act six: the death of superman
Clouds of smoke rose from the sea of destruction that was once the proud Fifth Street in Metropolis... none too far-off from the Daily Planet, where the otherwise plain and unextraordinary Christopher Champion usually worked and lived as his secret identity. Not even his ex-wife, Georgina Champion, could have guessed that he was, in fact, the Man of Steel.
Yet when the Man of Steel had disappeared all those years ago, and Christopher Champion with him... obviously, some questions did arise. The poor disguise didn't help matters any, yet somehow, when they returned at the same time, in the same city, only months prior to the ongoing destruction... no-one really batted an eyelid.
At least, no-one but Dominic Pericolo, otherwise known to only Christopher Champion and few others as the Dark Knight himself, Batman. The man of the shadows had been watching Chris since his return... fearing for the man's stability, fearing for his health when he'd noticed signs of deterioration coming from him. He had never imagined that the man who would not die was, in all actuality, dying... and such a revelation was difficult for him to swallow.
But what had been more difficult for him to swallow was the fact that there was a possibility that the Man of Steel might live, if only he sought out a treatment option that might actually be available for him. Thus, when Champion began his tireless crusade to clean up the streets of Metropolis... Dominic felt it necessary to intervene before anything should happen.
"Step aside, Batman..." came a mutter from the tired throat of Superman, eyes glazed over in a sort-of manic fashion, his glance fixated upon the kryptonite rings worn carefully on the fingers of his adversary, "... I wouldn't want to have to kill you to save this city of mine."
"City of yours, Superman?!" came the frustrated cry of Batman, as he set his stance and clenched his fists, an accusing finger swinging forward to aim itself at the Man of Steel, eyes fixated in a glare for his words, "This is a city of it's people's! You're nothing more than another citizen of Metropolis, and you have gone so far out of line in trying to save it that you're only condemning it in the end to failure!"
With a roar of defiance, Superman heaved an overturned car towards Batman, who simply crouched down in front of it as it then passed over his head, never taking his eyes off of Krypton's last son. As expected, Superman had flown forward towards Batman, the car nothing more than a distraction, and was looking to deliver on a punch that would surely have decapitated Batman were it not for the rings kept snug on his fingers.
CRACK!
Batman's reflexes the faster of the two, the Dark Knight's fist was brought down hard across the side of Superman's face, the kryptonite weakening Superman and making him susceptable to the strike, which knocked him from the air and sent him falling into a pile of debris nearbye. Cracking his knuckles afterwards, Dominic sighs, shaking his head.
He knew what he would have to do.
"This is for your own good, Chris..." said the Batman, as he approached the still struggling hero, who weakly reached up to try and fend off his attacker.
CRACK!
Another blow to the head of Superman, a crowd of onlookers slowly but surely coming out from the rubble of the city surrounding them. Some had eyes filled with tears at the idea of what had become of their hero, others filled with rage at the notion that Superman had betrayed them all in the end... and still many filled with conflict at the scene before them.
CRACK!
Batman's own eyes were closed, unable to watch what he was having to do. He felt the steel-fingered grip of Superman's hands on his arm, trying desperately to fend him off, trying desperately to survive. Dominic didn't plan on killing him... far from it, that would go against everything Dominic stood for; however... he did plan to make sure that Superman wouldn't be returning until he'd made a full recovery.
And to do that, he would have to give the immortal Superman a beating unlike any he'd ever suffered in his lifetime on planet Earth.
CRACK!
The beating continued like that for what felt like forever... the ever-growing crowd continuing in their cries for the fall of Superman, continuing to believe that, in order to save them, Batman was betraying his own personal code and murdering the man who'd once saved them all in times long past.
Yet after so many strikes... after a near-broken hand and a broken spirit, Batman had done what he'd never thought he would have to. He had beaten Superman, and had left him a bloody pulp at the bottom of his feet. Turning his head to the crowd of onlookers, Dominic observed their crying eyes, he looked into their very souls, into the depths of the people mourning their former savior.
"Dry your tears, everyone..." came a whisper from his lips, quieting the murmering few left wondering what would become of their hero, "Superman is not dead... he's not the kind-of person to just take a beating and die."
The murmers continue, but only for a moment, Batman raising his fist in the air to silence them, a small smirk threatening to break through the serious mask he'd put on for the people. Again, the words that left his mouth came at first in a whisper; however... as he continued, they began to grow louder, bolder... stronger in tone.
"I've fought this guy enough times to know when he just needs some time to recover from his injuries, and when he's been put to the brink of death. Superman might be beaten badly, but... he can still make the change for the better. That's his decision, though... I can only put him where he needs to be. What he does with the change of scenery? Well... that's up to him."
Batman turns, looking fondly back at his old foe and friend... at the man who'd always been a step ahead of him in the times long past. Superman had never realized that Dominic Pericolo had a trick or two up his sleeve, just waiting to be used... never realized that the Dark Knight was ever truly capable of bringing the Man of Steel down to nothing more than just another man.
But that's the funny thing about heroes... sometimes, losing is something beneficial for them, and Batman? Well... he'd known plenty about loss throughout his own time too, hadn't he? Yet none of that mattered in the end... what mattered was the final outcome. What mattered was holding true to his ideals.
What mattered was changing with the times, growing and developing as a better person... but never backing down on what he truly believed in.
"So don't worry about him, alright? Worry about yourselves... worry about this city, and the effort it will take to rebuild it. Superman thought he could do it on his own, but the fact of the matter is that this can't be a one-man effort, because not even Superman has the kind-of authority needed to run a city as great as this."
The crowd was listening intently now... knowing that every word from Gotham's greatest hero was a word spoken in truth, a word spoken from experience. He had been the one to save them from the man who'd always been there to save them in the first place, and for that... they owed him a great deal.
But he'd never hold them to it, that just wasn't like the person he was.
"In the end... we all have to work together to see Metropolis succeed... and we can't let ourselves be limited by the everyday strains of life, either, because those are the very things we should grow from to survive."
Superman wasn't dead... but his days as a hero, for a time, certainly would be-- and with good reason. Sometimes, yes... a city does need its hero; however... if the hero is to make his greatest sacrifice, it should be when he truly is ready to do so, and not simply when he wants to.
Superman's overzealousness in helping Metropolis had almost brought about her downfall... and it had taken a man by the name of Dominic Pericolo to save her in the end.
There will always be a new character introduced to the struggle for this "city"... and they will always be in different scenes, but the story itself never changes.
Dominic Pericolo is the only true hero the NLCW has ever had.