CHAPTER THREE: METROPOLIS

Flying to Metropolis in a plane construct made by Green Lantern?

Alex would rather have flown to Metropolis on her own. But seeing as they had to get to the city quickly, she had been forced to take a ride in a stupid plane made of nothing but green light. That had not been fun.

Once they arrived in Metropolis, Alex was the first one to jump out of the plane, followed by Batman. They stood on a rooftop in the middle of the city, with skyscrapers all around them. Batman had once again pulled out his small tablet, tracking Superman in all likelihood. The night sky was

"Superman's close," He stated. "I've been tracking his flight."

"Pfft. On what?" Hal scoffed, crossing his arms. "Your own satellite?"

Batman didn't answer; instead, he concentrated on the screen, looking at the blinking dots, which in all probability, indicated Superman's location.

"I was kidding," Hal's jaw dropped open out of surprise. "You have your own satellite?"

"Of course, he does," Alex said like it was the most obvious thing, even though she was also in awe of that fact. "He's Batman."

"Here he comes," Batman said, just a red and blue blur streaked through the night sky, right above their heads, before crashing through multiple buildings, leaving destruction behind him.

Hal turned to Alex with a smirk on his face. "First one to the building is..."

"What?" She scowled at him from underneath her mask. The sooner they got over with this, the sooner she could get home and get away from Lantern. He smirked again (did he really have to do that so much?) before the two of them turned their attention back to Batman. Or, where Batman had stood before because the rooftop was now empty, except for the two of them.

"I really hate that guy," Hal said, irritated. He jumped off the roof, green light surrounding him as he flew in pursuit of Batman. For the third, or fourth, or fifth time that night, Alex facepalmed. So brashness really was a trait that all superheroes had. (including her, but it's not like she'd ever admit it to anyone). And here she was, stuck with one of the most reckless and arrogant people she'd ever had the misfortune of meeting.

Alex took a deep breath before she jumped off the roof, flying as fast as she could. She landed (or technically, floated) above the ground, watching with curious and confused eyes as Hal encased Batman in a glowing, green box.

"Wait here," Hal stated, again smirking. "I got this. No offence, but you'd just get in the way."

Alex turned to him, throwing off the hood of her cloak. "What about me? You can't expect me to just stand here."

"Eh, I don't need help. Besides, your powers are nothing compared to mine so," Hal stated with a casual shrug. "As I was saying, Green Lantern kicks Superman's ass. TMZ's got the video."

"Excuse me?" Alex raised her eyebrows, feeling slightly angry at Lantern's arrogance. 'That stuck up, stupid, arrogant...' And a few other words that would very much make a sailor blush. She met Batman's stare, which clearly said one thing. Hal was going to get himself killed, and he was going to let it happen. She silently agreed with him.

"Fine," She said, shrugging her shoulders. "Do what you want, Greenie. I won't help you at all."

"I don't need it," Hal replied in a condescending tone, as he flew into the building. A moment later, explosions and cries echoed through the walls of the decayed structure. Amidst the smoke rising out of the building followed the random bursts of red lasers, Alex knew Lantern was getting his ass kicked. She casually hummed a song under her breath, not even looking at the building. Besides her, Batman was pretty much the same as he stared at the building with a withering glare.

'Any second now...' Alex looked towards the building, where she could clearly hear the pained grunts Hal was letting out. 'Three...two...'

Suddenly, Green Lantern crashed through the building, smashing into the green box where he had trapped Batman, breaking it into a million pieces. Batman deftly rolled out of the way as Lantern crash-landed into a truck labelled 'Lex Corps', making it explode.

She turned to look at Batman, but barely managed to duck as a red and blue blur flew past at a speed almost similar to the Flash. The man was wearing a blue spandex suit that had an 'S' symbol emblazoned in the middle of his chest and was wearing a bright red cape and he was unnaturally muscular. This was Superman and he had Batman pinned against the wall

"So," Superman asked. "What can you do?"

Making no delay, Batman cut the part of his cape held up by Superman and threw smoke bombs at him that exploded to release a dark violet smoke. There was a half-smirk on Superman's face as he said, in a very amused tone, "I can still see you."

"I think I'm just gonna sit this one out," Alex muttered, to no one in particular. She'd heard rumours of his super-strength and his powers and now, she was seeing it first hand. Even with her own abilities, there was no way she was going to be able to take him down. So, she had to act smart.

She hovered over one of the broken walls, the clogs in her brain turning as she thought of a plan to take down Superman. But how exactly do you take down someone who is ten times stronger than you? She needed to think and she needed to think fast. Even as Alex thought of a plan, she watched as Batman made several attempts to defeat Superman, but each one of his moves was easily stopped by the alien hero.

And judging by the increasing annoyance on his face, each move of Batman was getting on his nerves. "The creature that attacked me had one of those boxes you have. A friend of yours, I assume? He blew up, so I'll ask you."

As he threw off Batman's next attack, Superman grabbed him in a chokehold, pinning him against a broken wall. "What are these boxes for?"

Batman grunted as he struggled against the powerful grip around his neck.

"Talk, while you still can," Superman threatened.

"Trying. To," Batman replied

Then, a familiar voice echoed through the night. "Round two, flyboy!"

Alex groaned, mentally facepalming herself. 'It's like seeing a bunch of five-year-olds fight over a toy that's not even theirs. I really wish there was another girl here right now because I don't know how much of this testosterone slugfest I can take.'

"Lantern, no!" Batman yelled as Hal threw green chains around the alien, trapping him in his grip. But Hal, as always, didn't listen.

"Chains?" Superman chuckled. "You're funny."

With little effort, he broke through the chains, sending his deathly lasers in Lantern's direction, who threw up a shield just in time to deflect the attack. He quickly jumped in front of Batman, encasing him in a green sphere as Superman sent another beam of lasers which bounced off the surface of the shield.

"We won't stop him," Batman stated. "He's pissed off. We have to talk to him."

Hal looked at Batman like he had grown a second head. "Talk to him?!"

But neither of them had the time to react as Superman attacked them once more, sending them flying in their green sphere as they tried to deflect his attacks. Alex only watched them, her head hung in second-hand embarrassment on behalf of both Green Lantern and Batman.

"Eh, looks like I'll have to help them now," Alex stated casually. She unclipped her cloak from her shoulders, realising that it might be a hindrance in the fight. Besides, she had a spare one sitting in her closet so she could afford to lose this one. She folded the cloak and kept it behind the wall she was floating above, brushing her hands over the soft material.

With a furious spin of her feet, Alex flew off in the direction of Superman and the other two. As soon as she heard a few screams, coming from the people on the ground, she knew exactly where to go. When she found them, Lantern was barely holding Superman off, his green shield starting to show cracks.

Taking this as her cue, Alex flew in front of them, standing between Lantern and Superman. Her body was surrounded by her blue-gold cosmic energy as she put on her game-face. "Hey Supes, if you want an actual challenge, then maybe fight me." Saying that she pointed her hands at him and shot a beam in his direction. Superman dodged it with ease as he shot lasers at her.

This time, Alex was the one who dodged his moves, flying out of the way. All the while, she kept her eyes on Superman, his eyes glowing a bright red. Before she knew it, he had once again shot lasers in her direction. In the span of a second, Alex released a beam of energy, defending herself. The blue-gold beam and the red light of the lasers clashed, temporarily lighting up the sky. With an increased effort, she managed to increase the intensity of her beam and sent Superman flying, but only a few feet away.

"Finally! Someone who can actually fight!" Superman said, sounding rather gleeful.

'Think, Alex! Think!' But she couldn't come up with anything. So much for making a plan. In her momentary delay to think, Superman shot his lasers at her. She barely managed to dodge it as she somersaulted through the air, blasting the alien with a beam. Alex kept up her assault, not relenting as she kept on throwing beam after beam at him. Before she could even send another beam at him, Superman had grabbed her hand and in one furious motion thrown her into a building.

She let out a cry of pain as her body slammed into the concrete, before starting to fall to the ground. She closed her eyes as she braced herself, raising her arms out in front of her, but before she could hit the ground something, or someone grabbed her, preventing her from crashing.

"Thanks," Alex said quickly, as she met Hal's eyes. He kept a hand on her shoulder, helping her get into a standing position. But before she could hear Hal's reply, her eyes fell on Superman wh0 was flying really fast in their direction.

"Oh fuck," She stated in slight fear.

"This guy's gonna kill us!" Hal exclaimed.

"No, he won't," Batman told them as he raised one of his hands in front of him, almost as though he was psychically telling Superman to calm down. "You bruise, but you don't kill, do you, Clark?"

Superman abruptly stopped in the air, sending minor dust clouds through the air. His red cape fluttered behind him. "You've made your point..." He trailed off as his eyes began to glow a strange white color before shutting off. A smirk covered his face as he finished his sentence, "Bruce Wayne."

"Wait, what?! You're Bruce Wayne?" Alex exclaimed out of shock. 'Bruce Wayne is the Batman? Just how fucking crazy can this night get?'

Lantern tilted his head in confusion. "Who the hell is Bruce Wayne?"

Ignoring Hal's words, Bruce handed the weird, alien box to Superman (whose name was apparently Clark). "We think it's alien."

"Well it's not Kryptonian," Clark answered, after he finished examining the box.

"Worth a shot," Batman stated, rather blunt.

"Hey, hey, what happened?" Hal suddenly questioned. "We're done fighting?"

"Yeah, we are," Alex told him. Under her breath, she added, "Dumbass." Suddenly aware that she was still holding onto his arm, she removed herself from his grip. She stood a few steps away from him, ignoring the confused look Hal was sending her.

Ignoring the two of them, Superman kept talking. "Alien is relative, by the way. It's a big universe."

Before any of them could say anything, they heard the sounds of helicopter blades whirring in the sky above. Massive lights flashed down upon them. Batman quickly opened the nearest manhole cover and removed it. Looking back at them, he said. "Let's move."

As Alex jumped down the manhole, there was only one thought on her mind. 'Not sewers again...'

I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter, even though writing action scene is not my strong point. And yes, Alex can hold her own against Superman, even if it is for a few minutes. Although she's definitely going to be a little drained right now and seeing as what's gonna come, she's gonna need all the energy she can get.

And also, Alex and Hal's relationship at this point is literally frenemies-to-lovers, which I'm really having fun in writing down. You're gonna have more moments with these two in the next few chapters, which I really hope you guys enjoy reading.

Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!