To guard against Thea's next Aging Curse, Doomsday evolved a thick keratinous layer on its skin.
It recycled countless dead cells, stacking them layer upon layer on its exterior. A primitive magic-insulating coating formed—thick as armor, wrapping its entire body.
Thea cast two more Aging Curses, but the effects diminished with each casting. This was something the laboratory hadn't predicted.
In the lab, she could only study individual cells. She'd never imagined it could use this almost brainless brute-force method to resist her magic.
Yet whether it was brainless or not, it had successfully resisted the magic. From a certain perspective, the efficiency was quite high. Doomsday truly lived up to its reputation as Krypton's ultimate bioweapon.
Fortunately, Thea had more than one backup plan. Her reinforcements were still arriving in waves.
Wearing the Champion's armor with its gold-trimmed red cape, sword and shield in hand, Diana finally arrived after Doomsday had evolved once more.
After being beaten by Thea for so long, Doomsday's attack and defense now bore some semblance of technique—at least it wouldn't stupidly block the holy sword with its arms anymore.
Facing Diana, who was equally skilled in combat, it didn't take the hit head-on either. It grabbed Supergirl's cape and flung her away, simultaneously ducking under Thea's sword strike, then grabbed a cargo truck from the ground and swung it horizontally to knock Diana flying.
The three women usually sparred occasionally, but this was their first time fighting together against an enemy. Slowly, they developed some coordination. The three formed a pincer formation, surrounding Doomsday with relentless attacks.
Among the three, Supergirl had the greatest raw strength—especially after absorbing thirty percent of Apollo's energy. In terms of pure power, she now rivaled a Superman who'd spent thirty years under a yellow sun.
Diana was balanced in offense and defense, with equally excellent offensive and defensive capabilities. A born warrior.
Thea's attack power was somewhat lacking. The Sword of Promised Victory was a mythic weapon, not specifically designed for killing. Combined with her personality, which wasn't particularly aggressive, she seemed a bit weak.
But these were all relative comparisons. Looking at their comprehensive strength, Diana was still the strongest, Thea slightly behind, and Supergirl bringing up the rear.
Realizing it was outnumbered, Doomsday channeled its internal energy at full power. The heat vision inherited from Kryptonian genes surged wildly. Two deep crimson rays shot straight at Supergirl's face.
Supergirl refused to back down, responding with her own heat vision. Thea sensed a good opportunity and joined the beam clash. Her emerald-green energy combined with Supergirl's to blast toward Doomsday.
Fighting Supergirl alone, Doomsday had the advantage. But with Thea joining in, it immediately faltered.
That same old story—it was indeed very strong, stronger than any one of the three women individually. Just not to the point of overwhelming them.
At such a perfect moment, Diana naturally wouldn't let it slip. She rapidly moved behind Doomsday. The Amazon shouted fiercely. Her Guardian Bracelets, combined with her own strength, amplified the power dozens of times.
Silver-white energy struck Doomsday squarely in the back. Even with its Kryptonian genetic foundation, it couldn't withstand such a massive blow. The instant it was sent flying, Thea and Supergirl's combined ray attack also connected.
The three women's powers coordinated beautifully. Originally, Thea and Supergirl's rays were attacking from the opposite direction of Diana's strike, but seeing Diana's attack succeed, Thea's tracking-capable ray wrapped around Supergirl's attack, curved halfway around, and punched straight through Doomsday's chest.
The ten-meter-tall Doomsday, struck by the three women's combined assault, was sent flying directly out of the atmosphere. No doubt it would evolve again.
No time to catch their breath. Thea dialed the President's number.
The call connected, and she didn't waste words. "Where are your nukes? Now's the perfect chance—launch them!" Heated discussion erupted on the other end. Thea continued urging, "Hurry, right now! It'll recover soon!"
Actually, Thea knew nukes wouldn't do anything against Doomsday—they'd probably just trigger another evolution. But if she didn't let Earth's people see for themselves, they wouldn't know how to spell "give up."
Making them launch the nukes would also prevent them from backstabbing later. Once they realized nukes were useless, they'd have to pin their hopes on her group.
Just as she expected, in less than a minute, a flame-spewing missile carrying a nuclear warhead launched straight into the sky. Not confident enough, they fired a second one ten seconds later.
Did it work? This thought appeared in many high officials' minds. If Thea knew their thinking, she'd definitely despise them. This was barely the opening act—just halftime, really.
In the movie, for visual pacing, Doomsday came back almost instantly. In reality, that was impossible. Basic biological cell evolution took time. Doomsday was a technological product, not a fantasy construct.
Thea contacted Martian Manhunter, who'd been on the mental channel all along. "How's Superman? This big monster doesn't look dead to me."
Martian Manhunter's voice sounded a bit weak. "He's awake. He created a Krypton-like environment in his imagination. We had a hell of a time waking him up. I'm pulling him into the channel now—ask him yourself."
Soon after, Superman's even weaker voice came through. "I saw your battle. Hang on a bit longer. I'll be right there."
Thea craned her neck looking around for ages but saw no sign of this "right there" Superman.
"Stop looking. He's in my Batplane. Doesn't your yellow ring restore him? Fly toward me," Batman's voice chimed in at just the right moment. If he didn't have superpowers, Thea would've suspected he had super-vision too.
The three women conferred and decided to go together. They all had excellent vision. After the nuclear explosion, Doomsday hadn't died—just suffered severe damage. Its internal cellular repair-and-upgrade process was a bit slow, but the gap was brief. In a few minutes, they'd probably face an even stronger version of Doomsday.
On the way, Thea got a call from the President. Ordinary people didn't have super-vision, but they had plenty of observation satellites. Doomsday's body hadn't been vaporized. Instead, its cells had begun repairing bodily damage. It was recovering vitality. Anyone with basic sense could analyze that it wasn't dead at all.
"What do we do?" Thea smiled bitterly. "Mr. President, keep firing. Buy us time. Luthor severely injured Superman earlier. We need time to treat him. Whether humanity has a tomorrow, I don't know. Let's weather this storm together."
Thea spoke with great emotion, but a pessimistic atmosphere spread through the phone to blanket the White House. The President nearly smashed his phone. Jabbing a finger at several top military officials, he launched into a tirade. "This is your 'everything's under control'? Has Luthor talked yet? He created this thing—does it have a weakness or not? Take pity on me, will you? Just tell me!"