"What? Cat got your tongue?", The one at the front of the group asked with a smirk and I narrowed my eyes as I stood up, using TTK to pull my ribs back into place.
Floating up to be level with them, I was not surprised when they floated to surround me, narrowing my eyes as I slowly glanced at each other before speaking.
"So, what? Are you like that Doomsday clone they sent?"
"No, we're not prototypes. We're like you. We're half-Kryptonian and half…well, you don't need to know that last part."
"Oh, really? Then, I'm guessing you're here because the Light has something they need of me?"
"Yes, you. To be more specific, your body. We do not care for your mind or your personality."
"Ah, so the same as usual? 'Surrender your body or face the wrath of the Light'. Why are you even following their orders? If you are clones like I am-"
"We do not care for good or evil. We were promised a country of our own and as many slaves as we wanted as long as we help them get you," One of the clones to my right spoke up and I frowned as I saw the malice dancing in their eyes.
"You realize they're lying to you, right?"
"They are, but unlike you, we actually know how to fight them all. All you need to do is give up and come with us. We'll even throw in a special deal of letting your friends go."
"What makes you think I'll believe that?"
"Nothing. We're simply thinking that you'd care more about your friends than you would about your pride. After all, there's twelve of us and only one of you."
"Correction, there's two of you. Match! Project Krypton is here!", I shouted and the clone in front of me quickly spun around just in time to get a fist to the jaw.
The air rumbled as the attack sent him ragdolling through the air, the others looking surprised as I took a deep breath and spun. Blowing out a wave of cold air that pushed them all away, Match added in his laser vision, sending out a concentrated blast that got a few of them as well.
"Brother did good in planning for that."
"Of course, I did, though I admit that I did not expect Klarion to just shout your command abruptly like that."
"You…you knew of the commands?", The clone that had first spoken asked with a glare, rubbing his jaw while I readied myself as more clones began to recover.
"No, we did not. What we did do was try and remove the spell Klarion had placed on him and in the process, I suppose we must have removed it."
"You think we're falling for a lie like that?!", One of the clones behind me snarled and I smiled before shrugging.
"You believe what you will. Now, we don't wish to hurt you, believe me. If you surrender, we can find a way to get you healed and removed from the manipulations of the Light."
"And what makes you think you'll win? This might sound cliché, but I don't think twelve Kryptonians are going to lose against two of them. Unless you think you have better odds?", The lead clone asked with a raised eyebrow and I looked at him before shaking my head.
"No, but I know that you twelve will struggle to take us with ease."
"Then, let's see how much struggle you can put up," The clone spoke before he shot forward, ducking under his tackle while Match spun around and block his punch.
Grabbing onto his chest, the clone's eyes widened in shock as I sent a pure shockwave of energy into his heart and lungs using TTK, watching him struggle to breathe before Match slammed a heavy fist into his back that sent the clone crashing into the ground.
The other eleven looked shocked before their expression turned livid, Match immediately lunging at a few while I readied myself as most of them rushed at me.
Dodging the first one's wild swing, I ducked under their punch and pushed them into a second one, who quickly pushed them away right as I rushed in and delivered a harsh punch to their chest.
A grunt escaped my lips as another hit me in the back, spinning around to catch their kick before spinning and slamming him into another one. Blowing out a frost breath into the face of one that tried to tackle me from above, I ducked out of the way and kicked him into the first two.
Sending them flying over, I gritted my teeth as another wrapped me in a bear hug from behind, straining to keep their fingers from locking before slipping down right as two unleashed their laser vision.
Thankfully, their blasts missed and hit their friend instead, sending him blasting backwards while I shot forward and delivered a crushing knee blow to the chest of a clone in front of me.
Considering that the blow also sent a shockwave rippling through his body thanks to my TTK, the clone could barely stay awake before their eyes rolled into the back of their head.
However, I missed a clone coming in with a vicious elbow to the back of my neck, a pained gasp escaping my lips as my vision blurred with the blow. A surge of heat then slammed into my chest and sent me barrelling towards the ground, with more and more coming after their first blast and pushing me deeper into the ground.
'F-Fuck, this…is a lot worse than I was expecting,' I thought with gritted teeth as I tried to catch my breath, struggling a bit to breathe after that blow to my neck as well as the repeated punches to my injured side.
I was surprised though as the blasts stopped for a brief moment, immediately launching out of the crater and to the side as Match crashed into the ground next to me.
Despite the blood on his face as well as the bruises forming on his body, the clone looked more excited than wary as I looked up to see eight of the twelve clones still afloat.
"How many?"
"Two. Brother?"
"Just the one. We also got the one from before and I don't think those two of yours are getting up anytime soon."
"Broke the arms and legs of my two."
"…Yeah, that would do it. So, we just have these eight to worry about, then. You want to take four and I'll take four?", I asked as I cracked my neck, Match nodding in agreement right as the eight landed around us in a circle.
"You are stronger than they told us."
"See? They didn't even give you the right information. Can you still say that they have your best interests at heart?", I asked, feeling a bit hopeful when I saw a few of them glancing at each other with unsure frowns. However, the looks didn't last long and I sighed as one of them shook his head.
"We were promised those countries. Are we really going to let this clone get in the way of our freedom?"
"Firstly, you're a clone just like I am. Secondly, they promised you a country in exchange for your service, I'm assuming?", I spoke with a frown, watching as the clone that had spoken blinked before narrowing his eyes.
"And what if they did?"
'There's no way they're doing that. No way is the Light going to let a dozen Kryptonian clones capable of levelling countries on their own do that.'
"You realize that they're playing you, right?"
"We do not listen to the lies concocted by the one who got Doomsday killed."
"I thought Doomsday was still a prototype?"
"He was, but Doomsday was also our brother. You two should have stayed out of the way and let him kill Superman. Instead, you helped and stopped him from fulfilling the one duty that he had."
"I thought you guys were free and allowed to make your own choices? What's all this talk about duty?", I asked with a raised eyebrow, not surprised at the clone sneering before turning my head as another spoke.
"Enough with the talking. That's all he can do anyway. Talk, talk, talk. He doesn't want to fight because he knows he'll lose so he tries to talk with us instead."
"Well, that is slightly true, but I really do want to help you all."
"We do not need your help."
"Sometimes, you never know you need help until it is given to you. I'll teach you the meaning of that today," With that said, I rushed at one of the clones, immediately sliding under a kick while tripping the clone over when I slipped through his leg.
Hopping to my feet and kicking at the clone's head, another one stopped my kick with a grunt, grabbing onto my leg right as I activated my TTK and stuck his hands to my leg.
He looked surprised as I rushed to the side, dodging the attack of another clone before flipping and slamming him back first into the ground. Quickly letting go of him the second he let out of my foot out of surprise, I hopped back to survey the situation, but three of them didn't give me much time to think.
However, I grinned as Match tackled one of them to the side, leaving me able to take on the other two that kept on charging. Ducking under a swing at my head, I shifted to the side as the second tried to land a knee strike.
Grabbing onto his knee and sending a shockwave into it, I saw the clone hiss right before landing a harsh backhand to his nose, dodging the kick of the other clone before blowing out a chilling wind that froze his leg for a brief moment.
He cracked it within the next second, but that gave me an opening as I delivered a powerful punch to the clone's side, knocking the wind out of them and using their body as a shield as the second clone swung his fist.
The blow connected and both clones looked surprised as I kept the one that got hit in place, knowing that the impact hurt like a bitch considering he was forced to stay in place instead of flying away with the force.
As expected, the clone stumbled when I let go of him, the other rushing at me only to struggle to catch me when I ducked and weaved around his attempts at a takedown.
Leaning down and hooking them under the shoulder as he tackled me, I quickly heaved up and pulled the clone's arms upwards, a surprised look on his face that was quickly replaced by a pained grunt when I slammed a knee into his family jewels.
"Say goodbye~", I whispered before letting off a shockwave in them, feeling a bit bad when he nearly choked on his own spittle right before I delivered another punch to his chest that was accompanied by a shockwave to the lungs.
The clone gargled as he fell over before I shot forward, slamming the clone that was still struggling to stand face first into the ground, unleashing a shockwave into his head and scrambling his brain until I heard his breathing becoming steady.
'Two down,' I thought as I rushed to the first one that I had slammed into the ground, the clone immediately rushing at me with a roar. Both of us pulled a fist back before swinging forward, but I stopped midway while ducking under his fist.
The clone looked surprised, but he did not have that expression for long as I swung a heavy hook into his side, making him fold over it before I continued with a wide hook to his jaw that was accompanied with a TTK-imbued shockwave.
The blow was most definitely enough to knock him skull first into the ground, making him bounce up from the force of the attack before I continued with a stomp to his chest that smashed him deeper into the dirt.
Looking up at the last of the clones while Match faced his clones, I simply frowned and lowered my fists, shaking my head while walking over.
"Listen, can't you ju-", My body immediately weaved to the side as the clone swung at me, my fist having connecting to the jaw as I saw the glee in his eyes being replaced by shock as he fell to his knees.
Another swing slammed his head into the ground before I stomped down, grimacing at the crater that formed under his head before looking over at Match to see him standing with a grin.
"You okay, Match?"
"All good!", Match nodded as he cracked his knuckles, a chuckle escaping my lips before my smile faded slightly as I stared at the unconscious forms of the clones around us.
We may have been far harsher than we intended, but with this, we could at least give them better ways to recover and hopefully, a way to be good people like Match and I.
'Now, we ju-', My eyes widened as a scarlet red crest formed under each clone, taking them away before Match or I could react. The clone-brother looked just as bewildered and confused as I did before I groaned as I heard Klarion's heartbeat vanish along with the pillar of red light in the distance.
"I guess I can see now why they wanted to use this as an opportunity to attack."
"Brother angry?"
"A little bit, Match, but there's nothing we can do. For now, we'll rest, recover our strength and then, we finish this fight with the Light once and for all. Sound good?"
"Sound good," Match nodded and I smiled as I floated up into the air, the two of us beginning to make our way over to the rest of the group.
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"It was twelve against two…and you're telling me that the two won?", The voice of L3 echoed in the room, none of the others saying anything as L1 spoke up with a sigh.
"It appears that Kr's meta-gene is proving to be quite the troublesome one to face off against."
"You were the one who assured me that everything is going smoothly, L1. Am I to take it that you were lying?"
"No, my lord. It is simply a mistake made in error."
"One we can't afford."
"Hey, all I'm saying is that I managed to help our cause a ton," L6 spoke up and everyone even went so far as to turn their heads to look at the screen as L3 slowly turned his head to look at the same screen.
"You understand that with your plan, we're no longer a small inconvenience to the League, yes? Now, they will do everything in their power to make sure that we do not see the light of day, especially after today."
"What is your plan?", L2 asked L3, who stayed silent for a bit before answering.
"I've already given Joker everything that he needs to keep the League distracted as well as giving L5 the things he need for his plan. When that happens, L1, L2, L4 and L7 are to proceed with their plans as soon as possible. L6, you are to stay at my side during this as you have shown that I cannot trust you on your own."
"I will not! I'll go an-"
"Do not dare to tell me what you plan to do, chaotic vermin," L3 spoke coldly, but the sheer presence behind the voice was enough to silence L6 before L2 spoke up.
"We shall not fail you, my lord."
"No, you will not. If you fail me now, I will begin to find those that won't."
A/N: And with this, we end the chapter here. Ooh~ Something big is in the work, something that requires five of the seven Light leaders, but what is this plan and what will it do to the world? Find out next time~
Next chapter: Aftermath.
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Ba-Bye~!