's not like anyone needs her anymore.'

Before he had too much time to feel pleased with himself, another presence hovered behind him. He turned around to find the unhappy form of Earth-One's Supergirl.

"You?" Superboy-Prime almost laughed, "I already put you in your place. What do you think you're gonna-?" His question was interrupted with a crushing right hand to the jaw.

Supergirl cracked her knuckles while Superboy touched at his lip, checking for blood, "I was holding back last time, you dingus."

Still finding himself unmarked, Superboy-Prime smirked, "Here's a fun fact for you. So was I."

XxX

Batman hadn't known for certain that the group of Null, Anarky, and Booster Gold would attract undue attention, but given the latter, he made an educated estimation on the likelihood of it. To that end, when the sounds of fighting started, he wasn't particularly surprised. He, Nightwing, and Blue Beetle simply used the opportunity to release as many of the captured heroes as they could, managing to get the remainder of them free.

And yet, the machine continued to operate.

"Freeing everyone didn't work," Nightwing observed, looking out into the projection of the universe before them, "I still see more and more Earths replicating."

A slight pursing of Batman's lips was the only sign that he was perturbed, "Beetle?"

Blue Beetle had been doing his best to analyze the technology of the tower as they went along. It was the epicenter of everything happening. Every captured hero contributed in some way to its capabilities, and its power source had clearly been Black Adam. But even with them removed, it was still active, "I don't know how to shut it off, Batman. It doesn't make any sense. It's self-sustaining at this point."

The entire time, Batman never tore his gaze away from the red-haired man clad in a golden bodysuit, "If there's a way to stop it, we can just force it out of him."

Hearing Batman's threat, Alex chuckled to himself, "You can't stop this. You and yours have had countless chances to make this universe better. And you've failed, every single time. There won't be anything different this time around. You're going to fail again; this time, for the last time!" He punctuated this with a blast of pure anti-matter energy.

The heroes scattered, trying to get an angle on Alex to approach him while his attention was on one of the others, but he had two hands available and the focus to keep track of all of them. Nightwing's acrobatics allowed him to get the closest out of the three, narrowly missing Alex with a midair corkscrew into a diving kick. Batman used the temporary lapse in Alex's attack to hurl small bombs at him. Alex saw them coming and blasted them out of the air, creating a smokescreen around himself that concealed his view of the others.

Blue Beetle tried to take advantage by blasting into the smoke with his BB gun, but when the smoke cleared, Alex was nowhere to be seen.

"Where are you aiming?" Blue Beetle's eyes went wide when Alex appeared directly in front of him and grabbed him by the throat. He took flight with Beetle still in his grasp, "Ted Kord... your snooping could have led to the undoing of everything. In this universe of failures, you're one of the few I could almost dare to consider competent," Batman and Nightwing moved to rescue their comrade when Alex held up his free hand, threatening Blue Beetle, "You are in no position to rescue him. You see? Failed again."

Both Batman and Nightwing looked at each other before the latter spoke, "Maybe we aren't. But they are."

A newly free Martian Manhunter flew up and grabbed Blue Beetle, going intangible once he did just as Atom and Breach attempted to ambush Alex. He blasted the two of them away from the tower. Once they flew far enough away, they vanished into thin air.

"What did you just do?" Batman demanded.

"They moved too far from the tower," Alex said, "As they're not originally from this Earth, they were simply transported to the Earth of their origin."

Any gloating was prevented by a bolt of lightning striking true into Alex's back. The Earth-Three intellectual turned to be faced with the looming form of Black Adam.

"The games are over, Luthor," Adam's voice boomed as he sought to make Alex pay for his betrayal, "Your plots and schemes, your treachery, it all ends now!"

Alexander Luthor fell to a knee underneath Black Adam's onslaught, blocking his following attacks with both hands, "Greater than you have tried, Adam," In an instant, he turned Adam's magic lightning against him, shooting him out of the sky with his own powers, "Far greater."

XxX

After spending time trading more punches with Supergirl, Superboy-Prime had no choice but to come to a conclusion – she had indeed been holding back the last time they had fought. After all, they had been fighting in a small town, and even then, they had still done considerable damage.

...Though that had mostly been him. But who cared? When Earth Prime was brought back, everything on Earth-One would cease to exist anyway. That meant every bad thing that he may or may not have done to bring about that change would never have happened. At least, that was his mindset. The ends justified the means when the ends would simply be erased anyway.

After an exchange of punches, Supergirl and Superboy-Prime went palm-to-palm, fingers interlocked as they tried to overpower one another. As titanic as her strength was, and as much as she was cutting loose against an enemy that could take it in a location that could endure it, she still wasn't as strong as him.

Try as she might, Supergirl couldn't budge him, even with her best efforts. Even worse, she got an up-close look at Superboy-Prime's infuriatingly smug expression, "Don't you get it yet?" He taunted, "You're supposed to be one of the tough ones, and this is the best you can do."

"Do you ever shut up?" Supergirl grunted out, her entire body feeling the strain of the struggle. Her wrists felt a hair away from breaking. Eventually, she felt them give, "Gah!"

Superboy-Prime felt them break in his grasp. His triumphant look suddenly found itself covered with a glob of ironsand that solidified around his head into a smooth mass. He immediately began to panic, clawing at the ironsand, yet unable to find anywhere to dig into to begin stripping it away.

Supergirl didn't take the opening she'd been provided for granted. She lunged forward and hit Superboy-Prime as hard as she could in his wide-open torso. Clenching her hands together for one final blow, she smashed him from above with a hammer-like blow that sent him falling down to the ground like a comet. He struck the cold, icy surface of the pole with enough force to break off an entire section.

Supergirl hovered over the crash zone while Null flew nearby, trying to keep the ironsand's shape and structure around Superboy-Prime's head, "This guy bugging you, babe?" Null jokingly asked before taking note of her injuries, "Shit. You okay, Kara?"

"I'll be fine. Just give me a sec," Supergirl answered, feeling the bones in her wrists knit themselves back together, "You're gonna suffocate him?" She asked.

Yes, and Null was not ashamed to admit as much, "You fuckers still have to breathe, don't you?" He replied.

They did, as evidenced by Superboy-Prime's squirming body and the flailing of his arms and legs. Before long, a red glow appeared on the surface of the mask. Heat vision burned and blasted through the ironsand, giving Superboy-Prime endings to grab onto and tear off. Once again able to circulate air unobstructed, he took massive, greedy breaths.

Once he was able to focus again on the light and the environment around him, he saw Supergirl and Null together in the air. Anger burned in him at the sight, "Him? You're getting help from him?"

"Don't take it so personally, man," Null replied, trying to buy Supergirl even a second longer to recover, "It's just because she's cute... and sweet... and not trying to destroy the universe. Oh, and she's not a raging psychopath. I'm sure if you had... literally anything going for you, you wouldn't have had to hoodwink the world's villains into doing your dirty work."

That pest. Suddenly, more about the fight up to that point made sense. Null's little electric blasts and magnetic attacks had been as effective as mosquito bites on a rhino's hide, so he simply found an alternate way to make a difference, transferring his magnetic forcefield to Supergirl to subtly divert Superboy's physical blows. That was why, despite the fact that he had still been hitting her, she hadn't folded the way she had the last time around and even seemed capable of enduring his strength at times.

This was exactly what was wrong with this universe. A hero fighting side-by-side with a thief with no issues, "You're pathetic!" Superboy-Prime shouted as he stood up, "This is why I'm doing this. We're going to have good heroes again! When we bring back my Earth, we'll have real heroes! Real heroes that are polite, and honest, and brave!"

He flew up and forced himself between Null and Supergirl. He punched the latter, while the former grabbed his face from behind and attempted to electrocute him. Superboy-Prime hardly reacted, reaching over his shoulder to grab Null and throw him at Supergirl, who caught him. Cruelty rushing through him, Superboy-Prime took aim with his heat vision and fired.

Null's forcefield did nothing to protect him as the heat vision struck true. Two eye-shaped holes burned through his upper right chest and out his back, also striking Supergirl, who lost her grip on him.

Null gasped in pain and shock as he slipped from Supergirl's grasp. He fell from the sky, "NO!"

As Supergirl recovered and went to catch him again, Superboy-Prime wrapped his arms around her neck from behind, "This is your fault," He hissed in her ear as she fought to try and get free of his chokehold, "Because you wouldn't stop fighting. Because you just had to keep trying. I'm the hero here. You're the bad guys. And the bad guys never win."

It served them both right. It all could have been a peaceful transition. All of the pretenders of Earth-One could have just faded away. They would hardly have known anything was happening at all, let alone what it was. And the universe that replaced theirs would have been all the better. But one rat after another had to keep learning more and more, and sticking their noses into things. Well, it made sense. After all, Earth One was nothing but suffering, so why would things be any different for its end?

This universe would die as it lived, ugly and gracelessly.

As Superboy-Prime opened his mouth to taunt Supergirl again, she reached over her shoulder and, fingers in his mouth, grabbed onto his lower jaw, pulling her hand away in a snapping motion that dislocated his jaw.

"MMMMPPPPH!" Superboy-Prime's hands flew to his mouth. Blood poured between his fingers as he tried to hold his jaw in place long enough for the injury to heal.

Tears in her eyes, Supergirl let out an anguished scream and flew at Superboy-Prime as hard as her will would push her forward. All the air was smashed out of him when she crashed into him full-force, driving him up into the sky.

Despite the severity of the injury inflicted on him, Null never lost consciousness. His awareness and sense of self-preservation kicked in after about three seconds of free-falling.

Between Null's magnetic forcefield and a cushion of ironsand from his suit, he survived the fall. Granted, hitting the the roof of the Bug, even with that hadn't been a pleasant experience, but it was preferable to splatting off of the top platform of the tower, which had been where his trajectory would have led him.

The Bug landed on the surface of the tower where Null rolled off and fell to the ground painfully. Anarky behind the controls gave a sarcastic thumbs up when he dropped, "Got him."

"Uuuugh..." Null writhed on the ground, clutching at his wound. At least it had instantly cauterized from the heat of the blast. The suit was also doing its part to mitigate damage, but the pain was still agonizing.

"Null!" Blue Beetle scrambled out of his vehicle and rushed over to the boy's side, "Are you alright, kid?"

"No!" Null irritably shouted, abruptly sitting up, "We figure out how to stop this thing yet!?"

Blue Beetle sighed, "It's beyond me. Maybe if I had more time, I could figure out the specifics of how this thing works."

By now, frustration had thoroughly kicked in for Null. Looking up at Supergirl continuing to battle with Superboy-Prime as their fight took them out of Earth's outer reaches, remembering how his help had little consequence in their attempts to try and stop the unstable alternate Superboy, it simply made him angry. There had to be a way to make a difference.

Unsteadily making his way back up to his feet, Null stumbled a bit, but eventually found his legs, "If that's the case, I think we should stop trying to think about a smart solution and just go with the obvious one – Tear the fucking tower apart."