He felt his back hit the hard gravel floor of the harbor. Massive waves brought on by the force and a cloud bubbles washed over him, momentarily blinding his field of vision. His ears were pounding, and he realized he couldn't hear the sensation of stars shining in the sky. And all the while as he struggled to fight himself through the water, knowing his enemy was waiting for him on the other side, he still felt that sting beginning to slowly build into a burn. The toxicities that Metallus had hit him with were far too potent for him to ignore, but something else was afflicting him at the same time. It was as if the level of power that his recent transformation had blessed him with was fading all at once. And what was worse? Only now, in the midst of a heated battle that was already taking it's toll, did Superman realize that he had felt it much earlier than his mind was willing to admit.
Luthor's virus. It was beginning to take effect.
Pushing himself against the waves, The Man of Steel floated upright and stood on the bottom of the harbor with that realization in mind. If he was growing weaker by the moment, he couldn't continue to allow Metallus the advantage of the attack. The fight had to end before Metropolis, and to a lesser extent himself, was brought to complete ruin by the man's - or perhaps machine - perhaps something else entirely's complete disregard for lives around him. So he thought to himself, allowing himself to use his predicament to shift the odds in his favor. And he considered several strategies at once. For a brief moment, he even considered what he would do if Metallus really was just a variation on the John Corben design. If that were the case, it'd be a simple matter of breaking down the barriers of his shell and removing his kryptonite heart. But with Metallus...
What if it didn't work? What if, by drawing too much on his experience with a different enemy, he made a fatal move?
Superman grunted, visibly frustrated at his own momentary lack of initiative. Everything was being brought into question because of this worsening condition when it really didn't matter. Nothing mattered when compared to the people that Metallus had the capability of putting in harm's way. Obviously he was fueled primarily out of a hatred for Superman himself, but his actions showed a certain disdain for the bystanders aswell whenever he attacked the police. Probably out of the knowledge that his enemy would do anything to protect them, considering what Metallus had used to lure him out in the open in the first place.
With careful pause, Krypton's son suddenly realized something. Metallus had needed to lure him out. Almost instantaneously, the gears in Superman's head began to turn again, as all doubt left him and he knew precisely how to shift the odds in his favor. All that he felt he needed to do was borrow a crucial cue from a recently visited friend from out of town.
I owe you one, Barry.
"Now come on, Superman! Surely you're not going to tell me that those toxins got to you already! I'd have hated to put you down without breaking so much as a sweat!"
With a wide smirk on his face, The Man of Steel looked up towards the break of the surface. Metallus was waiting for him with an attack that could clearly be seen coming a mile away, hovering above the harbor with an unmanned vehicle being lifted above his shoulders. He was laughing to himself maniacally, convinced that he was in the same league as any other villain that reared their head in Metropolis. Another Silver Banshee. Another Prankster. Another Zod. This poorly constructed imitation was about to learn otherwise.
With a force that propelled him over twenty feet high from the bottom of the river, Superman broke through the surface in a blast of water and slammed directly into Metallus' chest, catching the automobile that he was a second too late to use as a weapon. Using it's front bumper as a battering ram, Superman slammed the brunt of the entire vehicle into the villain's head and sent him skyrocketing into concrete from the docking bay below. Content enough with his attack, Superman tossed the remains of the car into the harbor and looked down upon his winded enemy.
"You'll be breaking alot more than a sweat if you keep up this charade. Now I'm giving you one last chance, Metallus. Stand down."
The circuitry in it's face more than visible now as it was clearly overlying alien technology, Metallus looked up at Superman and peeled itself up. It's voice cracked as it tried to speak, like some sort of a record on a loop. By the time it regained it's composure, it sounded less like a man and more like something from beyond the stars. Superman's eyes began to glow red with heat as it wobbled into a stance, eeirly dissimilar to any manner of which he had ever seen.
"My prime-prime-dir-directive has been compromised. You, son of Krypton, must be removed from the equation before it is t-too-l-laate."
The Man of Tommorow furrowed his brow. He almost preferred the human voice.
"Then maybe you should come and get me."
Taking a stance that indicated launch, Metallus leaped into the air and left half of the wooden planks of the docks crumbling in it's wake. But by the time that it matched Superman's altitude, it was stunned to realize that Superman was already gone. Vanished into Metropolis without so much as a second's hesitation. Metallus hovered in the air, scanning the skies for any trace of an enemy it had lured out into the open with falsified cries for help. Flying into the city, it began to pass into the heart of the financial district. But paused once it got there. The noises from below, the car horns. They were interfering with it's sensors. With an oddly human reflex, it covered it's ears in agony at this.
"That's pretty much what I expected. You don't like the city, do you?"
Hearing his voice, but unable to see it's origin, Metallus frantically began to spin around, looking for any sign of Superman. But apart from a brief flash of red and blue, that appeared in randomized glimpses all over the skies, there was no trace of a discernable point to attack. Metallus' sensors were practically toppling over themselves to pinpoint Superman's trajectory and get a lock on his flight pattern, but he was simply too fast. The machine began to groan with frustration.
"I suspected something was amiss when you chose Suicide Slums for your attack. You had no motive for choosing that location, especially at night. Hardly anyone walks those streets at these hours. You had no one to use against me but your recordings."
Metallus began to rapidly try and punch at the air, hoping to land a hit, but nothing was happening.
"I thought it was coincidence at first. But then I realized how you brought me to you and had a moment of clarity. Metallo, the real John Corben, had upgraded himself so drastically that he didn't even need to draw me out anymore. His programming was so advanced that he could spot me from space like a satellite."
Growing frustrated, Metallus began shooting out random blasts of energy at the clouds and at the buildings, hoping by some stroke of luck that it would hit the voice that was taunting him.
"Compro-compromised. All directives have been compromised. Terminate target immedia-imediately. Terminate. Terminate."
"You're no duplicate of Metallo. Not as much of one as I expected. You're nothing more than a replica of his shell. An outdated piece of machinery that I already beat, hoping your strength could make up for what you lacked in other areas. Like tracking sensors."
It was at that point that one of the blasts collided with something in mid-air. Metalls turned and realized that it had been held firmly back by the brunt of Superman's palm, as he let the last of the energy hit him and fade into the night.
"I've got news for your creator. It doesn't."
In a frenzy of manufactured rage, synthetic hatred, and every concievable emotion that a program could possibly hope to recreate, Metallus lashed out at Superman with a fury of attacks that it had been taught to mimick. But by using his speed as his primary strategy, forgoing the focus on brute force that had nearly cost him the fight, Superman managed to dodge most of every attack with ease. Metallus brought it's hands together in a haymaker manuever reminiscent of one used just a few moments prior, but Superman countered the attack with a hardened and precise uppercut that sent the machine flying fast and hard through a nearby structure.
Floating over to where it had fallen, The Man of Steel looked upon a once brilliant recreation of one of his most dangerous foes and saw it now for what it was - a sprawled out mess of alien tubes and electrical wire, evident flaws that had to be masked with faux blood and skin to make him pull his punches. Superman touched down beside the would-be villain as it still tried to move and attack, but saw no apparent danger in it's attempts.
"You've already lost this fight. Might aswell give it up while your power source is still running."
Metallus' teeth grinded together briefly, before it's robotic jaw eventually cracked and scattered.
"Prime-prime-prime-direct-direct-direct-dire-dir--- END TRANSMISSION."
It's hand reached up to grab his enemy, but it didn't get very far as the machine's internal programming was already beginning to shut itself down. Dusting his uniform off, Superman casually reached down and grabbed it's head, effortlessly ripping the metallic skeleton from it's neck. The machine died down instantly, allowing Superman to further examine it's structure.
"Hrn. Star Labs should find this interesting, once I haul your parts over to their technicians. A combination of parts from different sectors of the galaxy, even recognize a few of them myself. Infact, I'd swear you're actually made of parts from Krypt..."
Noticing something very strange in the reflection of Metallus' skull, Superman's eyes widened. Touching at his own sideburns, he almost didn't believe it at first. But looking back at a reflective window in a nearby skyscraper confirmed what he had feared, as he looked back at his own reflection in stunned silence.
Gray?
