Falling off the roof does deal 2 damage.

A couple corrections though; Power Girl's Endurance feat actually deals damage equal to her roll (2) *plus* the number of tokens on the feat (2) for a total of 4 unpreventable damage.

Also, Deadshot's defense against ranged attacks was actually a 16 thanks to the Deep Shadows BFC, so Wonder Woman's HO throw would actually miss.

I have corrected them in the recap.

1) Deadshot will push to Breakaway (roll: 5) to K10 and Running Shot Wonder Woman, roll (6, 3) for a 19/hit for 1 damage. Deadshot takes 1 click.

2) Killer Frost limps to K11.

3) Doomsday pushes to hit Superman (3, 4) for an 18/hit for 1 damage to each.

Recap:

Superman:

1) [3] LE Man of Steel (3/10) Q4
- w/ Fortitude

Vs.

Doomsday:

1) U JL Doomsday (5/11) B2 @@

-AND-

Justice League:

2) [15] V Leg Batman (2/9)
3) [17] V Icn Wonder Woman (3/10) @
4) [3] R JL Aquaman (7/7) @
5) [13] R Martian Manhunter (4/8)
6) [2] V CJ Green Arrow (0/6) **KO'ed!**
- w/ Stunning Blow
7) [] E CJ Black Canary (-1/5) **KO'ed!**
8) [] V Or Atom (5/6)
9) [5] V Red Tornado (7/7) @
A) [8] V Power Girl (5/9) @
- w/ Endurance

Vs.

The Suicide Squad:

2) V Major Force (0/10) **KO'ed!**
- w/ Protected **Used**
3) Nemesis (LE Ult Clint Barton) (-1/6) **KO'ed!**
4) V Deadshot (5/6) K10 @@
5) E JL Bronze Tiger (0/7) **KO'ed!**
6) V Chemo (0/8) **KO'ed!**
7) E JL King Shark (0/8) **KO'ed!**
8) V Knockout (0/8) **KO'ed!**
9) V Killer Frost (2/7) K11 @


map link

Wow, Endurance is a lot worse than I originally thought. Hardly seems worth using, considering the drawbacks. Good catch, and thanks for the correction.

And sorry this game is taking so long, if that’s been frustrating for you. I’m against a really tough deadline for the next issue of my comic and it’s been taking all of my time. It’s also why, even though I had really really wanted to, I haven’t been able to do any story posting this issue. Superman vs. Doomsday alone would have been worth the extra care, but I just haven’t had the time. :sad:

Turn 9 (Player 2)

1) Superman flurry-attacks Doomsday; roll #1 - 10 (6, 4) for a 19/hit and 1 click. Roll #2 - 4 (2,2) for a 13/miss.

2) Wonder Woman pushes with her newfound willpower to attack Killer Frost; rolls a 6 (1,5) for a 14/hit, 2 clicks and the KO.

Free) Suicide Squad TA puts Deadshot back on top of his dial.

Free) Atom perps down Deadshot’s DV.

3) Batman hurls a batarang at the assassin; rolls a critical miss (1,1) and takes a click of his own.

4) Manhunter perps up his own damage and shoots Deadshot; rolls a 7 (3,4) for a 16/hit and 4 clicks.

**Both your guys are pushed, so I’ll take a second turn while your team rests.**

Turn 10 (Player 2)

Free) Atom perplexes up Manhunter’s Damage.

Free) Manhunter does the same.

1) MM shoots Deadshot; rolls a 6 (4,2) for a 15/hit, 5 clicks and the KO.

Recap:

Superman:

1) [3] LE Man of Steel (3/10) Q4
- w/ Fortitude

Vs.

Doomsday:

1) U JL Doomsday (4/11) B2

-AND-

Justice League:

2) [15] V Leg Batman (1/9)
3) [21] V Icn Wonder Woman (3/10)
4) [3] R JL Aquaman (7/7)
5) [20] R Martian Manhunter (3/8) @@
6) [2] V CJ Green Arrow (0/6) **KO'ed!**
- w/ Stunning Blow
7) [] E CJ Black Canary (-1/5) **KO'ed!**
8) [] V Or Atom (5/6)
9) [5] V Red Tornado (7/7)
A) [8] V Power Girl (5/9)
- w/ Endurance

Vs.

The Suicide Squad:

2) V Major Force (0/10) **KO'ed!**
- w/ Protected **Used**
3) Nemesis (LE Ult Clint Barton) (-1/6) **KO'ed!**
4) V Deadshot (-3/6) **KO’ed!**
5) E JL Bronze Tiger (0/7) **KO'ed!**
6) V Chemo (0/8) **KO'ed!**
7) E JL King Shark (0/8) **KO'ed!**
8) V Knockout (0/8) **KO'ed!**
9) V Killer Frost (0/7) **KOed!**


map link

Endurance can be great, I find, for characters who are all about the mid-dial slump. You can push while staying on your first click for a while, then hopefully the Endurance plus opponent will hit you hard enought o land you right in your comeback clicks at the end of the dial. It's tricky and requires a fair bit of luck, but can be useful (probably why it's priced at only 5 points).

And the slow posts were only annoying at the start when there were days between moves. Once you got into the regular one-turn-per-day routine, that was just fine.

Congrats on beating the suicide squad. Since that game is finished, I'll only be posting updates for the Superman/Doomsday fight, if that's alright.

Turn 11A

1) Doomsday attacks Superman, Attack 10 vs. Defense of 17. Roll (5, 2) to just barely hit. 2 damage.

I actually wasn't sure if I wanted that one to hit or not, since now Supes is on his 19 defense. Superman could still easily win this if he can dodge Doomsday's punches for a couple of rounds, and overcome his 8 attack.

Recap:

Superman:

1) [3] LE Man of Steel (1/10) Q4
- w/ Fortitude

Vs.

Doomsday:

1) U JL Doomsday (4/11) B2 @

Do we still need a map? Neither of us is gonna move.

I guess the map isn't necessary, is it?

Turn 11 (Player 2)

Superman on Doomsday; rolls a 9 (4,5) for a 17/hit and 3 clicks after invulnerability.

This fight has a lot more kick than I expected, honestly. It actually manages to have some drama at the end - both on their last clicks, one hit or push and they're gone.

Recap:

Superman:

1) [3] LE Man of Steel (1/10) Q4 @
- w/ Fortitude

Vs.

Doomsday:

1) U JL Doomsday (1/11) B2 @

You're not kidding! I was reflecting on that when I was deciding whether to clear or push with Doomsday, and trying to guess whether you would push Superman or not to finish me off. Originally I figured that Doomsday might survive a couple of rounds since 9's aren't always easy to roll, and I've got Imp to fall back on as well. But then I saw you just rolled a 9 and remembered that I've only successfully made 1 Imp roll out of about 6 or 7, so I am thinking Doomsday may have a much shorter lifespan then I thought.

Then I remembered, hey, this is all just for fun anyway. There's no LE prize on the line here... so what would Doomsday, the character, do in a situation like this? He would pound away at Superman until his heart gave out!

So, I push to attack Superman in a kamikaze attack!

Roll: (6, 6) !
B/C/F roll: (2)

Doomsday takes his pushing damage and is KO'ed. Superman takes 2 + 1 + 1 for Critical Hit and Knockback, for 4 Damage total. Needless to say, Superman is KO'ed as well.

On the one hand, this reminds me alot of such great endings as "The Dark Night Returns" or even the "Death of Superman" arc where pretty much the exact same thing happened (though it would have been more dramatic had Doomsday rolled a 6 on the B/C/F as well, but whatever). When you have more time to write, this will make a great ending to the issue.

But on the other hand... I'm pretty new to the RPSC, so lemme ask a vet like yourself. Have you ever felt bad about rolling well? This is the second time I've rolled a crit hit (the first being in a Defenders issue, though it wasn't nearly as important a roll). Both times I've considered fudging the roll downward to something more "believable" like a 10... I thought "people are gonna think I'm cheating if I'm rolling 6's all the time!" Doubly so in this case, as the roll was a much more important one.

First, let me say-- I absolutely would have pushed Superman. It's just too good an ending. The two face down, both exhausted, and one pushes himself past his limits to finish the other off. Beautiful end to what I had thought would have been a one-sided match (with either Superman or Doomsday dominating the whole thing). And thematic, too. It's better than I could have hoped for.

Well... except maybe if Superman had been the one to make the ultimate sacrifice :P

To your question - yes, I have felt bad about rolls good and bad. There have been games where what I thought was going to be a balanced fight turned into a complete rout because I was rolling great and my opponent just couldn't get his dice to come up for him. I also feel bad when, like this game, you count on impervious to help you at least a little, but my record for rolling Imp or SS rolls is just atrocious.

I've got a friend for whom SS is a better defense than any other option in the game. I swear to God he once made every single SS roll in one game, and that's for all his characters-- Spidey, Daredevil, Nightcrawler and a couple others. His whole team had it and he didn't miss ONE!

I, on the other hand, can count on one hand the number of times I've successfully made an important SS or Imp roll. I just can't get the dice to work with me. I also rarely roll 10, 11, or 12 because I can get one or the other die to give me some love, but very VERY rarely both

But, yeah, it happens that way sometimes. In the RPSC I don't remember there ever being any bad blood between players over rolls in a game. Sometimes the luck is with you, sometimes it ain't. Just look at ALC Marauder's rolls in the Green Lantern Annual to see how badly dice rolling can ruin a game for you! But we understand that's just how it can go, and the editors try and balance out issues, throwing you a bone if you've had a particularly bad run of games. Nobody blames each other, just the dice!

Thanks for putting up with my lateness and for giving me a good game. I had expected the SS TA to be more of a factor than it was, but also expected my stealth to help me more than it did, so it just goes to show that you can never tell how a game will shape up once the dice start rolling.

In regards to the Superman/Doomsday fight, I'm pretty sure everyone reading this will assume the two of them traded their final blows simultaneously. Like matter and anti-matter annihilating each other in a burst of energy and mutual destruction. At the very least, I am glad that Superman may actually have to take some time off to heal up to full strength. Nobody should be able to fight Doomsday and walk into the next issue as if nothing had happened. And hey, if you've ever wanted to run a "Death of Superman" storyline to bring in Kon-El, Cyborg, Steel and Eradicator (IMO the Collateral Damage Superman REV would work well), now would be a helluva time...

As for the rest of the game, I actually think Stealth would have helped your team out alot, which is why my first and most important move was to do as much damage with Nemesis as possible. I was cursing when he flubbed his first roll, and tried to block LOF with other characters to cover up my fault. It hurted to push him off of his best click, but I really really needed to take away Green Arrow's single click of stealth, and try to get Batman off of that high opening attack (and outwit, which would have seriously hurt Major Force and Chemo). And I would have liked the SS TA to do more, but you did a pretty good job of neutralizing it by attacks the characters who lacked it (MF and Nemesis) and finishing off one character before making a single attack on the next (King Shark and Knockout come to mind). That's why I always include the Amanda Waller and Sarge Steel bystanders when I play SS teams

So, I am curious to see what the aftermath of this annual will be for the JLA. Poor Black Canary and Green Arrow, trounced so hard. In the final rounds I was going to suggest having Deadshot try to make an escape somehow, so that Ollie and Dinah could try to track him down on their own in a follow-up issue. Green Arrow and Canary vs. Deadshot and Frost... couples clixing!

End Post:

The rain pelted them, each drop feeling like liquid fire. Amidst the pain of the fight, he couldn’t tell the difference between hot and cold. In the back of his mind, Superman was glad to feel the freezing hot drops against his burning cold skin. If he could still feel, he was still standing. If he was still standing, he could still fight.

Doomsday had charged, and he had met the monster’s intensity with his own. They’d clashed with a force and fury he hadn’t let out of himself since Darkseid and before that… he couldn’t remember. But Darkseid was a God, or d#mned close to one; it was only to be expected that he would have to push himself to his limits to match the dark lord’s power. He had thrown out all his restrictions, now, and was giving Doomsday his all. Every self imposed limitation on his strength, speed and force had been dropped. Still the monster fought on, seeming to grow even stronger as he went.

What was this thing that fought like a God?

He felt his jaw crack when Doomsday’s spike-knuckled fist collided with it. The sudden jolt of pain made his vision go white. His jaw was cracked - not broken, but… What was this monster?

Superman used the pain. It could be a help to him. Pain could bring you focus if you knew how to use it. No matter the common folk wisdom, Superman had felt plenty of pain in his life. The things he’d fought, the beasts and men and combinations of both; the Gods and demagogues, machines and aliens, demons that walked on two legs and businessmen that slithered like snakes. He had fought them all and born his pain in silence, hidden behind the family crest that had become his symbol to a people that would always see him as an outsider. He had hidden it with a smile and a confident gaze, being the hero they wanted, the hero they needed, so that he could help them - protect them - even if he couldn’t be one of them.

He used the momentum from the blow to spin around and under the beast’s impossibly large tree-trunk of an arm, still extended from the punch, and slam his fist up under his ribs on the right side. He’d chosen the floating ribs early in the fight as a place he was least armored and that was particularly vulnerable on most humanoid species. He’d been working his sides for what felt like hours, and the roar of pain from the creature seemed to indicate it was having an effect.

Then came the retort: a long bony ridge extending like a short sword from the back of Doomsday’s elbow, brought down hard and fast into Superman’s upper back. At first, he’d been fast enough to dodge these retributive strikes. Then, in a change of tactic, he’d begun leaving himself intentionally open to one or two counter blows. Superman had taken a lot of punishment as a result, and he was feeling the results with every movement, but it was working - his opponent was getting overconfident. Doomsday believed him slow and tired; unable to keep defending himself.

Tired he may have been, but Ma Kent’s boy had never been slow.

When the elbow came, he moved out of the way so fast it was almost like he was in two places at once. Doomsday didn’t even see the change until the double-fisted uppercut took him off his feet and sent him into the air. With a lunge, Superman caught him by the feet and threw him back to the ground. Breathing heavily, he watched as the creature slowly pushed himself back up. There was a slight shake - almost imperceptible. Hesitation?

Lights strobed all around them; spotlights from helicopters, floodlights from the military blockade that surrounded them, lights from the news copters that were catching every brutal, bloody second of the fight to broadcast across the world. Everyone was watching this. All the knowledge did was remind Superman of the lives at stake if he faltered. Loss was unacceptable. There was nobody behind him this time - no team of allies, no Justice League, nobody. It was only him and Doomsday.

The beast lunged and Superman easily dodged, but he realized he hadn’t been the target. It was trying to escape. If it got away again, the property damage alone would be catastrophic. Superman reached out and caught him by the wrist, but the thing’s momentum was such that he was pulled along for just that split-second Doomsday needed to turn Superman’s grab to his own advantage.

The world spun and Superman was on his back. Doomsday landed on him and suddenly fists were flying. For something his size, the monster’s speed was unbelievable. Like lightning the blows came, one after the other. Superman’s arms were pinned, his world spinning. Why couldn’t he just push him off? Where had his strength gone?

Maybe this was what it felt like to be human.

Above the rain, the thunder, the whirling blades of the swarm of helicopters, the screaming of women and children, the soldiers yelling orders-- above it all, his heightened sense of hearing could still find the last screw to turn in his heart. He could hear Lois whispering through tears.

“God, please-- don’t do this… Clark…”
________________________________________

Superman ripped his arms free of their ensnarement under Doomsday’s legs, feeling the muscle and tendon straining and resisting as he practically dug his elbows through the concrete to do it. He reached up and pulled the monster’s head down to him, trapping the behemoth’s body against his own and preventing him from landing more punches. In this small space, the size advantage was reversed and Superman slammed blow after blow into Doomsday’s side. The punches got stronger and faster with each swing, his arc of movement growing as his elbow bored out more ground beneath him with each withdrawal swing of his arm.

Soon he was hitting with the concussive force of miniature sonic booms. The noise rang through the open space and competed with the thunderclaps in the sky for dominance. The bony crest of spiked plates on Doomsday’s chest tore at his own torso as his right arm struggled to hold the beast in place. Just one more punch-- then just one more…

The whole exchange took place in less than a minute’s time, and Doomsday soaked up all the damage given him while focusing on shifting his feet under his body. With an animalistic roar, he pushed off with both massive legs and launched Superman into the air. One great, grey arm swung to catch him as his feet left the ground and punched the Kryptonian square in his chest. The battered hero flew a dozen feet backward, skipping across the cracked, dented and cratered asphalt.

Superman’s ears were ringing as he shook his head to clear his blurred vision. He pushed up to his feet and saw faces in front of him - soldiers. Several of them, and they were pointing behind him. Time slowed for him and he could hear the rain droplets parting and the wind whistling toward his back. His eyes narrowed and he pivoted on his feet. Swinging his right arm with all the strength he had left, he spun on his feet as he stood. He put his all into this one spinning haymaker, and his momentum peaked just as Doomsday was about to land on top of him.

The punch broke chunks of bone plating from the beast’s fanged jaw and cracked the ridge over his left eyebrow in half. But Superman didn’t stop - he kept spinning, bringing his left foot around for a side-kick that hurtled Doomsday backward. A final blast of his heat vision at full-bore intensity and the creature flew through the air to land with a resounding boom twenty yards away.

Superman was breathing heavily. His hair hung limp and soaked on his forehead, his costume shredded such that he reached up and tore free the last tattered rags of his shirt. He saw the mess of his chest; grappling the monster had left the skin of his torso red, raw and bloody. He had open wounds elsewhere on his body as well.

Too far, he thought. I’ve pushed myself too far. Emil was right-- I’m weaker than I’ve been since War World. Eclipso, Circe’s magic, all that Kryptonite… This has to stop.

“Clark,” he heard a whisper over the rain, the screaming, and the blood rushing through his own veins. “Clark, don’t do this alone. Wait for backup-- something…”

“I can’t,” he said. Looking over his shoulder to the uniformed soldiers, but letting his eyes meet Lois’, he talked loud enough for them to hear. “Listen, all of you - I can’t wait for the League to get here. Doomsday has to be stopped, and I’m the only one who can. Get your men back, you hear me? Get to safety. I know what your job is, and I know you’re-- you’re good men, and brave. But he will kill you if he can, and I can’t promise I can protect you if you stay.”

He turned back to see LexCorp Battlesuits converging on the rising Doomsday. He knew they’d have no effect but to enrage the beast all over again.

“I can handle this. It’s what I’m here for; it’s my responsibility. I swear to you that I will hold this city, but I can’t have your deaths on my hands.” He looked back and caught Lois’ eyes with his own. “I couldn’t live with that. Fall back to a more defensive position. I’m going to try and take this fight out of the city…

“I’ll be back when I can. When this is over.”

He nodded and she nodded in return.

“I love you,” she whispered. Only he could hear it.

He could only nod.

Taking flight, he caught the pair of LexCorp Battlesuits Doomsday had hurled away. It was time to change tactics. He’d been lured into fighting this thing on its own terms, letting the battle turn into a brawling streetfight. He’d been so confident in his strength at first that he hadn’t thought he needed to strategize, and then later so caught up in trying to control the melee that he hadn’t had the time to shake his head clear and think.

His advantage was his intellect. The beast was just primal rage, little more than an animal. Time to out-think him. Time to fly.

He set the men in their battlesuits down on top of a building, but before he let them go he tore their jetpacks free from their armor. Turning away, he flew at top speed back to the blockade and the monster. Doomsday filled his vision as he rushed the monster in a blur. He swung the jetpacks around from either side and they collided around the beast’s head with such impact that they simultaneously burst into immense explosions. It was a far bigger blast than Superman had expected, and for just a second the question of what these things used to fly ran through his head.

Doomsday’s oncoming fist brought him back to the here and now, and he dodged backward, staying in flight. It was his second of three great advantages. His mind, flight-- and range. A stuttering burst of heat-vision softened him up, but also left him unprepared and surprised at the power of a full blast follow-up. Darting around, Superman alternated between blasting the monster and peppering the ground. Doomsday was swatting at laser blasts like King Kong at bi-planes, too confused and distracted to notice the weakening street beneath him until a last punch of Kryptonian vision crushed him to the ground and punched him clean through the asphalt and underground.

A brief look around confirmed that the military was pulling back non-essential personnel, and Lois looked to be caught in the net of retreating soldiers. Reassured, he flew underground to catch the creature before he could catch his bearings.

The space beneath the area of Metropolis where the Daily Planet stood was a mess of sewers and infrastructure, and a surprisingly large space. It wasn’t wide-open space though, and all the pipes and tubes would greatly restrict Doomsday’s bulky form. Not only that, but unless he had x-ray vision like Superman, seeing anything clearly would become all but impossible.

The beast looked disoriented as Superman descended in flight. He’d hoped to corner it, pound it some more, and then fly it out and away to someplace uninhabited. But Doomsday, perhaps claustrophobic in the mess of tubes, pipes and tunnels, lashed out like a cornered animal. Superman cursed himself a fool for not expecting the result - for not remembering all that was down here and what would happen if this bull was set loose in this china shop.

Sparks flew as electrical lines were torn free and ripped open. Water erupted from burst sewage lines. Superman blasted the beast with his heat vision, driving it backward and under the spray of water. Flying in quickly, he grabbed each end of a mass of thick electrical cable, sparks flying in the darkness, and pushed them into Doomsday’s body. The resulting power surge made the thing roar in pain, and made Superman’s own muscles lock in place. Doomsday was not similarly tensed up, and he bull-rushed the Man of Steel backward, tearing through more of the undercity and sending showers of sparks into the watery spray, turning the whole area into electrified chaos.

The lights in the city flickered and sections of the power grid failed. Metropolis went dark. Beneath the city, Superman’s enhanced vision could still see perfectly. Doomsday was pounding him into the wall of the tunnel they were in, and didn’t stop when the wall gave way. The tunnel led to another, and then another, and then when that wall shattered from the ferocity of the monster’s attack they fell a short distance and crashed through a caged area, landing near a huge pair of chemical tanks.

Superman barely had time to react before Doomsday drove his body through the metal of one. Then his world went white.
________________________________________

“You can not hold us any longer,” Wonder Woman shouted at Deadshot, swinging a small tree-trunk like a club. A cold-snap caught the wooden improvised weapon to a halt in time for Deadshot to tumble backward and away. Killer Frost screamed in determination as she dragged down the trunk with a sheath of ice. The effort and strain was all she could take and the girl collapsed in exhaustion.

Deadshot came up in a tuck and opened fire on Wonder Woman. The bullets bounced off her bracers, but enough shots got through that he could see her wince. She was getting tired, too. The whole League was. They might actually be able to win this, if--

No. Stupid of him to even consider it. A quick visual sweep of the fog-filled, misty and rain-soaked battlefield with his night-vision lenses told him what he needed to know. His team was down, the League was up, and tired as they were this fight was in their column anyway.

“Whatever,” he shrugged, snorting derisively at the Amazon’s sudden look of shock. “Our job’s done anyway.”

A tap on his belt buckle and he began to fade away in a flash of light. The moment he was gone, a blast of J’Onn’s Martian laser-vision swept the area he had been.

“They’re disappearing,” Aquaman shouted, watching Knockout’s prone form vanish in the same way.

“They’re teleporting,” Batman corrected. “Similar signature to the JLI beams.”

“Sit-rep,” Wonder Woman demanded. “Who’s up, who’s down, and who’s still at peak?”

Before anyone could respond, Power Girl smashed through the icy barrier that had kept them locked in the fight like gladiators in an arena. With a howling scream they could all hear even through the storm, she blasted off toward Metropolis.

“We must hurry,” J’Onn said solemnly. “It is not going well.”

“Superman…?” Diana asked cautiously.

“He--” the Martian hesitated, his emotions difficult to read. “…We must hurry.”
________________________________________

The explosion was so large that it could be seen for miles in every direction. Lois screamed when she saw it, turning to fight against the tide of rushing bodies trying to get away from the fight. She had to get back - she had to know what had happened. The sounds that she could hear were terrifying. Great crashes and the groaning of steel filled the darkened, stormy city. She neared the corner of the street and the world seemed to toss and shake as if an earthquake had struck the city. Building facades crumbled and gargoyles fell from high places.

A gust of white smoke and dust billowed past the corner ahead and she knew she had to run faster. No matter how dangerous-- she wasn’t even thinking about that now. She had covered war zones, survived bombings, and seen some of the worst atrocities the world had to offer. She had covered the Apokaliptian invasion from the front lines, for God’s sake - nothing was going to stop her from this.

“Lois!” a voice called out.

“Jimmy?!” she cried in shock, seeing the flash of red hair and the hand waving frantically from across the street. “Jimmy, what-- what the hell are you doing here? You’ve got to get out!”

“No chance, Miss Lane,” the boy-- no, the young man said. There was resolution in his eyes and a camera in his hands. “I know where you’re going, and I’m pretty sure I know why. I’m going with you.”

She fought with herself for a split second over how to get him to turn and run like any sane person would. Instead, she gave in to her own insanity.

“Keep up,” she said. “It’s getting worse before it gets better.”
________________________________________

The Daily Planet had been reduced to rubble, as had most of the buildings immediately adjacent to it. The streets were filled with debris, and distant screams and sirens blared. The rainstorm had let up slightly, but the clouds still swirled overhead making it impossible to distinguish night from day. Dust clouds hung in the air, almost obscuring the lone recognizable feature of the area; the golden globe of the Daily Planet, laying on its side half crushed atop the piles of wreckage that had once been among the most respected newspaper publishers in the world.

Tank treads whirred and rumbled as they drove in to surround the scene. LexCorp Battlesuits and National Guardsmen cautiously approached the edges of the debris field, and Lois and Jimmy snuck their way around to a vantage point where they could observe without being seen. Camera clicking and whirring furiously, the photographer couldn’t peel his eye from the viewfinder for a second.

“Something’s happening,” he whispered.

At the center of the rubble, there was motion. The ground shifted and bulged, concrete chunks pushed aside as a lone body rose from the disaster. He stood slowly, lifting his impressive height from the wreckage that would have been his tomb. Rain fell gently and soft on his bare shoulders, and Superman raised his face to the sky.

The area erupted in applause and cheers. Superman just smiled, letting the water cool his face and sooth his skin. He heard Lois sighing in relief, her heartbeat racing in exhilaration instead of fear.

“You did it,” she whispered in tones only he could hear. He nodded for her, knowing she could see from wherever she was. He let his arms raise just slightly to his side, palms up to feel the rain. Nothing had felt so good that he could remember. It would be alright. There was still time.

The cheering grew louder as he took a step forward, but turned to screams of horror and shouts of panic when Doomsday erupted, larger than life from behind. Superman spun only fast enough to take face-first the attack meant for his back. It took him from his feet to his knees, and his vision blurred for just a moment.

One moment. That was all he would give the monster. It was the last one that thing would get from him.

His fists came up like jackhammers to Doomsday’s chin and shattered the boney ridges running along his jaw line. Doomsday fell back and kicked out a foot that caught Superman’s gut, but he fell back with it and swung the monster’s body over his and hard to the ground. Back and forth it went, and none watching had seen their duel reach this level of violence in all the time since it started.

Superman was breathing fast and seeing clearly. He’d gotten a second wind-- third? Fourth? And he intended to use it. Doomsday’s skin was so thick, his muscle and bone structure so dense that Superman’s x-ray vision couldn’t penetrate it to see how injured the monster was. Best, then, to assume it was feeling as renewed as he was.

A pair of quick punches were met and raised by a bone-shattering backhand from the creature’s clawed fist. A kick lifted it off the ground and he flew up to punch him hard back to the ground. The follow-up charge was diverted by a one-two punch that made the tanks shake.

At every moment that Superman was down or airborn, bullets and energy blasts peppered Doomsday’s skin. It was the distraction Superman needed to keep his advantage. He wouldn’t be beaten. Not here, not today. His energy was fading fast and he knew he had little time left to end this. It had to be fast, and he had to put everything he had into it - every ounce of energy, every fiber of his body. He dug his feet in and ran in a blinding charge toward the roaring beast and for some reason his mind recalled something Barry Allen used to say - when things looked their worst, and when winning seemed too far to reach, he’d just get the zen calm about him and smile.

“If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run…”

His fist hit hard and he knew it hurt the thing. He followed with a second punch that was stronger. And a third that was, if anything, three times the strength of those that came before. One, two, one, two; he was pushing Doomsday back and driving him into a defensive crouch. Seeing the hulking abomination trying to act defensively was almost humorous, but it meant he was winning. Still, he refused to allow himself a second of celebration.

Winding back, Superman swung what should have been the final blow. Doomsday was ready and sprang forward with a punch of his own. The combined force of both attacks hit so hard that it cracked every piece of glass in a mile radius. The crowd had to hide their faces and cover their ears as a shockwave of dust blasted by. From where they hid, Jimmy’s camera kept clicking.

Superman and Doomsday stood, each warrior fatigued and weary. Even the monster was visibly wounded, but to see Superman with open and bleeding wounds was so far beyond imagining that it seemed impossible. Still he stood; still he ran forward.

Click.

Each strike was met by another. Each blow landed got one in return. Self defense was completely discarded in a mad rush to try and put the other fighter down fast and hard.

Click.

Doomsday swung a mighty fist faster than the camera could capture, but with steadfast determination, Superman caught the punch in his own hand. It sounded like a sonic boom, and the ground shook but Superman didn’t budge an inch. He held the fist and squeezed, bringing his other hand up to strike the monster with an open-palm to his chest that sent him skidding and bouncing away.

Click.

Doomsday lurched to his feet quickly and broke into a blind run. His scream was loud, booming, and sent shivers racing the spine to the cold base of the neck where they turned to an urge to run fast and far and now. Superman didn’t make a noise, just narrowed his eyes and pushed off the balls of his feet into flight. Speeding bullet racing toward powerful locomotive. The collision was eminent. Superman’s brow furrowed and jaw clenched.

Click.

The two collided with an impact so intense that all eyes squeezed shut against it. Nobody saw that final pair of blows, as fist and bone and flesh collided at once; none could say what it was that caused the great and terrible snapping sound, or the crunch. None but the photographer, his eyes fixed open, his finger on the button.

Click.
________________________________________

Lois’ feet were moving before she realized what was happening. For the first second, she wondered why the world was moving around her, then regained her bearings and added speed and will to her run. Clambering down from the ruined building that had been across the street from the Daily Planet - across from the building that had been her life for ten long years - and scrambled over the fallen concrete, brick and mortar to where they had fallen. National Guardsmen tried to hold her back, but clearly they didn’t know who they were dealing with.

After stiff arming the boys aside, she rushed up the pile of debris that had been the Planet. Her stride lengthened until each step was twice as long, but it couldn’t carry her fast enough. It was enough to push by the LexCorp guards encircling the monster, not seeming to care at all about Superman’s condition. Hardly surprising, considering their boss. He’d get his later when she wrote this disaster up for tomorrow’s edition… if indeed there was a ‘tomorrow’s edition.’

Doomsday wasn’t moving. Didn’t look like it was breathing, either. It was limp as a boned fish as the LexCorp goons poked and prodded it. She could take no comfort in the victory, though. Not yet.

She fell to her knees next to Superman, her pants protecting her knees only slightly from the scraping of rocky chunks of the former Daily Planet beneath her. She lifted his shoulders and pulled him to her. He looked so weak; so terribly, terribly hurt. She’d never seen him hurt like this, and she’d been reporting on his career since it began. She could count on one hand the number of times she’d seen him bleed, and only once she’d seen him cut open. He was Superman - he was supposed to be invulnerable.

He looked up at her, his eyes fluttering open and looking around to try and focus. When his eyes locked with hers, her heart broke. This wasn’t Superman, it was Clark Kent. Clark, the boyish simpleton from Smallville who had showed up out of a cornfield to became her only rival without ever really trying. Clark, who had never had a bad word to say about anybody no matter how much of the hard, painful world he saw. Clark, the only man she would admit to being as good a writer as she was, even if she’d never say it out loud.

Clark, the bumbling, stumbling oaf with the silly grin that you had to fight not to share and the easy-going, uplifting spirit that she had to fight not to love. Her fiancé, her partner, her best friend - her hero. She once thought she’d fallen in love with Superman for all the things he was that no human man could be. It took her a long time before she realized that Clark was already all of those things, matched by a friendship only time and closeness could build.

They should have moved up the wedding date. They should have done it the day after he proposed. She wanted to be holding her husband in her lap.

“Did-- D-did I--“ he gasped, struggling to make words pass his constricted throat. “Did I stop him?”

“Yes,” she sniffled back tears, determined to be strong for him. “You did it. You saved everybody.”

“Good,” he smiled. It was peaceful, and she laughed though it came out slightly ragged from the crying jag she refused to allow.

“I love you,” she said, trying to hide her face so nobody could read her lips. A small crowd gathered, but none would come close. They knew Lois Lane had a relationship with Superman - hell, the tabloids had been lousy with rumors for years. Her engagement to another reporter notwithstanding, every one of them felt like they were intruding on a private moment.

But Superman didn’t say anything back. His smile grew wider, his eyes closed in contentment and he sighed. It was as if all the worries and pains he felt left him at once, and it terrified her.

“Superman?” she asked, turning his face to her.

“Su-Superman?” she practically begged. She said the name over and over, helpless to stop the tears that were coming now. She screamed his name, but he wouldn’t respond. He just lay in her arms, limp and still. No matter how hard she screamed inside, he wouldn’t open his eyes for her. He wouldn’t tell her he loved her too and everything would be okay.

It wouldn’t be. Not ever again.

Lois was dimly aware of screaming and shouting nearby, and of the soldiers trying and failing to hold back Power Girl. The woman stopped short of where Lois was still shaking and crying. She yelled, first at one man, then another, then at nobody in particular and everybody in general. Her fist slammed the ground, shaking Lois and her fiancé, but it didn’t wake him. Nothing would. She was too late to be any help to him.

Others came; medics, scientists, the Justice League. It made no difference. The damage was done. The impossible had happened. There were no plans for this - when asked, the League had nothing to offer but confusion and hopeful, if completely hopeless guesswork. Lois didn’t hear a word; not the condescending reassurance from the doctors or the patronizing prayers from the soldiers or the utterly useless clichés the League babbled.

The only thing that got through her haze and made her pay attention was a look from Aquaman. He didn’t say a word, nor did he spare a long glance. It was just a look, small and yet knowing. It said they shared a similar pain, now. He understood, and he shared his understanding with a curt nod. He knew there was nothing he could say, and he wasn’t going to insult her by trying. She wanted to be appreciative, but it only made the pain more real.

The rain had stopped. The doctors had stopped. The soldiers and superheroes had backed away, leaving Lois alone at the center of a toppled building in the shadow of the golden globe of the Daily Planet. She knelt by Superman’s body. Silence surrounded her like a cold blanket, her heart hopelessly constricted by a loss that would never heal. This was the day her life lost its light. This was the day her future lost its hope.

This was the day Superman died.

The End

It's been a long time since I read the novelization of "The Death and Return of Superman"...

...but I'm pretty sure this was better.

R.I.P. Superman

Holy cow! Thanks! I really loved the 'Death and Return' novel, and the whole Death of Superman story in and out of comics. I've been waiting a long time to do this story, and have been setting it up for most of this last year-- making sure he was beaten enough that Doomsday could kill him. I've been dropping hints a lot about it in the JL stories.

But to say it's better? Wow. Thank you.