The dust had yet to settle.
Doomsday had punched Clark into the ground, burying half his body in the scorched earth.
His uniform had split across his chest, and dark red bruising surfaced beneath his skin.
Doomsday raised its foot.
A blue light opened behind it.
Yang Ming pushed Lex Luthor out first.
"Bruce, fire!"
Batman did not answer.
He raised the launcher, and three aerosol rounds flew out at once.
Clouds of green mist burst at Doomsday's feet.
Kryptonite dust swept toward the monster on the wind-and toward Clark, who had just pushed himself up from the ground.
Clark took only one breath.
His expression changed immediately.
He clutched his chest and began coughing violently. Blood seeped between his fingers. As though all his strength had been drained away, his knees buckled, and he sank back into the mud.
Yang Ming watched, his eyelids twitching wildly.
Bruce's move amounted to indiscriminate medical malpractice.
And the victim was the only Kryptonian ally on the field.
"Who are you shooting at?" Yang Ming roared.
"Doomsday was affected too."
"Clark went down first!"
Yang Ming rushed over and grabbed Clark's shoulder.
Kryptonite radiation was rapidly suppressing his cellular activity. Shallow breathing, weak pulse, sluggish pupillary response to light.
"Don't move him." Bound on the ground, Lex Luthor still managed to curl his lip. "This is a necessary sacrifice."
Yang Ming looked back at him.
"Say one more word, and I'll slit your windpipe and tell everyone it's a necessary medical procedure."
He raised his hand and opened the Anywhere Door.
Beyond the door lay an upwind spot on the wasteland, over a hundred meters from the battlefield, with the wind carrying the kryptonite dust the other way.
Yang Ming dragged Clark through the door and laid him down behind a rock.
"Close