[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/M3SfSt4.png[/img][/center] The world around me is a blur, thanks in part to the haze in my mind that’s been irritating me ever since regaining consciousness, but mostly due to the sheer speed as I tear through the sky across the Bay. Thoughts are still scrambled, memories not piecing together the way they should, but the fog is starting to lift a little. There’s a country-wide crisis going on, maybe a worldwide crisis, across multiple cities. Jimmy mentioned Central City-- could mean the Flash is in the same sort of situation. New York has a few heroes as well, who might be targets. God only knows who else is in the line of fire right now. And I’m already running on fumes. All of that is just so much background noise, however, things I’ll have to deal with later, as I see twinkling lights of Gotham City on the horizon, growing larger with every second as I close in. Right now, there’s only one thing keeping me going as my body begs to give out, one person for whom, even as drained and worn-down as I am now, I’d gladly charge the gates of Hell and fight the Devil himself. [i]Lois.[/i] Since our meeting in Nairomi where she gave me the idea of going public with my abilities, since she pulled strings to get me an interview with Perry White, since she coined the name ‘Superman,’ she’s been at the heart of what I do and how I do it. We watch each other’s backs, we keep each other’s deepest secrets, we trust each other to the ends of the earth. But the exact nature of our relationship has always been….cloudy, at best. The complications of me being who I am would make it difficult to be with anyone. I assumed that I’d never truly be able to connect with someone, to consign those thoughts to daydreams and what-ifs, my desires and common sense colliding to leave me a stammering mess when the subject comes up. But even as my thoughts are a haze, one thought pierces through like a beacon: I’d move Heaven and Earth for Lois Lane. And if she’s in danger, God Himself won’t be able to help whoever’s responsible. I see pillars of smoke rising above the skyline, hear the [i]pop[/i] of gunfire. Whatever the larger crisis at hand is, it’s reached Gotham City. And if I were a betting man, I’d put good money on Lois being in the thick of it. Straining hard to keep myself airborne, I push myself that much harder to speed towards the chaos. Touching down, there are overturned cars, a blazing wreck that looks like the aftermath of a bomb going off, and a flight of drones whizzing through the air firing at someone obscured by smoke. [b][color=#4a86e8]“Toyman,”[/color] [/b]I scowl as I see the drones, painted and dressed up like old-timey toy airplanes. I didn’t think he’d launch an attack outside of Metropolis. Nevertheless, I need to shut this down as quickly as I can. Normally, I’d just blast them with Heat Vision, but I don’t have enough energy in the tank for that. Still, I can’t have them gunning down innocent people. [b][color=#4a86e8]“HEY! Over here!” [/color][/b]I shout out to try and get their attention, turn their guns on me instead of their current target. Sure enough, one of them swoops towards me, painting my chest with a red laser dot. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/dz0ursG.png[/img][/center] [b][i]KA-BLAM! BLAM! BLAM![/i][/b] High-caliber armor-piercing rounds slam against my chest, each one connecting with a hard [i]thump[/i] that makes me have to plant my feet to avoid staggering back. They sting like crazy, but I hold my ground. [b][color=#4a86e8]“You’re gonna have to do better than [i]that[/i], Toyman!” [/color][/b]I shout to the killer drone as it pulls up and away, two more of them swooping down behind it to continue the attack. This time, rather than just take the gunfire, I go on the offensive. Ripping the door off one of the wrecked cars, I fling it through the air like a frisbee, smashing into the two drones before they can break away. Charging forward, I single out a fourth drone and leap into the air, winding back my fist as I reach the crest of my arc and smashing the flying robot with a wide right hook. Unable to generate enough of a gravitational field to stop the arc of my jump, I strike the side of a building, my face taking out chunks of concrete as I glance off of it and tumble back down into the street. [b][color=#4a86e8]“Three down,”[/color][/b] I say to myself as I pick myself up, [b][color=#4a86e8]“two to go.”[/color][/b] The first drone has looped back around and begins to pepper the pavement with gunfire. I shrug off the bullets that smack against me, and grab hold of a parking meter, uprooting it from the ground. As the drone dives for another strafing run, I charge towards it, swinging the metal parking meter like a baseball bat. Several million dollars’ worth of high-end military hardware bursts into a shower of sparks and shrapnel upon contact. As the last drone banks away to try to escape, I take my makeshift weapon and hurl it like a spear, which arcs gracefully through the air before smashing into the drone and sending its debris to the ground. Now that the immediate crisis is at hand, some more of the fog in my brain starts to lift as I begin to search the area for people in danger. [b][color=#4a86e8]“Is everyone all right?” [/color][/b]I call out into the turmoil of the park. [b][color=#4a86e8]“Does anyone need-”[/color][/b] That’s when I see him, lying in a heap beside a tree. Doctor John Henry Irons. Dammit, Clark, [i]he[/i] was the Toyman’s target. Of course. Lois said she was going to talk to him, about an old associate, a Winslow Schott. Somehow, Schott must have gotten word, targeted Irons and-- Oh, God. [b][color=#4a86e8]“LOIS!”[/color][/b] She’s unconscious. A trickle of blood seeps from her head. Every thought in my mind falls away. The fog in my head that was starting to lift becomes a storm. Everything goes red. Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement. A figure in black. [i]Him.[/i] The one I was hunting. The Batman. Before I even know what I’m doing, I rush towards the cloaked figure, and feel my hand at his throat. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/pUJ7QiB.png[/img][/center] [b][color=#4a86e8]“[i]You,[/i]”[/color] [/b]I growl as I hoist him off the ground. [b][color=#4a86e8]“What was your part in this? [i]What did you do?![/i]”[/color][/b]