The rain-slicked alley smelled of ozone and crushed concrete. Neon flickered across shattered walls, illuminating twisted metal and abandoned cars.
Zane's Echo form pulsed faintly, the purple energy coiling under his skin like living armor. Every muscle was tuned to precision; every tendon and fiber obeyed instinct alone.
Connor's eyes burned red with feral intensity as he struggled to his feat. His white suit clung tight over corded muscle; the crimson S on his chest gleamed like a blade in the dim light. He snarled, low and guttural. "You're not leaving with her!"
Zane's lips curved into a faint smirk. "And you think you can stop me, superboy-toy."
Connor lunged immediately, fists hammering the wet asphalt, concrete cracking under the sheer force. Zane's body blurred with purple afterimages as he sidestepped, absorbing the momentum of Connor's wild swing.
In this form his Reflexes relied more on instinct rather than foreknowledge—different from his human-form danger sense, which reacted to pain the future had already promised.
'In human form,' Zane thought, 'My body knows it will get hurt in the near future, then moves out of the way in advance. But in this form, my body has a type of Sixth sense, like those anime fighters. I'm moving on pure Instincts!!'
He didn't notice this when he fought Desmond, but that was mostly because he basically crushed him physically hysically...
Connor roared and smashed a wall behind Zane, sending shards of concrete raining down. Zane pivoted, landing a precise strike into Connor's ribs, sending him sliding back across the broken street, feet digging up the asphalt as he skids to a stop.
"You're fast," Connor spat blood, voice trembling with rage, "but you're not stronger!"
Zane tilted his head, his sharp teeth formed into a feral grin, "Ever heard of Speed is King?"
Connor grunted in a nnoyance before lunging forward once again.
Actually, Zane wasnt that much faster than him, more like his combat speed was and reactions were faster. He's actually physically weaker than the half-Kryptonian.
Their clash became a symphony of violence. Concrete groaned, neon signs shattered, and twisted metal screamed under the pressure of their strikes. Zane used the environment like a weapon: dumpsters became shields, broken beams became levers, debris became projectiles. Each move was precise; each counter exploited Connor's rage-driven predictability.
Connor's feral fury made him unpredictable in raw strength, but Zane's instincts allowed him to anticipate the moment rage overrides control. He ducked under a spinning fist, twisted Connor's momentum, and slammed him into a fire escape. Sparks flew as the metal groaned.
"Why do you fight like that?" Connor growled, blood trickling from his lip. "You're…you're not supposed to be able to move like that."
Zane's smirk widened. "Not supposed to? That's cute. You've clearly never been trained in hand to hand, Superboy.'
Connor lunged again, but Zane's body read the motion before it fully existed. He dodged, rolled, and struck in perfect timing, driving Connor back into a demolished storefront. Reinforced glass shattered, sparks scattering into the rain-soaked street.
"I don't… care what you think," Connor snarled, snapping a steel railing like it was paper and swinging it like a club. "I'll get her!"
Zane's eyes narrowed. He anticipated Connor's blow, letting the first swing slide through softened muscle before a spinning elbow caught the half-Kryptonian flush on the jaw.
BOOM!
A sonic boom rippled throught the air as Connor staggered back, dazed, but his rage only flared hotter.
'This guys way stronger and tougher than Desmond, even though he's only half Kryptonian', Zane noted.
'Didn't Connor need help from Kaldur, Wally West and Robin to defeat him? Or am I remembering wrong, its been so long.'
Anyway, he didnt care that much. He was actually enjoying this fight a lot!!
"HELP!!
Then, a sharp scream cut through the storm of rain and thunder.
Both fighters froze, just for a fraction of a heartbeat. Down the block, a section of scaffolding was giving way, falling toward a trapped group of civilians. Metal twisted, sparks flew as electrical wires arced, and the crowd froze in terror.
'Crap, forgot about the people!!' Zane cursed inwardly, he was too lost in the fight to even notice!
Connor's eyes widened—not in hesitation, but in instinct. He darted forward, ripping debris from the path of a falling beam. Zane's danger sense flared—not just for himself, but for every life at risk.
His instincts were sharp, telling him exactly where danger would strike, how to counter it, and how to minimize harm.
Zane vaulted through the dust-filled air, purple energy streaking like lightning, and pulled a child from the wreckage just as a beam splintered behind them. Sparks rained down, and the heat from electrical arcs hissed on the wet pavement.
Connor was there as well, holding a collapsing wall with his bare hands, muscles taut, shielding civilians. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second—both wary, yet both realizing the other had instinctively acted for the same reason.
Zane crouched low, setting the boy gently on the cracked pavement. He dusted him off with exaggerated care, even flicking a stubborn smear of mud off the child's cheek.
"There you go. See? Nothing to worry about. You're safe now," Zane said, flashing a wide grin that showed every tooth.
The boy's eyes went round as saucers. He opened his mouth to speak, but only a strangled, "...ah…a…" slipped out before his knees buckled and he toppled into Zane's arms.
Zane blinked, staring down at the unconscious child. "...Seriously?" he muttered, glancing at his reflection in a shard of wet glass nearby. His grin was still plastered on, a little too sharp, a little too feral. He sighed. "Guess the whole 'comforting smile' thing needs work."
Across the street, Connor's growl wavered for the first time, softening into something that almost resembled amusement. His lips even twitched into the ghost of a smile—until his eyes hardened again, as if remembering who exactly he was dealing with.
Zane took a breath as he forced his heartbeat into rhythm, pushing away the lingering edge of violence the kid had seen in him. All the while, his gaze tracked Connor. He couldn't miss the flicker of morality in the half-Kryptonian's eyes.
'Makes sense',Zane thought. 'He is Superman's son… even if the temper says otherwise.'
The storm raged harder, rain soaking rubble and hissing against exposed wires. Smoke thickened, breaking vision into fractured snapshots. Sparks lit the street in stuttering bursts. Each heartbeat felt like a drumbeat, and with every one Zane's instincts whispered louder—move now.
He didn't sprint. He didn't vanish. He let the battlefield do the work for him. Every collapsing wall, every rolling wave of smoke, every flash of lightning became cover.
While Connor's attention was dragged toward the civilians scrambling for shelter, Zane let his Echo form bleed away, the glow along his veins dimming until the storm swallowed it. Shoulders relaxed, breathing steadied, and he found a gap to mix in with the civilians, blending smoothly.
By the time Connor whipped his head around, Zane wasn't there. No sound of retreat, no blur of motion. Just footprints in rain-slick mud fading under the downpour.
Connor's jaw tightened. His fist slammed into the pavement, the impact cracking stone and echoing through the ruined block. "Coward," he snarled, like a beast, though the civilians now huddled safely behind him were proof enough of what he really was.
A Hero...
....
Down the street, a battered sedan bumped over cracked asphalt. Inside, Artemis, Serling, and even the pair of raccoons sat wide-eyed, battered but alive.
Zane, human form, hastly made his way towards them, tired but overall unscathed besides a few bruises. Which he could already feel healing, faster than last time.
....
Miles away, Lex Luthor leaned back in his chair, eyes gleaming as he watched the grainy feed. Fingers tapped a slow rhythm against polished glass.
"He knew Serling was kidnapped, he knew exactly where to find her even though only a select few knew of the location.
We already suspected he could see the future, but this is completley different from the typical foresight I've read about in the past. Its too detailed...."
Luthor actually started to feel pressure, everything was supposed to go a different way.
Zane finds out Serling is kidnapped, than goes through his tests, letting Luthor discern what type of foresight Zane possessed.
But now...it didn't go as planned at all...and it was started to irk Lex Luthor...
"No matter, before I deal with Zane. I have to help my 'Son' into his role." Luthor relaxed his nerves as he stared at Connor helping civillians on the monitor.
Although Zane breaking into Cadmus base was not part of the plan, when he got alerted about the break in, he activated an emergency protocol inside Connors pod.
Not only waking him up, but activated a backup plan he specifically had planned for Zane just in case it were to come to that.
Back when Zane showed signs of foresight against KGBeast, Luthor knew he should prepare a backup just in case his own Pride got him in a tough situation.
Now it seems I would be quite usefull....
....
Patreaon
/WilliamStewart
Author note: I went back to check and it turns out I was wrong. The single female lead did not win but the 3 women tops option.
For now Artemis is basically confirmed as a partner. And personally, I do preffer Raven over Supergirl for the MC, she fits the darker tone. Kara wouldn't really be okay with the MC killing like he does.
Unless its like some Supergirl evil clone of hers or something. But there's still time to figure who his other partner or partners will be.