Batman was sitting at his computer late at night, going over footage of the fights against Android 18.
He was analyzing whatever he could, knowing she was still out there and that this enemy was one on a planetary scale was one of the reasons he obsessed about finding her.
The other reason was the fact that he was sure someone was hiding her; there was no footage, no clues, no witnesses.
It was too clean, he remembered the information about the android and there was no mention of hacking capabilities or of her being able to change her appearance; it should have been possible to find her, or at least have an idea of where she went.
Unless someone with significant resources was holding a blindfold in front of their eyes and if someone was doing that, it was obvious that they wanted something from the android.
He paused the video and read the report from Star Labs.
It talked about a problem encountered while trying to create the shutdown control and the containment chamber for the android.
The technology was similar enough to be replicated; some parts didn't exist or were different enough that they had to build them from scratch.
With Wayne Enterprises helping the project, that was a minor inconvenience; the real issue was that one of the materials didn't exist at all in this world.
It was a crystal used in both machines; it was needed to allow the frequency to bypass Android 18's defenses and force her to sleep.
The problem was that no matter what they tested, it either didn't connect, causing no effect, or it shattered the entire device by overheating it.
They tried every element and gem they could think of with no success; nothing worked as a replacement and when they checked the place where the android arrived, they didn't find any there as well.
While he was thinking about this, someone walked behind him; he knew who it was without looking.
"Sir, it may be time for you to take a rest."
He could understand his feelings, but it was tiresome to have this conversation over and over with his butler.
"Alfred, I need to have at least an idea of a plan to take her down."
"According to my understanding master Wayne, the league has a plan."
"Don't engage and call for help is not a plan; they are treating this as a fire drill, when it's actually a meteor about to crash into the earth. I need to have a way to stop her."
"I see what you mean is that you need a plan so you can stop her by yourself."
He finally stopped watching the video and looked at his friend.
"If I encounter this android, I should have a way to at least buy some time."
"And how is watching the videos over and over helping with that?"
It didn't; he could barely follow her when she moved and her strength was beyond anything he could resist. Besides, she was way too durable, taking a punch from Superboy like it was nothing.
He was looking for a weakness or an angle, but nothing came up; even after spending hours working on it, he got nothing.
No idea where she was, no weakness to exploit and no closer to completing the devices needed to contain her.
It was weighing on his head so much that he didn't even go to patrol this night. It had been a week and he was no closer to an answer than where he started.
"Go to sleep, Bruce and when you wake up, check on master Grayson."
The mention of Robin hit Bruce Wayne; he knew the boy blamed himself for what happened to the team.
What was difficult about talking about it was that he didn't disagree, at least not completely.
He had taught him how to assess the danger and to always have all the information before jumping into danger, unless he didn't have other options.
The recklessness of the teens was a topic of discussion on the league; some praised them for saving the cops, while others criticized their actions.
Batman was part of the second group.
"Alfred, he put himself and the others in danger; he could have taken the time to get the full picture, or they could have retreated and waited for the league."
"Because you are well known for always waiting for backup before doing something dangerous."
Like crashing your car into a wall while talking about how bad someone else is at driving, Batman could only close his mouth when faced with the blatant truth hitting his face.
"I'd better go to sleep."
The butler smiled at the awkward way his master finished the conversation and practically ran out of the cave.
The next morning, Bruce and Dick were having breakfast together in silence.
Dick Grayson didn't make eye contact with Bruce. He was feeling a tightness in his chest, feeling like the biggest idiot in the world.
Of his friends, Miss Martian, Kid flash and Aqualad were already back up; now only Superboy was still recovering.
Even with his half-Kryptonian body, the wounds he suffered were brutal as he got the worst of the attacks from the killer android.
Still, he should go out of the medical room today and they planned to meet at Mount Justice for the first time since the incident.
Bruce let out a sigh and was about to talk when Robin's phone rang and he answered.
"Hey..."
"Wally, slow down, you know I can understand you if you said so many things at the same time."
Robin focused on his phone for a while and then he jumped from his seat and talked with a little panic.
"It's her? Are you sure?"
--
Early mornings in the Daily Planet were slow; news was something that developed when people had their coffee, which was a saying around the office.
Lois Lane was already there when the others were just arriving; she had actually been there all night.
The Justice League had released a statement about the fight against the blonde woman and she had been pressuring Clark for more details ever since.
According to the press release, she was some kind of cyborg that came from a different dimension, created by an evil army to take over the world.
A few years ago, people would be skeptical and unsatisfied with that answer; now it was another Tuesday.
Well, when you see news coverage about a super-fast guy beating a gorilla with psychic powers on TV, you learn not to overthink it.
But Lois Lane never learned that mindset and she knew there was more to the story and if Superman wasn't going to tell her what it was, she would find out herself.
So far, she had discovered something that went under the radar; it was just a footnote on the news after the incident, but she thought it was too coincidental to be a coincidence.
She dug deeper into the death of one William Mcelroy, a Gotham native and professor of Egyptology.
She found the news of him losing his mind and killing 3 students, from there she followed the tracks and found information about him going to Egypt, wich place his death very close in time and place to the appearance of the killer blonde.
She was about to go ask for permission to follow this lead when there was a crashing noise coming from the windows of the office and considering how high this place was, there was only one explanation.
"I'm looking for a Lois Lane. Is this the right place to find her?"
Lois saw it coming; she wished to have at least one case in her career where she didn't end up kidnapped or hanging from a building, or getting fired at.
Maybe she should work on cases like the lead pipes that Clark reported about before; nobody was going to try to kill her over some report about improper maintenance of the waterways.
The blonde woman who entered, crashing into the window of a skyscraper, was not very patient.
So she fired a ki blast at a desk, sending it flying and then spoke again.
"I don't like to repeat myself. Where is this Lois Lane?"
Resigned, Lois walked towards the Android with her hand raised, hoping this could be resolved before lunch, as she didn't have breakfast and now she wouldn't have a chance.
Meanwhile, Clark Kent was driving towards work, thinking of an excuse to justify his 3rd late arrival of the month.
The alarm didn't work was only believable once or twice and he was already on thin ice with his boss.
Although during the day he could disappear and say he was following a lead, the boss had said several times that he needed to come in on time to the office to clock in and work on his assignments before going out to look for other news.
He couldn't help that there was an arm Robbery using high-tech weapons at this hour of the morning.
While thinking if he had used traffic as an excuse recently, he saw smoke coming from the Daily Planet building, then a few explosions came from the inside.
That is when Clark Kent disappeared and Superman decided to act.
Android 18 was shooting small blasts with a finger, aiming at some pictures on the walls, while Lois was sitting next to her.
"So another dimension, what's it like?"
This woman had no sense of danger. Maybe what that guy said about her being in danger so often that if she didn't have a super simp following her around, she would have died long ago wasn't an exaggeration.
Still, this one was funny, so she responded.
"Boring"
"Really? Was it very different from this one?"
"More death."
"What's that mean?"
"We killed like 60% of the population."
That stunned her for a second; she was making a funny face, so 18 continued.
"What? You didn't know about that?"
For a moment, a flicker of something came to her face, like she was mad for some reason, then she calmed down and asked another question.
"Why?"
"Why not?"
"Ge let me think, should I start in alphabetical order?"
A light passed next to Lois's head and a little blood came from a cut on her cheek, that make her remember she was talking with a killer cyborg.
"Ok, sorry, I'll dial back the sarcasm."
18 wasn't actually angry; that was just a reminder of her position, like rolling a newspaper in front of a disobedient dog before it does something stupid.
Before they could continue their impromptu interview, someone came flying into the room, using the same opening created by 18.
"Are you ok miss Lane?"
"Well im hungry, I didn't have breakfast yet."
He saw the blood and was about to jump at the android when she raised a hand signaling for him to stop.
"Let's make a deal."
Superman was confused by the sudden proposal.
"A deal?"
"You vs me, one on one, none of your backup dancers."
"And if I refuse?"
She took a cellphone and showed him a picture of a family tied to chairs next to a bomb; a few soldiers dressed in black and armed with rifles were standing to the side.
"I can demonstrate."
"I agree to fight you one-on-one if you promise they will be safe afterwards, no matter the result."
"Deal."
Lois, looking at how confident the woman was, actually felt worried about Clark. She grabbed his arm and he looked back at her and smiled.
"I'll be right back. You should eat breakfast."
He stepped on the window.
"It is the most important meal of the day."
Then he flew away, leaving Lois staring into the distance.
"Dork."
When Superman landed, 18 was casually sitting on a rock, the place was an island a few miles from Metropolis.
The terrain was rocky and unstable, but for the two of them, that wasn't a problem.
"We don't actually have to fight."
"I don't have to do anything, but what I do is always my decision, so we will fight because I want to."
Her blue eyes were sharp and focused; he would need to beat her if he wanted to talk.
The rocks exploded as both fighters rushed at each other, 18 kneeled him in the face, Superman ignored the pain and grabbed her arm, then he wound his arm to punch her.
She saw him and headbutted him in response, then blocked the punch with her free hand.
They took some distance and Superman used his cold breath, freezing almost a quarter of the island and leaving 18 inside a block of ice.
Before she could free herself, he flew and punched her through the ice, sending her flying into the ocean.
He followed and almost got hit by a ki blast, then, from inside the water, many more came flying at him.
The explosions didn't leave space for him to dodge, so he crossed his arms to protect his face.
He waited for the attack to end, but it just didn't; it kept going and even with his body, he was starting to feel the pain of getting showered with an energy blast.
So he flew directly towards the source of the fire, 18 was floating over the water and saw him coming. When he was close enough, she moved to the side and Superman crashed into the ocean, missing his target.
18 couldn't help but laugh, then she charged energy and fired a much more powerful blast of energy that hit him in the back when he stopped to turn around.
The explosion was massive, like a nuclear strike. Superman emerged afterwards; he was bleeding and his clothes were torn, but still, he was far from finished.
He charged again and 18 tried to dodge the same way, but this time Superman stopped right in front of her and punched her stomach, then followed up with a punch with his other hand on her face.
A little blood came out of 18's mouth and she cleaned it with her hand and smiled.
"Nice, it would be boring if you couldn't at least do something like this."
She moved fast and kicked him in the arm, the same way she did against Superboy, but he not only was able to take the hit, but he blocked and grabbed her leg.
She blasted him with ki, forcing him to let go and then she slapped Superman across the face.
She followed up with a punch that actually knocked one of his teeth out of his mouth.
18 was having fun; it had been a while since the last time she found someone durable enough that she could go all out.
Every hit made an Shockwave, every kick and punch was powerful, they appeared and disappeared, being so fast that a normal person could only see the effects but not the actual fight.
They stopped and Superman was catching his breath and noticed the android looking a little rougher than at the beginning, but not tired.
He remembered the information about her letting her enemies use all their energy, taking advantage of her ability not to get tired.
He was aware that the longer the fight lasted, the worse his situation became, so he decided to finish this at full power.
Superman's eyes shined with a menacing red light. He flew at 18 and started to spin like a drill.
She saw it coming and put both hands above her head and screamed.
"MASENKO" ⚛️
A massive beam of energy flew at Superman. When he was hit, he slowed down but kept moving forward, little by little.
Meanwhile, in Metropolis, they saw the beam of light fly above the city; it wasn't stopping, it kept going, even when out of sight, higher and higher, it passed the atmosphere and left the planet.
Enough power to destroy the Earth several times over and the Kryptonian was still pushing against it. He thought he had hit his limit several times, but he couldn't stop.
His heat vision was going at full power and it barely worked to weaken the attack; his body was burning with pain, yet he didn't give up.
And in the end, he reached her, slamming like a missile coming out of her attack, leaving her no time to react.
18 was hit, it was the hardest physical blow she had ever received, the pain started on her belly and expanded, it felt like someone had exploded a slow-motion grenade on her stomach.
Then she flew, going so far that she couldn't see the island anymore. She crashed into a mountain and didn't stop, going all the way to the other side.
She didn't stop until she used all her power to fly against the momentum and then crashed into an extremely solid wall.
She had to push herself out of the concrete. She tried to fly but lost strength and fell to the ground. She was kneeling and coughing. She looked at her stomach and saw burn marks and blood.
There were sirens going on in the background and a lot of people were screaming, but she could only focus on what was in front of her.
Because Superman was coming at full speed towards her.
He looked no better than her, wounds all over his body and his clothes were rags; even his iconic cape was nowhere to be seen.
Only his iron will kept him in the fight; it would take a very short time for him to reach her.
She was still unable to get up, so she made a decision that wounded her pride.
She aimed and fired another blast. Superman used his arms to block it, but this time, he got shot down, crashing into the ground.
He was lying on the floor when he saw 18 aiming at him again.
Her hand had a green glow as she spoke.
"Round two."