DC Universe: Superboy/Supergirl, Issue #11: The Culling Finale

Superboy POV

 

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The all out brawl continues in the Crucible, as me, Flux, and Sideways are fighting off the remnants of Harvest's army. There's other meta's helping us out, those that aren't so bloodthirsty. My heels dig into the rocky arena floor, as I'm getting hit from all sides from various projectiles. C'mon Kara, get that barrier down. I grit my teeth, as I try to push my way through the pain. Flux, and Sideways use their portals and rifts to redirect some of the projectiles towards the cluster of metas, knocking some of them out.

 

 

"Any progress?" I say, making sure Kara's able to hear me.

 

 

"Almost there." She replies, with a small nod.

 

 

"Ow, ow, ow!" I groan, as a speedster keeps punching me like I'm a speedbag or something. That is the right word for it, right? Sometimes, English is just strange. Freezing the arena floor around me with my cold breath, sure enough, the speedster isn't all that bright, as he trips and falls flat on his face.

 

 

"Nice one!" Alicia says, her voice modulated, as she looks over at me.

 

 

"You're not doing bad yourself!" I say with a whistle following.

 

 

"Could use a little help over here!" Sideways yells, as he's starting to get swarmed with meta's. He's rifting them away as best he can, but it's easy to tell it's taking a toll on him.

 

 

"On it!" I reply, swiftly flying over to him, grabbing one of the metas, and throwing him into one of the others.

 

 

The glass shatters, and with it, we all start flooding the observation deck, with the three of us joining the others. Harvest teleports away, leaving us to fight the guards, and the remaining metas. Crush is still up and at it, his stretching powers allowing him to dodge punches, and projectiles quite easily. The guards are able to shoot a couple of the stragglers, as I'm not able to get there in time.. Can't be everywhere at once unfortunately. Well one of the meta's can, but of course, she's on Harvest's side.

 

 

"Outburst coming through!" One of meta's yells, as he traps some of the guards with metal plating. Have to find Simon, and Feyris.. Navigating through the hallways of the facility, I check each room. But so far, there's nothing.. Punching my way through the guards, making sure not to kill them with the force of each blow, we finally reach the elevator. It opens, and we all get onboard. We reach the next level, but only me, Kara, and Flux get off at this point. The room branches off into 3 different hallways.

 

 

"3 of us, and 3 hallways. I don't really like the idea of splitting up, but we have to find them." Kara says, looking at me and Alicia, before flying down the left hallway.

 

 

"Rock paper scissors to see who goes down which hallway?!" I joke, before flying down the right hallway. To the left, and right of me, are doors, leading into rooms that have various containment pods, eerily similar to the one I was held in earlier. Without red sun energy that is.

 

 

"Stop right there Kryptonian!" The guard yells, noticing me snooping around. He shoots at me, and I definitely wasn't expecting it to hurt so much. How do they even know I'm Kryptonian anyway?? Only me, Kara, and Clark know. Neither of them would say anything. I mean, Clark told Lois the truth, so she probably knows we are too, but still. Something's not right about this.. I go crashing into one of the rooms, the guard grinning.

 

 

"That didn't feel so good, did it?" He taunts, coming closer, blast after blast of energy hitting me square in the chest. Noticing I'm right by one of the pods, I try to get up, but I'm struggling, as I just feel this weakness inside of me. Using the pieces of debris to push myself back up, I slam my hand down on the terminal, as hard as I can. The captive meta's eyes open, and start glowing purple, as he starts hitting the guard with these weird bricks constructs. Almost like a Green Lantern, but not. He's about to kill the guard when I yell

 

 

"Stop! You don't need to kill him! You're free, so just get out of this place."

 

 

"Chill man. I wasn't actually gonna kill him. I was just doing my civic duty! Muchas gracias amigo." The meta replies, scurrying through the guards coat, until he finds a keycard. He leaves through the hole in the wall moments later, floating on a wall of bricks. As I emerge from the room, I see the meta opening up the other rooms, and pods. None of them are Simon or Feyris. I meet up with the others, back in the main room, before going on the elevator once more.

 

 

"So? Any sign of them?" I ask, breaking the silence.

 

 

They both shake their heads. The elevator goes up two more floors, before it opens once more. It's one big room, with a throne at the other end of the room. Stone pillars are throughout the room, supporting the roof. On the left side, there they are. Simon, and Feyris, bound by restraints, and tied down. Simon looks at me as though he doesn't even recognize me. In front of them, is Harvest.

 

 

"Chris, Kara, ooh and Alicia. Guess I shouldn't be surprised.. You two were always joined by the hip, as it were. Should've known it would come to this." Harvest places the blade close to Feyris' cheek, a devilish grin forming.

 

 

"Not sure what you're talking about Harvest.. Just give up, and let them go before it's too late."

 

 

"No can do. It's the only way to keep them safe from what's coming."

 

 

"They don't look all that safe to me." I reply, as both Simon and Feyris are terrified.

 

 

"Not much I can do about how they feel about the situation. Necessary measures have to be taken sometimes to get the necessary results. It's like you, trying to protect your secret. I mean, Simon here is one of your closest friends, yet you don't even tell him you, Chris Danvers, and you, Kara Danvers, are Superboy and Supergirl for at least another 10 years. I'm simple speeding up that discovery, along with a few other things of course. Oh, here's a fun tidbit for everyone, cause I failed to mention this to Simon and Feyris earlier. These two-" He pauses, pointing at me and Kara.

 

"Are not even human at all! They're aliens! More specifically Kryptonians. Yeah, that's right! They're like Superman. Hence the very similar names. Spoilers Harvest, spoilers! Ohh yes, I know.. But really, I don't care. Changes to the timeline are good, as it'll bring about a better future. The timeline is malleable, and don't let any speedster tell you otherwise."

 

 

"Why didn't you tell us?" Simon, ignoring Harvest, says, his voice frail and horse.

 

 

"I, was afraid.. Afraid of how you all would react. That we, would get treated differently.. Seen as outsiders.. Kara makes friends pretty easily, but me? I'm too aggressive, and quite stubborn. I got expelled from my last high school for starting a fight, which ended with the other guy in a hospital bed. I didn't want to ruin a good thing. Knowing our identities makes you vulnerable to the very villains Kara and I fight. That's why I didn't tell you Simon. I'm sorry man." I pause, turning to face Alicia.

 

"Alicia, I'm crazy about you, and you know that. It's been tearing me up inside, not telling you the truth about where I came from. Honestly, I got pretty close to telling you a couple of times, especially after you opened up to me about your concerns, regarding your powers. I really hope this doesn't change anything."

 

 

"Why would it? You being an alien doesn't change anything. You're still Chris Danvers to me. Besides, it wouldn't be very fair of me to judge you being an alien, after all, you accepted me for being a meta." Alicia reassures me, holding me close to her with a hug.

 

 

"ALRIGHT! Enough of this! Can't believe I actually cheered this on when I was younger." Harvest fires a beam of green energy, and I make sure I'm the only one hit by it. But instantly, I regret it. It's a pain I haven't felt before. Kryptonite, in an energy form. My veins start to glow green, as my strength starts fading fast. Alicia tries to teleport, but nothing happens.

 

"Oops! Did I forget to mention, this room is lined with lead? Sorry, but I can't have you teleporting around." Harvest mocks, as he flies towards us, hitting me with the blunt end of the scythe when he gets close enough, which sends me flying across the room.

 

 

Kara blasts the scythe out of his hands with her heat vision. Doesn't make a difference though, as the scythe disappears, only to reappear in his hands, seconds later. As he gets closer, I can feel myself, not able to do anything. He's toying with me, not actually killing me, just punching me with the scythe in hand.

 

 

"We were friends once. But you let that power go to your head. Became judge, jury, and executioner. Slaughtered millions of humans that wouldn't obey you. Only those with powers could live in your utopia . My Feyris paid the ultimate price, dying right in front of me thanks to you and your army." Harvest raises his voice, almost to the point of yelling, when he takes off his mask, to reveal his face. It's Simon..

 

 

"Simon?! But how?" I ask, gasping for air.

 

 

"Seriously? That's what you're going to ask? It's pretty obvious when you think about it. Time Travel Chris.. Ten years, to be specific. There is no Simon Valentine anymore, only Harvest. The prime hunter to come back and take you down." Blood spattering from my nostrils, as he keeps punching my face. I can't let him win. I can't. It's then, that I see a ray of hope, as Alicia tackles him off me.

 

 

"Come on Simon. You're better than this! I know you. Always cracking jokes, tinkering with your gadgets, and experiments. You gave me the name Flux, even if you didn't know it at the time. Otherwise I probably would've been stuck with something stupid, like Skipstep or something." Alicia says, trying to snap him out of it.

 

 

"That boy was naïve to the cruelties of the world. Didn't realize the trouble that existed in front of his very eyes, until it was too late." The two of them struggle, rolling with each punch the other lands. Kara lands a blast of heat vision on the back of Harvest's neck, disorienting him for a second. This gives Alicia the opportunity to land a couple more punches off, which gets Harvest, or should I say future Simon, off of her. Kara frees our Simon, and Feyris, ripping off the restraints rather easily, as Harvest's Kryptonite Scythe is nowhere near her.

 

Unlucky me, as he's still within range of me, my veins throbbing. I can hear my heartbeat slowing down. After Simon and Feyris are up, and out of the chair, Kara puts all the force she can into one punch, knowing that she'll get weak the moment she gets near him. Sure enough, by the time she hits him, it's with one one thousandth of the power. Pretty much the power we regularly hold back to. He prepares an energy shield, but it isn't enough, as he gets sent flying through one of the pillars, and stopping right by his throne. It's enough to knock him out, though Kara's now on the ground. Finally, the glowing green veins of mine start to dissipate, as he's on the other side of the room.

 

"We better get out of here!" Simon says, as he runs towards me. Just barely managing to pick myself up, I lean on Simon and Alicia. Kara didn't have it as bad as I did, so she's up rather quickly, Feyris helping her slightly

 

"The room's going to collapse at any minute, and while Harvest did terrible things, he doesn't deserve to be left here to die."

 

"And how, do you suggest we help him, while just by being near him, you start dying? That's completely disregarding the fact that I-he killed far too many people. Metahumans or not, they are still human." Simon questions

 

"It's the scythe. Get that away from him, and we won't almost die anytime he's near us." Kara replies nonchalantly. Feyris runs over to Harvest, taking the scythe from his hands, and placing it at the furthest point in the room. She then starts dragging him over to us.

 

"Uh, a little help here. You're lucky I'm even doing this after the crap he's put us through. I'm tired, my hair and makeup's a mess. This is not a good day." Feyris says with clear annoyance. Alicia runs over to help her, and when he's close enough, Kara picks him up and over her shoulder. We make a break for it, trying to get out as fast as we can. But what I really need, is some sunlight..

Done