Another day at the office.

[amazo]

The day before Thanksgiving, and the Daily Planet offices are buzzing as Perry White walks through the newsroom, having returned from...somewhere. He doesn't say much, just nodding and grunting as some of the newer reporters and copy editors just...get out of his way. They normally do that when he's in a bad mood.

He turns into his office and walks towards his desk...where he apparently is already sitting, typing furiously away. "Perry" walks over to the desk and leans on his arms, waiting for Perry to notice him.

"You know, doors exist for a reason." Perry says as he finishes his sentence and looks up. "Mainly to keep from being dis....what the..."

As Perry sees this...other Perry...the form morphs, Martian-like, into the visage of Amazo, the One Man Justice League.

Perry gasps. "Great Caesars'..."

Amazo shoves the desk, with Perry and the chair behind it, straight backward, through the window, several stories up.

"...ghost." Amazo finishes.

Comments

[thefourthestate]

Lois doesn't have super hearing but she does have reporter's hearing and it's almost the same thing. Her sharp ability to listen to things going on around her has gotten Lois more than a few major scoops over the years as well as managed to help her avoid being kidnapped by aliens on three separate occasions (and no, that time Clark surprised her by whisking her away for a weekend does not count as being kidnapped by an alien.) She doesn't hear Perry speaking to "Perry" but she does hear the sound of shattering glass.

"...I'm going to have to call you back," Lois says to the source she was fact checking and hangs up before making her way towards Perry's office.

[amazo]

When she gets to the entryway to Perry's office, she sees a gaping hole where the window should be. No desk. No Perry.

Amazo turns to face her.

"I have need of you, Ms. Lane."

From where he stands, his right arm stretches out like taffy, reaching to grab her.

[metropolismarvel]

Well.

That's all he needs to hear.

Clark may have not gotten his old life back entirely, but there's always a phone book around when he needs one. His super-hearing picks up Perry's yelp of distress, Lois's voice, and the tinny whine beneath the speakers that emulate whatever Amazo wants to sound like.

"This looks like a job for..."

A red streak rockets towards the Daily Planet building. But will he be in time?!

Across Midtown

[lexcorpunlimited]

The board meetings are getting more tedious. Once upon a time, he relished them, but increasingly he finds the thrill of the deal to pale before what he feels when he's in the armor. When he's ...

He loses the thought. A projection details a year of growing revenue, and a VP of something or other is yammering about the uptick in the company's corporate profile. "Thanks to me," he thinks. "Thanks to Lex Luthor, who saved the world and took his rightful place among the world's heroes in the Justice League." Even leaving the League in acrimony didn't disrupt public perception. "Heroes leave teams all the time," he thinks, "and I was telling the truth: I wanted to spend more time looking after Metropolis, especially after Superman died."

An alarm on his watch goes off. An excessive energy signature in his city. A bomb perhaps? Some sort of alien technology? Whatever it was, it was a danger, and it needed addressing.

"Friends," I say, interrupting the near-anonymous VP of whatever. "I'm afraid something urgent has emerged, and we'll have to cut this short. Rest assured, your hard work hasn't been ignored, and you and the rest of the company's executives will be seeing substantial quarterly bonuses."

There's a round of applause, but he's already left the room.

"Prepare the suit," he says into his watch, and the 12-person team that stands ready to maintain it at all hours jumps to life. "It's time to go to work."

Meanwhile at the Daily Star...

[byfate]

"There's drama at the Daily Planet."

Lana Lang looks up from her laptop, vivd green eyes wide with worry. The investigative piece she's working on regarding alien forms of energy sourced from various planets is forgotten and she pushes her chair back as George Taylor walks by her desk, speaking to one of their crime reporters. It's not Lana's thing. She does science. It's always been her beat, and why George Taylor insisted on hiring her.

She doesn't wait to hear more, though. The Daily Planet is tied to a lot of things that Lana Lang cares about.

Specifically Lois Lane and Clark Kent.

Even if it's not...you know. Them.

Though she knows that if anyone can handle themselves just fine, it's them, a sense of responsibility overwhelms her and she snaps her laptop shut before heading towards the nearest stairwell.

A couple of minutes and a couple of flights of stairs later, an electric red streak can be seen shooting across the Metropolis skyline.

This is, possibly, a job for Superwoman.

[amazo]

In the world, microseconds count.

Amazo's hand is inches from Lois Lane's face...

Perry White is about a football field's length from literally becoming Great Caesar's Ghost...

...and nary a hero to be seen...

[byfate]

As soon as Superwoman had arrived at the Daily Planet building, she'd done a quick bit of recon. Amazo. Lois Lane. Perry White. Okay.

If this Lois is anything like the Lois that Lana was friends with, she knows she'll be able to hold her own against Amazo. At least for a little while. The woman was incredibly tough and resilient.

Perry White versus the forces of gravity was an incredibly different deal, though.

Superwoman swooped in, making sure to change her velocity so she's evenly matched with Perry. The last thing she wants is to hurt him.

"Don't worry," she says as he lands in her arms, "I've got you." She bites back a grin as the familiar sentence tumbles out. She glances up, her brow furrowing.

Is Clark there yet?

"Let's get you to safety, Mr. White."

[metropolismarvel]

"Nice catch." The hell did he come from! The Man of Steel winks at Perry, holding.

Is that a cat.

"Sorry I'm a little late, traffic." If Superman recognizes Superwoman's secret identity or, well, ANYTHING, he doesn't seem to act like it, instead just waving to her. "I'm going to try and flush him outside."

And in another zip-he's gone!

Meanwhile ...

[lexcorpunlimited]

Lex Luthor launches from the executive flight deck he's had installed on the top of Lexcorp Tower. He begins scanning the city for exotic energy patterns, trying to get a bead on the power source he's registering.

He doesn't like alien technology in his city. At least, not in hands other than his own. His guidance system begins pulling him across town and, unsurprisingly, to The Daily Planet.

"Of course," he says, rolling his eyes. "I imagine some cliche supervillain or alien conqueror or whatever has targeted the alien's friends."

He sighs, and makes a course for the Daily Planet building.

Superwoman vs Amazo

[byfate]

[continued from here.]

Superwoman's eyes widen at the green energy coming towards her. Kryptonite radiation. Is she susceptible to it? Will it harm her? She's not sure. Being in its vicinity isn't affecting her, but that doesn't mean anything. In this form, she's practically a being of pure energy.

Superwoman darts up, a contrail of electrical crackle left in her wake, and then dives back down, arms outstretched, towards the Amazo. Twin braids of energy extend out from her hands, attacking the one shooting Kryptonite radiation. Him first. Then the other one.

Re: Superwoman vs Amazo

[amazo]

Amazo takes the hit from the streams and staggers back...then charges forward. His android brain wonders how her energy composition would be affected by...molecular changes.

Channeling both the abilities of Element Woman and Firestorm, the very air around her forms into gallons of water, quickly enclosed by a sphere of hardened rubber.

[byfate]

Throw almost any kind of radiation at her, and Lana can take it, absorb it, store it, manipulate it, and let it out.

But water? And rubber? Those are very different things. She powers down, glad that no one can see her face.

I should really invest in a domino mask or something. She doesn't mind Clark finding out who she is, nor does she mind Lois finding out her identity. But Lex? Whoever's controlling Amazo? A multiverse of no.

Still, even without the energy otherwise surrounding her, Lana has been changed by Clark's death. She was flight. She has superstrength.

Superstrength with which she's currently trying to punch her way out of the rubber sphere.

She is glad, though, for all the time spent at the old swimming hole near the Lang and Kent farms, back when she was a child. It has, obviously, come in handy.

Finally, finally, she's able to punch her way out and tear the rubber. Just in time to power up again.

"That was really good, champ, but still? Not my Kryptonite." She darts forth, this time willing to get physical with the Amazo. Clearly distance fighting was doing nothing for her here.

Superman vs. Amazo

[amazo]

Meanwhile, inside the building, those remaining in the general vicinity were quickly clearing out as Amazo continued to attempt to constrict around the Man of Steel.

Re: Superman vs. Amazo

[metropolismarvel]

Superman, hold back to make sure people can evacuate? Never.

Though, Clark admits to himself as he has Amazo wrapped around him, vibrating at super-speed, this is a bit of a pickle. Its kind of a paradox, he thinks as he struggles, since Ralph's powers minimize his need to really move and Barry's constantly moving and oh.

Heh.

"You talk a big game, Amazo, but from where I'm standing you're still a tin button man." Superman says, and Amazo might FEEL the Man of Steel's deep, deep intake of breath. "And I need you in one piece to find out who your boss is."

Glass starts to crack as frost laces through it-Superman lets out a massive torrent of super-breath at the lowest temperature he can manage, hoping to mimmic Captain Cold's Cold Field, a weapon that should both slow down Amazo's Flash-borrowed speed to something Superman can counter AND turn his Elongated Man stolen flexibility rigid and brittle.

Re: Superman vs. Amazo

[amazo]

The gambit works...Amazo releases and retracts so he's about six feet away from him.

Then he tries a new trick. Literally.

"mrofinU fo namrepuS nrut ot etinotpyrK!"

Superman can feel his costume start to...change.

And then there was Amazo

[amazo]

The Amazo currently unaccounted for by an opponent chooses to fly towards the base of the Daily Planet building...and then flies into it, channeling the strength of Martians and New Gods into his assault, trying to bring the Planet building down and everyone in it.

Re: And then there was Amazo

[better_ted_than_dead]

Some days, it just didn't pay to get out of bed. Inwardly wincing at the thought of multiple Amazos, Ted lets the Bug glide into position near the building, firing a set of tension-wire harpoons into the side - using the Bug's engines to try and stabilize things.

Of course, if the building crumbles completely, that will just bring the Bug down with it.

"Oof. What Would Batman Do?"

He contorts his face into a glower, adopting an exaggerated gravelly voice.

"My codpiece is on too tight. I withhold praise even when it is deserved."

"... That didn't help."

He presses a button, launching a capsule of rapid-expansion impact foam into the hole left by Amazo. Should slow the guy down and stabilize the building further.. hopefully.

Amazo vs. Luthor

[amazo]

The weapon Amazo holds morphs again in Amazo's hands...the only one of the Amazo's to wield such a weapon.

Luthor is right in one sense...if Amazo had the sheer strength of every Leaguer in its specific pantheon, his armor would be shattered...it was built to withstand one Superman, not several. So there are limits.

What's changed is the versatility The weapon forms into the shape of Big Barda's Megarod...

...and in an instant, what is apparently a Boom Tube erupts directly behind Luthor. One second before Amazo flies at Luthor with superspeed, aiming a punch not to break...but to send him flying through that tube.

Luthor, as usual, was right. Something *is* wrong here.

Re: Amazo vs. Luthor

[lexcorpunlimited]

This actually startles Lex, but only for a fraction of a second. The recognition of Apokolips technology, even mimed by an Amazo, was of great interest to him, seeing as he himself has upgraded his suit with appropriated technology from that world.

Still, he can only ride on instinct here, and he's certain he doesn't want to end up on the other side of that Boom Tube. It could be any nasty place ... Apokolips, the Sun, Blüdhaven ... so he creates one of his own ... between himself and the android, hoping to send it into the easiest location to calculate: Deep space.

Lois and Charlene

[thefourthestate]

Hang out with a Kryptonian long enough and you develop some surprising abilities of your own. Granted, not super by any stretch but a girl can only punch her boyfriend in jest, be kidnapped by the villain of the week, and "help" on the farm so many times before she levels up. Amazo chucks Charlene at her and while it is massive strength, Lois is able to largely break Charlene's trajectory. Both women fall down, but Charlene is unscathed, except for the psychological damage. Lois, on the other hand, is going to have a bruise or twenty.

"Get her out of here and to the paramedics," Lois groans at the one crazy intern still in the room as she picked herself up off the floor.

She was really going to have to talk to Clark about stopping for kittens.

Re: Lois and Charlene

[amazo]

After witnessing Clark and the Amazo he was fighting disappear...Amazo reappears alone.

And immediately flies out of the hole that he created when he threw Perry out.

Superwoman Switches Dance Partners

[byfate]

Superwoman screams - her sound nowhere near as the white noise that she's drowning in - and clamps her hands over her ears. Punches she can take. Loud noises, apparently not.

At least now she knows, in case she ever has to go up against Silver Banshee.

Re: Superwoman Switches Dance Partners

[amazo]

Then it happens. Amazo meets Amazo head on, and the collision causes the white noise attack to cease.

Neither unit seemed damaged. But they seemed refocused. The one that had been attacking Superwoman in particular locks eyes with Supergirl, and goes after her faster than a speeding bullet.

The one that WAS facing Supergirl turns towards Superwoman. From out of his right wrist, a glowing yellow rope extended to ensnare her.

[lexcorpunlimited]

The timing has to be perfect, but he built this this on the contingency that Superman would one day be so angered that he'd want to murder him in cold blood. Funny how it all comes around.

Supergirl breaches the satellite and, instantly, the satellite activates a Stormwatch quality Storm Shield forcefield. In the last days of the 20th century, a superhuman of Kryptonian-level power-sets died crashing into one of these, too angry to know it could destroy even him. He was among the mightiest beings on the planet, and he died a bug on a windshield.

If he and Supergirl have this timed right, so will this monstrosity.

[amazo]

Amazo sees the field come up but is going to quickly to stop. He impacts with the field, and immediately disintegrates down to his core.

Which then explodes, shattering the satellite and bathing the area in a green tinged radiation.