Diana's Confidence

Deep beneath Wayne Manor.

The sound of the waterfall echoed endlessly through the Batcave.

The main medical area stood on a platform beside an underground river.

A custom-built Medical Pod occupied its center.

High-powered artificial sunlight generators hung above the pod, bathing the entire platform in harsh yellow light.

Clark Kent lay inside the Medical Pod.

Pale green nutrient fluid covered his chest.

Several sensor leads connected to a vital-sign monitor floated on the surface.

Binding bandages wrapped his chest, while a titanium-alloy exoskeleton brace locked his broken sternum and ribs in place.

Alfred stood beside the Medical Pod, holding a tablet and swiping rapidly across its screen.

Dense bar graphs of physiological data flickered across the display.

Bruce Wayne stood at a weapons workbench ten paces away.

Dressed in a black bodysuit, he used a wrench to dismantle the gauntlet of the specialized armor Chu Men had shattered at the clock tower.

"Somatic cell regeneration rate: twenty-three percent." Alfred read the figure on the screen, his brow furrowing. "That makes no sense."

Bruce kept working.

"The sunlight generators are already at maximum output." Alfred looked up at the man in the pod. "The concentration of Kryptonian cell-repair enzymes in the nutrient fluid is saturated, too. Based on Master Kent's previous recoveries, this much sunlight should have healed his sternum completely by now."

"Internal injuries?"

"The puncture wound in his lung has stopped worsening, but granulation tissue is growing extremely slowly." Alfred sighed and set the tablet on a nearby metal table. "Master Bruce, the problem isn't a lack of energy. His body is resisting the healing process."

Bruce stopped working.

He turned and walked to the Medical Pod.

Yellow light fell across Clark's face.

The face that usually wore a gentle smile was now pale as paper.

Clark's eyes were shut tight, his eyeballs darting beneath the lids. His breathing was rapid and uneven.

The nutrient fluid surged with each breath, slapping against the sides of the pod.

He was dreaming.

There was no Metropolis sunshine in Clark's mind, no smell of ink from the Daily Planet.

Only rain, mud, and the smell of blood.

The roar of helicopter rotors echoed in his ears.

Lois's anguished cries stabbed at his eardrums like knives.

All he could see was the sole of a shoe coming down with overwhelming force.

And the man looking down at him, saying—

"My rules are the rules."

Clark's eyes flew open.

He gasped for air, his chest heaving.

The movement pulled at his broken bones, drawing a pained groan from him.

Nutrient fluid splashed onto the floor outside the pod.

He tried to sit up, but the titanium-alloy brace pinned him beneath the fluid.

"Stay down." Bruce's hard voice came from above.

Clark turned his head toward Bruce, who stood outside the pod.

Water dripped from Clark's chin.

"Lois..." Clark's voice was hoarse, as though his throat were full of sand.

"She's safe." Bruce braced both hands on the edge of the Medical Pod and looked down at him.

"The Daily Planet helicopter landed safely in Metropolis. The military took charge of everyone aboard. She was shaken, but she wasn't hurt."

Clark closed his eyes and let out a long breath. His tense muscles relaxed.

"You nearly died," Bruce said flatly. "If he hadn't changed his mind and let go at the last moment, you'd be a corpse floating off the East End."

Clark opened his eyes and stared at the glaring yellow light overhead.

"He's too strong," Clark murmured, clenching and unclenching his fist. "I couldn't stop him."

"Because you have lines you won't cross." Bruce went straight to the heart of it.

Clark turned to him.

"I reviewed the complete combat data." Bruce called up a holographic display from the main console and moved it in front of Clark.

Footage of the battle at East District Dock played across the screen.

"You held back, so you couldn't use your full strength." Bruce pointed to Superman being driven backward by Chu Men.

The image froze at the moment a dark red glow lit Chu Men's eyes.

Clark fell silent. He wanted to say he had gone all out at the end.

Bruce's fingers flew across the keyboard. Intelligence reports appeared on more than a dozen separate screens.

"Look at what's happening outside." Bruce brought up a Pentagon satellite surveillance feed. "Three East Coast air bases are on maximum alert. Two carrier strike groups are moving toward the waters off Gotham."

The display changed.

A classified document stamped in red appeared.

"Amanda Waller, director of A.R.G.U.S., issued a top-secret order. Gotham City has been designated a Class X restricted zone. The military has sealed every route in and out. They've even deployed a submarine carrying tactical nuclear warheads."

Clark listened from the Medical Pod, his brow tightening.

"They want to destroy Gotham?"

"They don't dare." Bruce gave a cold laugh and pulled up another set of data. "Lex Luthor's private jet landed at Gotham International Airport half an hour ago. He gave a televised speech stirring up hatred of superhumans, then went straight to the Iceberg Lounge."

"Luthor wants to win him over?"

"Luthor is a businessman. He only invests in assets with value. The power Chu Men displayed is enough to make Luthor take the risk." Bruce stared at an overhead view of the Iceberg Lounge.

"Now every gang in Gotham is doing Chu Men's bidding."

An alarm suddenly sounded from the main console.

The largest monitor in the bank of screens abruptly dissolved into static.

A string of ancient runic code forced its way through Wayne Enterprises' firewall and filled the center of the display.

"Sir, an unknown frequency is forcing a connection." Alfred hurried to the console. "The encryption is highly unusual. It doesn't belong to any existing military or civilian network."

Bruce stared at the runes, a wary look crossing his eyes.

He recognized the writing.

"Put it through," Bruce ordered.

The static cleared.

"Bruce." A cool, steady woman's voice echoed through the Batcave.

At the sound, Clark whipped his head around inside the Medical Pod.

"Diana." Bruce leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in front of him. "Aren't you supposed to be restoring artifacts at the Louvre? Why get mixed up in this?"

"The Oracle Stone on Themyscira shattered." Diana's voice remained even, though her words carried enormous weight. "An echo came from deep beneath the ocean—a magical barrier had been disturbed. The Council of Elders traced it back, but they couldn't find that man's fate."

Bruce tapped at the keyboard, tracing the source of the signal.

"Where are you?" Bruce asked.

"Stark Weather Station. It's abandoned, north of Gotham," Diana replied.

"You shouldn't have come." Bruce watched the red dot flash on his tracking display. "This place is a powder keg."

"I saw Luthor's plane from the sky." Diana ignored his warning. "I also saw the gangs lining up outside the Iceberg Lounge to pay tribute. He's establishing control faster than I expected."

The channel went quiet for two seconds.

"Is Clark still alive?" Diana asked.

"He'll live. But we can't count on him anytime soon." Bruce glanced at the Medical Pod.

Clark gave a rueful smile as he lay in the nutrient fluid.

"I need all the data you have on him," Diana said, getting to the point.

Bruce wasted no words. He tapped a few keys.

A massive compressed file went through the encrypted channel.

"Data sent." Bruce watched the progress bar. "But I have to warn you: conventional tactics are useless against him."

"Get to the point."

"He has a Bio-electric Field similar to Clark's." Bruce paused, his voice turning grave. "And some kind of explosive ability we haven't identified."

Atop the abandoned iron tower of the weather station.

Diana stood in the wind, her red cape snapping in the night breeze. She looked down at the data packet arriving on the small computer at her wrist.

On the screen, the image of Chu Men stepping on Superman and raising his middle finger was especially jarring.

Diana looked up at the brightly lit Iceberg Lounge in the city center. "He's a complete anomaly."

"Do you have a plan?" Bruce asked over the channel.

Diana's hand settled on the sheath at her thigh. Her fingertips brushed the hilt carved from the bone of an Ancient Sea Beast.

"I brought a sword." Diana drew Magic-Breaker. "It should work. Any force field, magical shield, or construct woven from rules is no better than paper against it."

"If he relies on that field, I'll cut it open. Then we'll see whether his body can withstand an Amazon sword without that shell."

In the Batcave, Bruce watched the audio waveform on the screen.

"Be careful."