[Eclipsed] Chapter 13 - At Death's Door

Hawkgirl was in the middle of searching for the signal of the lost Javelin on the Watchtower’s supercomputer when Green Lantern entered the control room.

“How could this happen? You were supposed to be monitoring the situation!” he shouted.

“Listen, I followed the protocols-” Hawkgirl replied.

“-And now, two of our men are out there injured, maybe worse,” he cut her off in an accusing tone.

As fate would have it, a call came through the supercomputer just then, and the face of a serious, strong-looking woman appeared on the screen.

“When it rains, it pours,” Hawkgirl muttered before picking up the call.

“This is Hawkgirl. Is there anything I can do for you, Barda?”

“Hello, Hawkgirl. I was wondering if Superman happens to be around. We were supposed to meet an hour ago.”

“. . . There’s been an accident,” Hawkgirl began, then let out a frustrated sigh.

Ten minutes later, Big Barda appeared inside the Watchtower through a portal. Thanks to her Mother Box, she could travel anywhere with a Boom Tube as long as it had power.

When she arrived, Hawkgirl and John Stewart were having a heated argument. After their expedition to rescue Kara Zor-El from Apokolips a few months ago, all the fellow members of the Justice League understood that the Green Lantern and the Thanagarian warrior were more than just teammates, but the way they butted heads and argued about every little thing on a daily basis made it hard to believe they were a couple at all.

“Will you two stand there and argue the whole day? I’ll go search for Superman alone if I have to.”

⁂

Thanks to Green Lantern’s power ring, tracking Superman was not difficult. Space might be vast and empty, but every ship left an ion trail behind. After arriving at the last known location of the Javelin, John Stewart stepped outside and used his ring to track the ion trail.

“Finally, some peace and quiet,” Hawkgirl said in relief once he was gone, and she was left alone with Barda. “He’s been on my case for almost two hours straight.”

Barda, not one for idle chatter, stayed silent. Hawkgirl, on the other hand, was anything but quiet.

“By the way, Barda, you told us that you want a quiet life, but you’re still carrying around your old weapons and armour, huh?”

It was as she said: the tall woman was wearing her old Apokoliptian gear, holding her golden shield on one arm and a long golden spear in the other.

“Of course. It doesn’t hurt to be prepared at all times. And besides, how could I just sit back when Superman might be in danger?”

Hawkgirl’s bird-shaped helmet did nothing to hide the teasing smirk on her face.

“Heeh~ is that so?” she asked, giving Barda an insinuating look with her eyebrows. "Is that all there is to it, or have the two of you—"

“Superman and I have not partaken in sexual intercourse yet.”

Hawkgirl nearly lost control of the ship.

“I didn’t need you to tell me that!” the Thanagarian girl sputtered in embarrassment. “I was just curious if the two of you were dating.”

“I’m not familiar with Earth’s customs,” Barda replied, her voice unsure. “But Superman wanted to show me the zoo of rare creatures he keeps in his Fortress of Solitude.”

“Oh, wow,” Hawkgirl said, amazed. “He doesn’t invite just anyone there, you know?”

“Is that so?” Barda asked, her expression unreadable.

“Mhm. Well, it’s a good thing if you ask me. I like you a lot more than that other woman.”

For the first time, the former Captain of the Furies showed a different facial expression.

“What other woman? Is he courting someone at the moment?”

Hawkgirl let out a small snicker.

“Not that I know of. But that reporter from the Daily Planet is all over him.”

“You don’t appear to like her very much,” Barda observed.

The winged woman shrugged.

"She’s a reporter. Nosy, always acting like she’s smarter than everyone, and she has zero sense of self-preservation. I’ve lost count of how many times she’s gotten herself in trouble and needed Superman or one of us to bail her out. So I do like you a lot more."

“I see. That’s… reassuring. Thank you, Hawkgirl,” Barda said, a small smile softening her features.

The redhead grinned at her.

“I’m rooting for you. If there’s anything you want to know about Superman, just ask. I’ve got a wealth of information to share.”

⁂

Half an hour later, the three superheroes could be found inside a dingy pub on Warworld, asking around for information. Or at least that had been their purpose. Mere minutes after their arrival, Hawkgirl’s act of snooping around devolved into something entirely different.

When John Stewart went to the toilet, things were peaceful. But five minutes later, when he came out, Hawkgirl and Big Barda were in the midst of a rough bar fight, with dozens of drunkards jumping on them from all sides.

He groaned and palmed his forehead.

‘Jesus, it’s like I’m babysitting problem children.’

He had to duck because Big Barda’s punch sent a scaly alien flying in his direction, almost hitting him with his body. Another two lunged at the tall woman, one with a knife and one with a club, but she didn’t attempt to dodge or parry their blows. They couldn’t even scratch her armour. Two slaps hurled the men back, through the air, unconscious.

Hawkgirl also kicked a green-skinned man across the counter and smashed away another three with her spiked mace.

John was perfectly content with just watching them… until someone pulled out a plasma rifle. With such destructive weapons coming into play, he could not remain a spectator anymore. He quickly used his power ring to blast that guy away and joined the fray.

“Let me guess, it was something you said,” he told Hawkgirl while making a green shield of light to defend himself against the barstool someone threw at him.

“Oh, shut it!” Hawkgirl snapped at him. “And we don’t need your help. Barda and I can handle them.”

Ticked off with her attitude, John took his frustration out on the drunkards. Ten tendrils of green light grew from his power ring and wrapped around the waists of the aggressors before throwing them into the walls of the pub.

“We’ve got more important things to do than beating up bums in a pub! We have to find Superman!” said Green Lantern.

Moments after they cleaned out the pub, a loud siren rang across the city. Stepping outside, they were stunned to see thousands of people flooding the streets of Warbastion, all rushing towards a massive coliseum-like structure at the city’s centre. Intrigued by their actions, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Big Barda decided to follow them.

When they finally arrived in the arena, they were greeted by the sight of people screaming hoarsely, roaring and cheering as they watched a violent, brutal battle on the large screen in the middle of the arena.

A very tall woman with long red hair, armed with a sword and shield, lunged at a man dressed in a blue suit with a red cape.

“Superman!” the three of them exclaimed at once.

⁂

While Superman and Starfire were having a fight with their lives on the line, Naruto’s shadow clones were watching the fight with bated breath – there were dozens of them scattered among the thousands of spectators in the stands. Every once in a while, one of them would make another clone before dispelling them in order to let the original know about the progress of the fight.

Every time the original Naruto received his clones’ memories, his feeling of urgency increased, and he started running faster along the corridors.

‘Where’s that green piece of shit?’

He tried to find him by making use of his Negative Emotions Sensing, but with how many people were imprisoned and tortured in the laboratory, he could not pinpoint the Psion’s location.

Ducking out of the security camera’s line of sight, Naruto put his hands in a cross seal and made 50 shadow clones. Then, he pointed his finger at the camera from beyond the corner, and an arc of lightning shot forth, disabling it.

“Spread out and free all the prisoners.”

“Yes, Boss!” the clones replied before scattering in all directions.

If he couldn’t find the Psion the regular way, he would have to smoke him out by creating chaos. Once he saw hundreds of prisoners suddenly breaking out of their holding cells and torture chambers, the Psion was bound to explode with anger.

His deduction was spot on; just one minute later, a harsh, squeaky voice started screaming from the speakers installed all over the underground facility.

“Intruders! All military personnel, find this rat for me immediately!”

“Don’t let my test subjects escape, you stupid mammals!”

“If even one of them gets out, you will be the one to take their place!”

His threats sent the red-skinned bodyguards and assistants running in a panic to subdue the mass breakout of the prisoners that Naruto and his clones had triggered. The rest of the robots in the facility followed his commands too, opening suppressive fire on the escaped prisoners.

However, it was not that easy to quell the chaos. Although some of the captured people were weakened by drugs or torture, others were more than capable of putting up a fight, and they were far stronger than the red-skinned species serving as bodyguards. Furthermore, the doors to their cells had been obliterated by Naruto’s Rasengans, so it was not easy to lock them back up either.

The underground facility had transformed into a warzone.

With the growing chaos, Naruto and his clones focused harder on their Negative Emotions Sensing ability in order to find the Psion. Along the way, they also knocked out or killed any of the Psion’s subordinates and destroyed all the robots that they encountered.

“Take the children and the incapacitated prisoners out of the facility,” Naruto said as he made an additional 20 Shadow Clones. “Lead the rest of the prisoners outside and kill anyone who tries to stop you.”

An aura of lightning engulfed his body, and he started running in the opposite direction from the clones.

Nearly 10 minutes after the start of the chaos, most of the prisoners had escaped with the second group of clones’ help, while the wardens, the robots, and the Psion’s assistants had been either killed or knocked unconscious by the first group of clones.

With the facility emptied out, Naruto was finally able to pinpoint the Psion’s location. The crackle of the cloak of lightning surrounding his body increased in intensity, and Naruto raised his hand in front of him before pointing his index finger in front of him.

“Hell Stab.”

Lightning flashed, and he seemed to vanish from his spot. He tore through reinforced blast doors and thick steel walls like they were nothing, each impact leaving behind a charred, man-sized hole in his wake. His Hell Stab jutsu was simply too powerful. He was like an unstoppable juggernaut.

⁂

A small, frail, and ugly humanoid lizard jumped in his spot from fear when the blast door in the control room was obliterated, and a red-skinned man, someone who looked identical to the species of people serving as his assistants, stepped inside.

“What’s the meaning of this, Geron?” the Psion shouted while his robots aimed their plasma rifles at the intruder. “Are you out of your mind? The Mongul will never forgive you for siding with that Tamaranean woman!”

‘How did he know?’ Naruto thought in shock.

He and Starfire had never discussed their plans of breaking her out in the presence of others. Furthermore, his appearance was disguised with a Henge. The Psion should’ve had no way of knowing who he really was.

‘No. . . maybe he actually doesn’t know. He called me Geron. That’s the name of the guy whose keycard I stole.’

As Naruto remained silent, the Psion’s confidence returned. A malicious grin spread across his ugly face, and he let out a shrill giggle.

“Your tiny, underdeveloped brain is probably wondering how I got wind of your betrayal,” said the lizard. “You’re looking for this, are you not?”

He became rooted in his place when he saw the Psion take out a small remote from the inner pocket of his chest.

“One little tap and she dies,” the Psion said, moving his long, knobby finger threateningly over one of the remote control’s buttons.

His narrow shoulders shook with maniacal laughter again at seeing the stunned look on ‘Geron’s’ face.

It took a few seconds for the Psion to get his laughter under control.

“Tell me first, just what did that Tamaranean woman do to convince you? Was it money? . . . No, she wouldn’t have any money. She’s a slave. Did she, perhaps, sell her body? According to my data, her appearance greatly appeals to most humanoid races.”

When Geron still remained silent, the Psion interpreted it as him being at a loss for words. Drunk on his feelings of superiority, his creepy little sniggers filled the room again.

“That idiotic look on your face! I can’t get enough of it, hahaha! In fact, you don’t need to answer any of my questions because I already know everything!”

“Every single word those two little lovebirds had exchanged over the past month, I heard it all! How stupid do you all have to be not to realise that the chip in her neck was not just a bomb but a monitoring device too?”

“Did you think you could conspire against me? You imbecile. You cretin. Did you think you could take me by surprise?”

Letting out one final laugh, the Psion barked an order at his robots:

“Kill him! Vaporise him!”

The robots’ plasma rifles lit up, but unexpectedly, a flash of lightning lit up the room, and, a split second later, the Psion felt a gale of wind blowing in his face.

The evil little gremlin gawked in surprise toward the remains of the broken blast door where 'Geron' had once been, and the robots began acting confused as well, glancing around in every direction to find the 'traitor' who had somehow vanished from right in front of them.

For a moment, there was only confusion.

Then a shrill scream tore through the air. The Psion staggered back and clutched his shoulder with a horrified expression. His murky yellow eyes widened in disbelief as he looked down.

His right arm was gone.

Blood poured from the stump, splattering across the floor and painting the nearby robots crimson too. He fell to his knees, howling, his face twisted in pain and confusion.

Naruto stood behind the Psion with his severed arm in his hand. He grabbed the remote, and an arc of lightning was discharged from his fingers, reducing it to ash. Then, he threw the filthy limb carelessly on the floor and Body Flickered in the middle of the group of robots who had started firing their lasers at him.

“Raiton: Electromagnetic Murder.”

A lightning nova exploded from him, and the robots were paralysed and short-circuited, with the Psion dying a violent death too.

‘Thank God,’ he said in relief, feeling as though a weight had been lifted off his heart.

He did not know if God existed – an actual God, not the likes of Darkseid – but he couldn’t help thanking the heavens that he had managed to find the Psion and kill him before he could detonate the chip in Starfire’s neck.

He made a shadow clone and dispelled it, sending his memories to all of his other shadow clones who were above the ground, in the stands, spectating Starfire’s fight against Superman.

‘It’s time to put an end to this.’

And with that, he dispelled his clones and broke into a lightning-fast run towards the surface.

⁂

The arena was on fire, and the spectators were on their feet, screaming as though they were in a frenzy. What they had just witnessed was not a fight between aliens or monsters; it was like a battle between gods.

As the two unconscious warriors were teleported back onto the stage and the medics rushed to them, the deafening cheers and shouts increased even more in intensity.

Mongul himself was standing in front of his throne, clapping his hands, excited. As much as he was a cruel tyrant, uncaring for the plight of his people, he was also a passionate fan of this bloodsport.

The fight between the last man of Krypton and the former princess of Tamaran was unlike anything he had ever seen.

‘I’ll never let these two slip out of my hands.’

Even if it weren’t for the sake of appeasing the impoverished people of Warworld with good fights, he wanted to keep Superman and Starfire in his service as gladiators for many years to come.

‘I’ll build them up again with fights against other creatures. And then I’ll have them face each other again. And again.’

An ugly grin twisted his face.

‘I had been planning on punishing her severely for her plans of escaping. But I’ll let it slide for now. I’ll pretend not to know anything.’

The Psion had also informed Mongul of her plan to escape. Mongul did not spend his time listening in on Naruto and Starfire’s conversations himself, but his subordinates did. So he was fully aware of what had transpired between the two of them. Nevertheless, the performance that she had just put on in the arena had wiped all her ‘sins’ in his book.

While Mongul was daydreaming about the amazing fights he was going to witness in the following weeks, a large number of smoke grenades suddenly exploded in the stands.

⁂

Watching the violent, life-and-death battle between Superman and the tall female warrior had not been easy for Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Big Barda.

“Let me go, John,” Hawkgirl said when he grabbed her by her forearm. She sounded as though she was just barely restraining her anger.

“Don’t be reckless,” he said in a subdued voice. “I want to save him, too. Trust me, I do. But we can’t. We don’t even know where the fight is being held.”

“So what do you suggest? You’re just going to watch him die?” she shouted at him. “Let me go, and I’ll smash that yellow freak’s bald head to bits with my mace!”

“It’s Superman we’re talking about,” Green Lantern answered calmly. “Trust in him.”

That was all that he needed to say for Hawkgirl to realise she had been overreacting. It was as John Stewart said: it was Superman whom they were talking about. Unless there was Kryptonite or powerful magic at play, they had never seen him struggle against anyone in a fight. He was the strongest member of the Justice League.

At that moment, Green Lantern felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned around sharply, his power ring lighting up as he instinctively got in a stance to defend himself from an ambush. But his eyes widened in surprise, and he exclaimed in a mixture of joy and surprise:

“J’onn?!”

His shout made Big Barda and Hawkgirl turn around, too, and their reaction was no different from his.

“You’re safe!”

“We’ve been so worried about you!”

“What happened to Superman? What happened to you guys?”

Martian Manhunter let out a weary sigh.

“The asteroid’s explosion knocked us both unconscious. A group of slavers captured us while we were out of it, and they brought us to this place. Superman helped me get away from our prison, but a force field prevented him from escaping together with me. Now, he was teleported to the battlefield with that raygun in front of the stage, and he was forced to battle another gladiator.”

The other three heroes couldn’t ask any other questions because, at that moment, the fight between Superman and Starfire became even more intense and more savage than before, and their eyes became glued to the screen.

“I wish I could’ve saved him,” J’onn said, his voice filled with helplessness while watching the ongoing battle with an anxious look on his normally stoic face. “But something in the atmosphere of this planet is sapping my strength. I can’t even shapeshift anymore, let alone fly. I’m too weakened.” (1)

The four of them continued to watch the battle with bated breath, worried for Superman’s well-being for the first time in years. Other than Darkseid, they had never seen anyone else push him that far. When Starfire choked him at the end, if not for the rising and lowering of his chest letting them know that he was still breathing, they would have panicked, thinking that she had killed him.

However, all four of them had received formal training in martial arts and other combat-related matters. Hawkgirl was a lieutenant of the Special Forces on planet Thanagar, Big Barda was the former Captain of the Furies (Darkseid’s Honour Guard), John Stewart had been a marine on Earth, and J’onn J’onzz had once been a law enforcement officer on planet Mars. Therefore, they could tell that Superman was only unconscious; he was still alive.

“Get ready, everyone,” Green Lantern said.

“I’ll go straight for Mongul,” Big Barda said, reading her shield and spear.

“What do we do with the girl?” asked Hawkgirl.

“We take her with us,” Martian Manhunter replied. “She’s just another victim of Mongul’s cruelty. We have to save her, too.”

The three of them had heard Starfire’s shouts during her fight with Superman, so they didn’t protest against the Martian’s suggestion. They knew that she had been forced to fight against her will.

Just as the unconscious fighters were teleported off the battlefield and the Justice League prepared to act, a sudden barrage of smoke grenades exploded throughout the arena stands.

⁂

Rushing out of the underground facility, the original Naruto arrived at the coliseum only moments before the end of Starfire’s fight against Superman.

Knowing how things worked on Warworld, Naruto had planned his course of action beforehand.

‘It’s perfect that I managed to kill the Psion before Mongul got wind of it. . . but if the Psion found out about our plans, most likely Mongul knows about it too.’

As he thought of that, he realised that Mongul must have surely taken a number of measures to prevent Starfire’s escape.

‘But I still have the element of surprise on my side. Just like the Psion, Mongul also doesn’t know who I really am or what I’m capable of.’

Once the unconscious Stafire and Superman were teleported onto the stage, Naruto gave his clones the signal, and dozens of smoke bombs erupted all over the arena.

Making use of the cover of the smoke, Naruto cast his Lightning Armour Jutsu. With the immense boost provided by the Raiton chakra coursing through his pathways, the blond blitzed across the arena, arriving at Mongul’s back in the blink of an eye.

Simultaneously, noticing the smoke bombs going off, Mongul immediately became alert, and his hand went straight to his belt. His fingers just opened the small pouch where he kept the remote control when he felt two hands touching his back.

During his time as Apokolips’ general, due to Darkseid’s desire to conquer Warworld, Naruto learnt a thing or two about Mongul. He knew that the tyrant of Warworld was a very powerful alien and that he might not be able to kill him in one hit. Therefore, he made it his purpose to instantly disable his remote control instead of assassinating him in one go. Starfire’s safety came first.

“Raiton: Jibashi.”

A thunderclap boomed, and Mongul screamed in agony as a charge of 500 million volts tore through his body. His clothes were incinerated, his yellow skin blackened, and the remote control holding Starfire’s life hostage was destroyed, too.

If Mongul had been so easy to take down, others would have killed him a very long time ago. But he was made from far tougher stuff than that. Despite the terrible pain and the numbing brought by the lightning, he suddenly turned, throwing a spinning back fist at his attacker.

Knowing when to push ahead and when to pull back, Naruto instinctively cancelled the Electromagnetic Murder and backflipped to avoid his wild strike.

“You miserable rat!” Mongul screamed, and despite the shameful state of his nakedness, he charged at Naruto like a rhino.

However, just as the brutish alien smashed his huge fist into Naruto’s face, the blonde tilted his head, letting the punch brush past his ear, and slammed an Oodama Rasengan into Mongul’s chest.

The alien was hurled back violently, rotating through the air like a spinning top before smashing into the large screen in the middle of the arena, blowing it into smithereens.

⁂

“What the hell just happened?!” Hawkgirl shouted.

Flapping her large wings, she burst from her place ahead of everyone, rushing towards Superman, despite the dense clouds of smoke obscuring her vision.

Due to the stampede of panicked people who were running away in terror, the three of them were forced to take flight. Green Lantern picked up the weakened Martian with his power ring, and Big Barda used her high-tech golden spear to take flight, too, as they rushed after the Thanagarian woman.

“You?! What are you doing here?!” they heard Hawkgirl’s voice, filled with disbelief. 

Due to the dense smoke filling the air, they couldn’t see even 10 metres in front of them. It was only when they arrived next to Hawkgirl that they realised the reason for her reaction.

Superman and the Fire Princess were lying on the ground unconscious, with Hawkgirl at one side of them and a young man at the other side, a man whom they had seen only a few months ago on Apokolips. 

“General Uzumaki,” said Big Barda in a weary voice, her hands tightening on her shield and spear.

“What are you doing here?” Green Lantern also asked in a tense voice.

They knew that Martian Manhunter had broken Darkseid’s brainwashing over Naruto, but after witnessing his violent rage against Darkseid, the three of them couldn’t help feeling on edge.

Anxiety was not a feeling that Big Barda often experienced, but standing in the presence of the young man who had once been her General, she felt nervous. Nonetheless, irrespective of her inner thoughts, Big Barda didn’t back down.

“I’m not your enemy,” was the first thing Naruto said, not keen on starting a fight at that moment. He was just a shadow clone. The original was fighting against Mongul at that moment, so he could not afford to be dispelled. “I was going to rescue Superman and my friend. But if you’re here for him, I won’t stop you.”

Hawkgirl’s mace crackled with electricity, and Big Barda stood guard with her shield and spear, wary of Naruto, while Green Lantern picked up Superman’s unconscious body with a green construct of light.

Once they rescued the Man of Steel, the four heroes took a step back, allowing Naruto to do the same with Starfire. The four heroes could not help noticing how gently he picked her up and cradled her body to his chest.

“You should get out of here. Things are about to get messy and violent very soon,” clone Naruto said before his body blurred out and he disappeared with Starfire in the clouds of smoke filling the arena.

The heroes understood what he was referring to when they flew out of the arena and noticed the large number of robots heading towards the smoke, towards Mongul.

⁂

Clone Naruto ran for nearly four kilometres before stopping on the rooftop of a low-rise building and casting a small Genjutsu so that aliens and robots alike would ignore his existence.

Placing Starfire on the ground, a look of worry flashed on his face when he realised how badly injured she was.

‘At least she’s alive.’

He didn’t know what he would have done if she had died. He couldn’t lose her. Other than her, he had nothing else. No home, no country, no family, no friends. Even though they had known each other for only one month, Starfire meant the world to him.

A cyan light appeared around his hands, and he placed them above Starfire’s head to heal her cracked skull. Medical Ninjutsu wasn’t exactly his forte; he had never had a good reason to put effort into mastering that craft because Kyuubi always healed his injuries. Even so, thanks to his shadow clones, he did gain a measure of skill with the Mystical Palm Jutsu. It was, after all, a technique that Darkseid had gifted him. Seeing as he had been brainwashed at that time to obey the God of Evil, he had sought to make him happy.

Thanks to his Mystical Palm Technique and Starfire’s superhuman constitution, the redhead actually showed signs of stirring up only half a minute after he started healing her.

Her eyelids opened, and the blond found himself smiling as he met her beautiful green eyes.

“Naruto?” Starfire asked in a weak voice. “What happened?”

“Shh, it’s alright,” he said, smiling kindly at her. “The Psion is dead. Mongul will be dead soon, too. My original body is fighting him in the arena as we speak. You’re safe now. You’re no longer a slave. Everything will be all right now.”

“Oh,” she said feebly. “Thank you… Thank you so much…”

She wanted to say many more words, but suddenly, a massive explosion lit up the sky. An enormous fireball erupted from the arena in the centre of Warbastion, and a look of shock appeared on clone Naruto’s face before he was dispelled.

“Naruto! Naruto!” Starfire cried out, but her small voice was drowned by the massive shockwave that burst forth from the arena, demolishing the nearby buildings and shattering all the windows for miles.

When the shockwave passed, Starfire let out a moan of pain as she forced herself to sit up. She tried her hardest to stand, but the broken ribs made it impossible for her not to cry out in agony with every small movement she made.

Despite the terrible pain, the redhead crawled to the edge of the rooftop and pulled herself up to take a look at what had happened. Her face stiffened, livid with shock when she looked in the direction of the arena.

“No!” she cried out. “Naruto!” 

Previously the tallest and most impressive building in Warbastion, the arena had been razed off the surface of the earth. Nothing but a deep smoking crater had been left behind.

What neither Naruto nor Starfire had anticipated was that, before Naruto burst into the control room to kill him, the Pison committed one final act of malice and cruelty. He had ordered the artificial intelligence overseeing his laboratory to destroy the underground facility.

The Psion's reasoning had been rather simple: if he had lived, he would have cancelled the self-destruction command by himself, but if he died, he would at least take his enemy to the grave with him, regardless of how many other innocents were to be caught in the crossfire.

⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂

AN: 

(1) J’onn J’onzz being weakened by Warworld’s atmosphere happened in the animated series, too.