Superman hovered unsteadily, his chest rising heavier than it should, his body no longer responding with the same way it always had.
The comm in his ear crackled.
"Superman."
Batman's voice cut through.
"I'm reading your vitals. There's a foreign agent in your bloodstream. Your system is destabilizing."
Clark exhaled slowly, his eyes locked on Rakan, who stood across from him with blood smeared across his jaw, casually licking it from his knuckles like he had all the time in the world. The green glow of kryptonite flickered along his claws.
"…Yeah," Clark replied, quieter than usual, the strain creeping in despite himself. "I've been poisoned. And from the way it feels… I don't think I've got much time left."
There was a brief pause on the other end,
"Hold on," Batman said immediately. "Just hold on. I might be able to synthesize a counteragent. I need data, I need a bit of time..."
"They've got kryptonite too," Clark cut in, his gaze narrowing slightly as Rakan tilted his head, clearly aware of the conversation even without hearing it. "They came prepared. They know exactly what I am… and how to kill me."
Another breath, heavier now.
"And this one…" Clark added, voice lowering, "he said something. That he's killed us before. I don't know what that means, but.."
His eyes hardened.
"... I don't think I can extract that information from him, and I'm not about to let him get away."
"Clark, don't." Batman's voice sharpened. "Wait. I need you to..."
The comm went dead.
Superman had already torn it from his ear.
He didn't even look at it as he crushed it in his hand, the metal folding like paper before drifting away in pieces.
Silence settled around him.
Just him…
…and the monsters in front of him.
Rakan's grin widened slowly, blood still fresh on his lips, claws flexing as the green glow intensified.
"…Finished talking?"
Clark didn't answer, he just looked at him.
And then, simply
The ground below shattered, the sound barrier broke instantly.
Superman launched forward.
Rakan's eyes widened from surprise, as Clark slammed into him with explosive force, the impact carving a shockwave through the air and driving him backward before he could react. Two hands locked onto him like iron restraints, and then they were flying up, fast, faster.
The city vanished beneath them in seconds.
Rakan snarled, claws digging into Clark's arms, tearing through his suit and skin alike, blood scattering into the rushing wind.
"Just die already!" he growled, struggling against the grip.
Clark didn't respond, he just kept going.
Through the upper atmosphere, into the dark of space.
The world fell away, replaced by silence and stars, the vast emptiness of space swallowing everything. Still, Superman pushed forward, forcing his failing body to hold together just a little longer.
Then his strength faltered.
Just enough and Rakan took that advantage instantly.
A clawed hand drove forward and punched through Clark's abdomen, the kryptonite slicing into him like poison.
Clark's body jerked, his breath hitching, not from lack of air, but from the overwhelming surge of pain and weakness flooding through him.
But even then, he still didn't let go.
With a strained, guttural effort, Superman grabbed Rakan's arm… and ripped it clean off.
The limb tore free in a violent spray, drifting into the void as Clark wrenched the embedded claw from his own body and hurled it away into the darkness.
Rakan pulled back slightly, watching his severed arm float away before glancing down at the stump, already beginning to regenerate.
"…Were you trying to make me suffocate out here?" his voice echoed directly into Clark's mind, amused and mocking him. "Fool."
Superman hovered there now.
Weakened, the poison spread deeper, the kryptonite still taking effect, his strength bleeding away faster with every passing second.
For the first time in a long while, he looked so vulnerable.
Rakan stepped forward, his remaining claw lifting, aiming straight for Clark's chest.
"This ends now."
He attacked and it was immedietly intercepted.
Two forces slammed into him at once, sending his body spiraling violently through space.
Rakan twisted mid-flight, regaining control as his eyes snapped forward.
Kara.
And beside her, a figure wrapped in crackling violet lightning.
Shadow Marshal Zeus.
Rakan's lips curled into a slow grin.
"…The girl Kryptonian," he said speaking directly inside their minds, "And the Shadow Monarch's slave."
Behind them, Superman struggled to stay upright, but he still could show concern for others.
'Kara… why did you come…? Can't you see what he...'
'Shut up, Kal.'
They didn't talk but their eyes said everything that needed to be said.
'I can see exactly what he is, a son of bitch who fights in a dirty way.' she thought , her eyes never leaving Rakan. 'And I'm not letting him kill you like this.'
Rakan watched her carefully now, something in his expression changed, but the amusement didn't disappear.
He took a slow step forward.
Then he paused.
His gaze narrowed, not at her face, he focused his vision lower.
He tilted his head slightly, as if sensing something deeper than sight could offer. Then he inhaled slowly, and whatever he picked up made something click behind those red eyes.
"…Wait."
The word came out quieter.
"…You."
Kara didn't move.
But her jaw tightened just enough to notice.
Rakan's grin changed into something even more feral and monstrous.
"I smell him on you."
His gaze dipped briefly toward her abdomen before rising again, and in that moment, there was no mistaking it.
He understood.
"…How interesting, the Shadow Monarch's blood runs deeper than I thought."
Kara knew exactly what he meant.
And the way he looked at her made it very clear, this fight had just become personal.
Rakan even in space, even after everything, he still looked like something that refused to die properly.
Kara's voice came out calm, but there was nothing soft in it anymore.
"I'm going to kill you," she said simply. "You know that, right?"
Rakan wiped blood from the corner of his mouth, rolling his shoulder as his partially regenerated arm flexed again. The green glow of kryptonite still pulsed along his remaining claws.
He actually smiled.
"Be my guest," he replied, voice almost relaxed,"As you can see… I can still take a few more hits."
Kara stared at him for a moment longer, something colder settling behind her expression.
Then she spoke again, quieter this time.
"I'm not my cousin."
The change was immediate.
Her eyes shifted as a deeper red ignited behind her gaze, the vacuum of space around her trembling as her restraint finally stopped pretending to exist.
Without warning, she fired.
Heat vision erupted from her eyes in a concentrated beam so intense it tore through space and the atmosphere of earth itself, the light stretching all the way from space to Earth in a single, unbroken line of destruction. The sky below lit up like a second sun had been born in orbit.
Rakan barely had time to react.
The blast hit him dead center, his body was thrown downward like a meteor ripped from orbit, burning through clouds, breaking the sound barrier on impact alone, and slamming into the Earth below with a shockwave that split the ground open in a crater the size of a district.
Kara turned slightly, her gaze shifting to Zeus.
A simple motion of her hand was all it took.
No words.
Zeus understood immediately.
"At once, my queen," he said, voice calm, almost reverent, as he grabbed the barely conscious Superman from the void of space and shot downward like a violet comet, vanishing toward Earth in an instant.
Kara followed faster and angrier.
She broke atmosphere like it wasn't there, descending in a straight line of crimson light, and hit the ground moments after Rakan had tried to recover.
The impact alone turned the crater into something worse.
Dust exploded outward.
Stone turned to vapor.
And Rakan was driven deeper into the earth as Kara slammed into him again, this time on the ground itself, her hand grabbing him by the collar and forcing him back down into the ruin he had just crawled from.
But then, that green glow flared again.
Kryptonite.
Her body reacted instantly. A tremor ran through her strength. Not enough to stop her, but it was enough to slow her.
Rakan laughed through bloodied teeth.
"Are you willing to die as well?!" he said, voice rough but amused. "Both of you are stupid. With you gone, this world is doomed anyway."
His grip tightened slightly as he looked up at her through cracked stone and smoke.
"You were the most troublesome back then," he continued, almost conversational now, "but killing you proved easier than the Bat. That fool tried everything… and it didn't matter."
Kara's jaw tightened.
Sweat formed faintly at her face now, her distance carefully adjusted from the glowing claw in his hand, her body instinctively resisting the kryptonite's pull.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" she snapped.
Before he could answer,
A second presence moved.
Behind her, quietly.
Querehsha appeared, stepping out of nothing and her eyes flicked between the two of them, taking in the damage, the state of Rakan.
"You don't have to know." she said softly.
Kara turned slightly, just enough to see her from the corner of her eye.
Querehsha smiled.
And then glanced down at Rakan.
"You're in a sorry state, Beast Monarch.." she remarked lightly, almost amused. "So much for all that preparation."
Rakan spat blood to the side, forcing himself upright slightly despite the crater trying to swallow him back down.
"Shut up," he growled. "I'm the one doing the fighting here! Besides, they were powerful. That's all. Also take a good look at her..." his grin returned, sharper now, "we hit the jackpot. This will get his attention."
Querehsha's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at Kara, focusing more carefully now.
Then she laughed a far more wicked laugh.
"Oh… how wonderful! This is unexpected… he really does love this planet, doesn't he?"
Her smile widened.
"I'll enjoy this."
Kara straightened slowly, her eyes fully locked onto both of them now, heat still faintly flickering behind her gaze as the ground around her cracked under the pressure of her presence.
"Try me, Bitch."she said.
/-\
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